Business Journal: McClatchy, West Davis Active Adult, Wine Symposium

A new housing development is being proposed for Davis that has a specific demographic in mind. The project is being called the West Davis Active Adult Community.

"This would be a senior housing community of more than 400 homes and apartments," says the Sacramento Business Journal's Digital Editor Sonya Sorich. "The project's developer says there are no places for older, active adults to move in Davis and the city is losing some of those people, as a result, to Woodland."

The development would be on 75 acres on the northwestern edge of Davis. It will need to be approved by the Davis City Council. And since it would be outside current city limits, the proposed project would also need to go before voters as a ballot measure. Last year, voters reject a proposed research development called Nishi Gateway.

One of the Sacramento region's largest public companies - newspaper publishing giant The McClatchy Company - replaced its CEO this week. McClatchy owns 29 newspapers throughout the country including the Sacramento Bee. Former Yahoo! and Earthlink executive Craig Forman is the new CEO, replacing Patrick Talamantes. Sorich says the departure comes as McClatchy's stock has fallen 18 percent since August.

"The company's revenue and operating cash flow have been hurt by declines in print advertising," Sorich says. "McClatchy reported a $9.8 million loss in its third fiscal quarter. The next earning report is in February so we'll have to see what happens."

McClatchy has been trying to build a digital footprint as online and mobile app sources continue to funnel profits from newspapers and magazines.

Domestic wine sales are growing, according to industry experts at this week's Unified Wine and Grape Symposium in downtown Sacramento. Domestic wine volume sales were up nearly 3 percent in 2016 compared to the previous year. But there are areas where the industry is slowing.

"It appears restaurant wine sales are declining," Sorich says. "Experts say that could be a result of the influence that millennials are having on the dining scene. Perhaps millennials have less money when they're dining out or maybe they just choose to use their money in other ways when they're ordering at restaurants."

Meanwhile, the market for higher-end wine is growing with many consumers trading up. The three-day symposium was held at the Sacramento Convention Center Tuesday through Thursday.