On Thursday, Sacramento leaders announced a roughly $40 million plan to revitalize the Old Sacramento Waterfront, invest in more festivals and boost tourism in the City of Trees.
The plan includes funding for a new hotel and convention center, upgrades to boardwalks and docks, and other building refurbishments in Old Sacramento.
“We are at the confluence of two rivers,” Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said at the press conference. “We have talked for years about doing something on and for our waterfront. Now, we have the money and the resources … we have the will, and now we have the plan.”
City leaders said funding for the majority of these infrastructure upgrade projects is expected to come from Transient Occupancy Taxes, which are fees paid by Sacramento hotel visitors. They also announced $5 million in state funding has been secured to assist with the upgrades and construction of the 330-room hotel, thanks to legislation put forward by Senator Angelique Ashby.
“The hotel is really important,” Ashby said. “Not just for the convention center, but we have the No. 1 arena in basketball. Why haven't we hosted the [NBA] All-Star Game? Because we don't have enough hotel rooms. Yet, every time we build a new hotel, it gets us closer to that goal and closer to more experiences for the people of Sacramento to enjoy living here.”
Senator Angelique Ashby speaks about plans to revitalize Old Sacramento Waterfront at a press conference on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024.Keyshawn Davis/CapRadio
The plan also would give Visit Sacramento, the city’s tourism bureau, $2 million to attract more festivals.
“Over the last couple of years, the evolution of these larger festivals and events — the Iron Mans, the Aftershocks, the Golden Skies — bring people to our restaurants, pack our hotel rooms [and] bring revenue to the city,” said Michael Ault, Executive Director of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership.
Funding for these projects is expected to be doled out in two separate waves: The first $25 would go toward the Old Sacramento infrastructure upgrades, and the second would go to the tourism bureau and to other projects aimed at redeveloping Old Sacramento.
This all comes less than 48 hours after Sacramento City Council unanimously approved two term sheets fast-tracking development of a soccer stadium and entertainment district in the Downtown Railyards.
“I guess you might say, ‘another week, another big announcement,’ here in Sacramento as a city hungry for more,” Steinberg said. “We are just getting started.”
In 2019, the city launched a similar effort to revitalize Old Sacramento’s waterfront. The $47 million project was expected to include a waterfront park, a lawn for festivals and concerts and an interactive fountain, among other things. However, the project was put on hold when COVID-19 struck and hotel use declined sharply, depleting city hotel tax revenue.
Steinberg will present the plans at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
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