Clark Realty Capital, a national development company, has made a proposal to Sacramento State to fully finance a $300 million to $500 million “urban village” community composed of housing, shops, restaurants and offices near the campus’ south entrance along Highway 50.

While the proposal is still in the early stages and no planning or agreements for construction have been made, Sac State University Enterprises Inc. Executive Director Jim Reinhart had a meeting with Clark on Oct. 21 to discuss the ideas for the proposal.

“The purpose of Clark’s visit was to inform me of the details of the proposal. They gave an explanation of their background and examples of other projects they have done and explained their concept for the project which is very large in scope,” Reinhart said.

The “urban village” project is a potential revenue stream for the university because it involves leasing university land to the developer under a long-term ground lease. The developer would then build housing, retail space, restaurants and office space that would collect revenue.

“The proposal from Clark is of particular interest because they would be incurring the cost of the development and any associated risk,” Reinhart said. “UEI and the university would not be putting themselves at risk for any financial exposure of this transaction.”

Clark approached the university with the project a year ago. UEI is now beginning the process of moving forward with ideas that were slowed by management changes and the state’s budget crisis.

This project would be designed to provide more of a residential experience at Sac State and more of a vibrant campus life, representatives from Clark said in the proposal meeting. It would also help Sac State evolve from being primarily a commuter school to providing a more exciting, lively and welcoming campus atmosphere.

“This proposal sounds like a really good idea for the university,” said Troy Graves, senior psychology major. “(Sac State) has been known to be a school that is everyone’s last resort to attend because nothing exciting goes on here and an attraction like an “urban village” would make the campus more interesting. I hope it goes through.”

Clark has a strong interest in doing this project because the group sees potential in Sac State, Reinhart said. They see available land and the need to redevelop the area. Representatives from Clark also attended the Clean Tech Showcase Oct. 22 to observe local clean tech enterprise developments.

“UEI is going to take this proposal through the standard proposal process where it will ensure the project will ultimately benefit the students,” said John Kepley, special assistant to the president.

Before any agreements are made, information sessions on campus would be open to the public to solicit opinions and answer questions about the proposal. The project would also need to have many reports and studies done such as an environmental impact report and studies on traffic impacts to the area of the proposed project site.

Right now, the project is in the initial planning stages. There are no architectural drawings or anything of that nature that have been produced.

“We’re not sure if this project is even feasible. It may not make any sense, so all we’re doing is listening and learning at this point,” Reinhart said. “University Enterprises would not just strike a deal with Clark Realty simply because they brought a proposal to us even if we were very interested.”

A request for qualifications will be made before any agreements between Clark and the university are final. This request would invite other developers who have an interest in developing a similar project to provide their qualifications.

After they have presented their ideas, the university “can evaluate if there’s someone beside Clark who’s capable of doing a project of this size and who has got the right experience and financial resources to make this a reality,” Reinhart said.

Clark is known for pioneering development ideas, advancing urbanism and building communities all over the nation. Despite Clark’s large portfolio of successful developments, the “urban village” project is still going to be difficult to pull off during the university’s uncertain times.

There would be six to 18 acres of campus land leased to the developer and the project would be located near the 65th Street light rail and bus station. The location is intended to support the use of public transportation and reduce auto dependence with easy access for bikes and pedestrians, Reinhart said.

“I haven’t seen any new developments to the Sac State campus since I’ve been here for the past four years and if the developer is going to finance the project then it would be in our best interest to make it happen,” said Desiree Williams, senior communication studies major. “We need something like that to attract students and businesses to the campus.”

Gina Cruz can be reached as [email protected].