Groups says Sacramento city school district tried to fast-track behind-the-scenes deal to sell public land

An empty lot and a long-vacant schoolhouse are the most contentious pieces of real estate in Midtown this week.

The Sacramento City Unified School District owns the property at N and 16th streets. On Thursday, May 8, the school board was scheduled to meet and discuss the sale and transfer of the 1.2 acre property to The Hodgson Company.

Developer John Hodgson hopes to build a $40 million mixed-use project on the site. Befitting the recent trend of urban infill on 16th Street, it would be called The Jefferson Midtown—named after the old elementary school on the site—and would include housing and retail.

The problem with the May 8 meeting, however, was that it was scheduled to be closed to the public.

That was an issue for the Sacramento Native American Health Center, which also wants to purchase the property at 1619 N Street to build a cultural center.

The group argued that the private meeting was part of a school-board plan to fast-track the Jefferson proposal without public transparency. SNAHC’s Britta Guerrero told SN&R that, until recently, the board was unwilling to hear their proposal and instead appeared to be moving forward with the Jefferson project behind the scenes.

“We just would like our proposal to get equal consideration,” she says she told the district in early April. Guerrero was worried because a similar effort to repurpose the Fremont School for Adults in Midtown into a performance-arts facility was finalized by the district without a public request for proposals.

In a memo to the school district on April 23, an attorney representing SNAHC urged the board to slow down and consider both plans in a public meeting. “The District has a duty, as do all public agencies, to be good stewards of the public’s capital assets and to promote public transparency.”

SNAHC thinks they have the stronger project. In partnership with Domus Development, the group hopes to redevelop the block as a Native American cultural headquarters, complete with health-care amenities, affordable housing, an events venue and education classrooms. They have the support of Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Congresswoman Doris Matsui, among others.

Currently located on J Street in Midtown, SNAHC wants to buy the former school-board headquarters from the district and says they’re willing to pay fair market value.

After SNAHC’s lawyers accused the school district of streamlining the competing Jefferson bid behind the scenes, the May 8 meeting was canceled and later moved to next Thursday, May 15, when the board will debate all potential options for the property.

But the drama has not subsided.

The district may prefer the Hodgson Company’s plan, if only because Hodgson is in negotiations to purchase a different piece of land near an existing school-district facility. It’s been reported that the school district would like to obtain this land in a swap for the N Street parcel in order to expand.

A Domus spokeswoman told a reporter with the Sacramento Business Journal last week that the Jefferson plan amounted to an illegal gift of public funds, since the properties being swapped are not of equal value. Hodgson responded in The Sacramento Bee, stating that his company would add to the deal to even out the land swap.

Meanwhile, a third group—led by developer Bay Miry, who’s also building the 16 Powerhouse mixed-use project just south of N Street at P and 16th streets—submitted a pitch to the district last week. Miry’s group wants to lease the land to build a hotel and housing.

Guerrero says she just wants a fair process. “I don’t want to cause a bunch of drama. We would like the opportunity to gain public support,” she said.

After this week’s meeting was canceled, the district’s interim superintendent, Sara Noguchi, said the board’s goal will be to discuss all options and get the most value for the taxpayers and the students.

“The Board has not yet made any final determination with regards to this issue, nor is there yet a timetable for such a decision,” she told SN&R in a written statement.