Retail politics

A collective cheer went up among Sacramento’s Moe-foes last week, as the city finally started court proceedings to take Moe Mohanna’s property on K Street and give it to developer/fancy-furniture seller Joe Zeiden. That upscale shopping district is now just a tantalizing few-to-several-years away.

For all you cynics who think it isn’t worth the trouble, let Upfront put things in perspective. Sacramento’s budget deficit is something like $55 million, while the city has only sunk about $20 million into buying buildings for Zeiden so far. Figure in court costs, and whatever the city ultimately has to fork over to Mohanna (let’s say $10 million), and there’s no way the whole package breaks $40 million. Probably.

Plus, the new Z Gallerie that Zeiden will build there is sure to be at least as nice as the one opening in Roseville, or the one in Fresno, or the one in Torrance, or Lyndurst, Ohio, or Schaumburg, Illinois, or the 60-plus other locations around the country.