Almost twenty years ago, Dr. Anthony Wallace founded New Direction Christian Center, which grew into a large church with Christian school and many programs.  For a period of time, the church occupied a 22,000 square foot building at 6524 44th Street in South Sacramento, which is now occupied by Bayside of South Sacramento.

Dr. Anthony Wallace

Dr. Anthony Wallace

Unfortunately, due to financial hardships, New Direction couldn’t hang on to the building it once owned due to the crushing recession.  In the years since, New Direction has rented different facilities for church services, including a long-term shared arrangement with a Seventh-Day Adventist church and for the past two years through Sunday-only rentals of the historic Guild Theater in the Oak Park neighborhood of Sacramento.  New Direction has always been blessed with a place to meet, but its members have longed for the day when they can once again utilize their own building throughout the entire week.

Continue Reading…

Floyd Rothenberger, better known as JR, has been serving up some of THE BEST Bar-B-Que west of the Mississippi for the past 29 years. Having started his career at a young age working with his father in the family roofing business (ROOF General Roofing), JR progressed to become the preferred roofer of choice for all of Sacramento’s most prominent commercial real estate developers and even roofed the personal homes of the late Buzz Oates and Joe Benvenuti.

Click here for related article in the Sacramento Business Journal.

JR’s Texas Bar-B-Que – 29 years @ 180 Otto Circle (South Sacramento)

In 1986, following over 30 years in roofing, JR met a Bar-B-Que man from Texas. After watching the process, JR noticed it looked pretty similar to his roofing tar pot and figured that cooking tar and bar-b-que couldn’t be much different. So, JR applied his best-in-class roofing skills to a best-in-class bar-b-que process and put his new smoking techiques to the test with the toughest clientele he knew… roofers (who don’t agree on anything), contractors (who always think they’re the best) and car salesman (looking for a good deal). All agreed that JR’s Texas Bar-B-Que was by far the best. As a result, JR opened JR’s Texas Bar-B-Que in November 1987 at 180 Otto Circle, near the former Campbell’s Soup Factory in South Sacramento. 

Continue Reading…

Save Point Tavern – Sacramento’s first tabletop and gaming tavern to open in East Sac

For years, self-proclaimed gamers, geeks and nerds have been gathering at watering holes in some of Midtown Sacramento’s most popular establishments to play tabletop games and drink beer. Two regulars with an entrepreneurial spirit, Dariush Gheyssarieh and Anthony Barajas, decided to take their quest to the next level by raising funds to launch their own fantasy medieval style tavern.

Click here for related stories by the Sacramento Business Journal (3/4/15 & 3/13/15) and NOW 100.5 FM.

Continue Reading…

Bilingual Christian Center sells to Sacramento True Buddha Temple

The former Canterbury Inn, a once thriving 152 room hotel and conference center off Highway 160 (just north of Downtown Sacramento), divested its 7,000 square foot meeting room and banquet facility over 10 years ago. To facilitate the transaction, a lot line adjustment was first required to split the parcel, thereby creating 450 Media Place. Legal access to the resulting back lot (0.8 acres) was only by easement through the hotel parking lot with no access along the private frontage road. The buyer for this new parcel (in 2003) was Bilingual Christian Center, a Spanish speaking church, who had applied for and was granted a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) by the City of Sacramento to accomplish the new use. Approximately 18 months ago, the church decided to sell and relocate elsewhere with a desire for more street visibility.

Continue Reading…

6420 46th Street Apartments (South Sacramento) – 14 units sold in 3 weeks

Almost three years ago an Australian investor acquired 6420 46th Street (14 unit apartments) in South Sacramento “site unseen” for $875,000 ($62,500 per unit / $70 per square foot). The property, built in 1990, was in good condition at the time of sale, but had been managed by a local owner for the previous nine years. Due to the hands on approach, average length of tenant occupancy was around four years at the time of sale (Nov 2011) and the landlord had been able to collect rents fairly well.  The new, absentee owner, tried to manage the property from afar with local family assistance and quickly ran into trouble during the first six months. It was readily apparent that a professional management company needed to be called in to right the ship.    

Click here for related article by the Sacramento Business Journal.

Continue Reading…

East West Commercial Real Estate is a boutique brokerage firm based in Orange County with over twenty agents in five states.  After leaving a long commercial real estate lending career with Wells Fargo, Brian Jacks (Northern California Regional Vice President of East West Commercial) launched the company’s Sacramento office in November 2011.  Considering the local economy is still weak, there has been sufficient activity to keep busy with several high profile commercial and non-profit lease transactions, such as Drewski’s Hot Rod Kitchen, Hacker Lab, Jackson Sports Academy, Fitness System, Curves, Streamline Church and Cornerstone Christian School.  

East West Commercial Real Estate – Sacramento area lease transactions

Continue Reading…

On Sutterville Road in Land Park is a two story office building located right in between the Sacramento Zoo, La Bou Café and Sprouts Market.  Until recently, this 40,000 square foot building had become almost entirely devoid of tenants and business activity due to the severe recession.  However, it’s not the first time this particular property has succumbed to the pressures of a deteriorating local economy.  

Land Park office building becomes focal point of community once again

Click here for related article in Sacramento Business Journal.

Continue Reading…

It’s still a tenant’s market out there… and its been that way for quite some time here in the Sacramento area.  Commercial property owners know all to well that savvy tenant’s have the upper hand when it comes to negotiating new or renewal leases.  However, not being armed with the right information (and trying to go it alone) can lead to less than stellar results.  

Photo by the Sacramento Business Journal

The Sacramento Business Journal discussed in a recent article how Rob Fauble, owner of The Beat (a record store in Midtown Sacramento), lost his commercial property lease after 19 years in business at 1700 J Street.  Although Rob make the right decision to hire a local Sacramento commercial real estate broker, he was still unsuccessful in cutting a deal with the landlord to let him stay.  Occasionally, a commercial property owner has the opportunity to upgrade a tenant with a national company, who can pay more rent and create value for the property… such as the case with The Beat’s former location.  

More often that not, however, in this current market, tenant’s hold the necessary leverage to negotiate highly favorable lease terms for commercial property throughout the greater Sacramento area.  Continue reading below for a list of do’s and dont’s to learn how tenants can best prepare for this important task.

Continue Reading…

China’s growing appetite for foreign goods is staggering and California is racing to meet the challenge.  Fueled by Governor Brown’s whirlwind trip to six Chinese cities last April, a follow up trip took place in May by the California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce (CalAsian Chamber) and officials within the City of Sacramento.  Click here for video.

Having the privilege of participating with the CalAsian Chamber delegation, I joined Pat Fong Kushida (President of CalAsian Chamber) and Margaret Wong (President of McWong International), along with elected officials and many other business leaders on our first stop in Shanghai.  Here, we visited the brand new California-China Office of Trade and Investment, which is operated by the Bay Area Council. It is the first foreign trade office California has re-opened since all were shut down in 2003.

Shanghai Tower (left) – second tallest building in the world, 2073 feet tall, 121 stories, 4 million sf

Continue Reading…

Living in Sacramento, its easy to take for granted that we actually reside in the State Capitol of California, which represents the 9th largest economy in the entire world.  At times, a healthy reminder is in order to draw attention to this remarkable privilege that we all share.  Important matters are considered and decided every day inside the venerable halls of the State Capitol.  We are certainly fortunate to now have our very own local correspondent, Christopher Arns (Sacramento Business Journal), who has already written over 40 stories covering legislative activities surrounding the State Capitol since January.  

It is incumbent upon citizens to communicate with legislators to ensure their voices are heard.  It is within this context I participated last week in the 4th Annual Legislative Summit at the State Capitol, hosted by the California Asian Chamber of Commerce.  Pat Fong Kushida (President & CEO of the CalAsian Chamber) led four teams who met with over 40 legislative offices to discuss pro-business issues including workforce development, taxation, economic development, and regulatory reform.  It was a terrific day with open dialogue and a distinct willingness to come together.

California State Senator Jim Nielsen (third from left) with CalAsian Chamber lobby team

One such meeting took place with Senator Jim Nielsen (see picture above), where team representatives connected on a personal level, sharing concerns and ideas for improvement in various areas.  This scene repeated itself many times throughout the day as we walked the halls, transitioning from one meeting to the next.  In a fitting culmination of events, the CalAsian Chamber lobby teams capped off the evening with a tasteful reception with dozens of legislators and staffers, along with community and business leaders.

Continue Reading…