Sac State has big plans in the city. The school plans to add campus and housing to former state office buildings.
Sacramento, CA – The plan to turn unwanted California government buildings into housing in downtown Sacramento is now being used for a major expansion of downtown Sacramento State University.
Sacramento State University will continue to evaluate the future development of the new campus of the Capitol Mall.
The development will create a new 2 to 5 million square feet mixed-use downtown center that will serve American democracy, student housing and others housing.
“This development will provide the first live, work, game mode at the heart of our city,” said Michelle Willard, head of external relations at Sacramento, in a statement.
Under the proposal, Sacramento will convert three state buildings: the Department of Employment Development at 800 Capitol Mall, the EDD Solar Building at 751 N St. and the State Personnel Commission Building at 801 Capitol Mall.
According to the General Services Department, EDD employees will be relocated to 1416 9th Street in early 2026.
Willard said the program will follow in the footsteps of other schools that open downtown campuses and mixed-use spaces, as Arizona State University’s Phoenix City Center did.
The plan to convert these buildings first was from the 2019 executive order of Gov. Gavin Newsom, which aims to identify properties owned by the excessive states that can be converted into affordable housing.
In 2023, the state chose real estate development company McCormack Baron Salazar Inc. to lead the conversion of three buildings into fully affordable housing. According to DGS, 400-800 residences will be created in these three properties and will offer everything from studios to three-bedroom apartments.
Of these units, 370 will be affordable homes, while 170 will be designated as very low-income people.
However, according to DGS, the development passed the company's request for another $1 million in funding, which the state refused to provide, causing the developer to exit the deal.
That was when Sacramento got involved, sending a letter to the state asking for the property to first deny the creation of a new campus and mixed-use center.
According to school officials, DGS approved the project through an executive order because it has a “housing factor” in which the university will provide a combination of student housing and “fair market” housing.
“We did a feasibility study that showed that Sacramento – we only provide thousands of beds for students alone,” Willard told ABC10. “We now have a waiting list of 800 students to get into student housing.”
Although it is still being planned early in the planning process, Willard said the school hopes to add at least 1,000 beds of student housing.
Housing is primarily aimed at seniors who are leveraging new American Democratic schools, Willard said having a new space so close to the state Capitol building will allow the school to strengthen many of its existing political plans.
“We are looking for a variety of different types of uses, in this downtown space, perhaps in a public affairs school [Center for California Studies] Programs. We have the Parliamentary Program, the Senate Fellow Program, the Execution of the Mercedes Program and the Judicial Fellow.
Two other developments proposed under the project are a boutique hotel, which school officials explained in a letter to DGS that could “help revitalize the hotel management program with the Culinary Academy.”
The second new development will be a comprehensive performance venue for the school’s School of Music, School of Arts and School of Literature.
The Sacramento Downtown Partnership is a backer of the development and Michael Ault, executive director of the partnership, provided a statement to ABC10 in part because:
“The vision of turning this underutilized Capitol Mall into a mixed use of the California State University’s downtown Sacramento campus is unparalleled for the city, the region and the next generation of California leaders.
Similar to the successful model, we are centrally located in higher education campuses including housing and academic facilities in other state capitals, such as Madison, Phoenix and Austin, which promotes downtown communities and injects an educated workforce into the heart of the area, which in turn provides private sector investment. ”