We’re talking with some of Sacramento’s mightiest movers and shakers this year, people who are bringing changes, making waves and putting California’s capital on the map in bold font.
First up is a conversation with two of Sacramento’s most well-known groundbreakers — literally — who are responsible for what the city's growth will look like.
Katherine Bardis and Bay Miry were born into real estate development families, and they’re carrying on the tradition. They like to go into under-the-radar parts of town and revitalize them (Miry's red-hot “R Street Corridor” and the 700 block of K Street; Bardis' housing community, the Mill). They’re taking innovative spins on how “mixed-use” housing and retail should go together, and how it should fit into a community. They’re addressing head-on the challenges of affordable housing and the fear of gentrification. And they just got married.
We're in Ruhstaller’s basement taproom in downtown Sacramento with Bardis and Miry as they tell us about their current construction projects and what Sacramento should/could look like in the future.
PODCAST PLAY BY PLAY
* O to 4:35 min - Intro to California Groundbreakers
* 4:35 min - Katherine and Bay introduce themselves -- and tell us about the buildings in Sacramento they admire most (that are not theirs)
* 10:45 min - Growing up in real estate development families, and how that type of childhood made them want (or not) to go into the family business
* 19 min - A past or present construction project that is particularly significant to each of them, and to Sacramento
* 28:15 min - Who is the target customer these days?
* 36:30 min - How are you adjusting your projects for macro trends (i.e., a potential recession); and what innovative projects around the U.S. do you want to bring to Sacramento?
* 43:15 min - The role of "mixed use" development in Sacramento's future; and is the "Bay Area effect" really happening here?
* 49:30 min - Two wishes for changing how building and development is done in Sacramento
* 51:40 min - Thoughts on our new Governor's plans for tackling California's housing crisis
* 55 min - The role of gentrification in development -- and their role in it
* 1 hr, 1:10 min - If you were given $500,000, what would you build? What about $500 million?
* 1 hr, 5:20 min - The frustrations of a service-industry worker about Sacramento's unaffordable housing - and what can developers do about that?
(photo by Nicholas Wray - www.nicholaswray.com)
