SACRAMENTO—With Sacramento welcoming the highly anticipated Golden 1 Center last year, it set the stage for continuing momentum in 2017. And, there are more noteworthy projects underway to revitalize the city.

The CBD trends that paved the way for a complete revitalization of the city are highlighted in a recently released report called Landmark. The report was created by a team of researchers, brokers and staff at Cushman & Wakefield. Ron Thomas is the managing principal for the firm's Sacramento offices.

Sacramento's commercial real estate market recorded strong results in 2016. Office vacancy fell by 90 basis points to 11.4% from fourth quarter 2015 to fourth quarter 2016 for the entire Sacramento MSA, with vacancies in the core CBD dropping to single digits, according to the report.

Rental rates in class-A space continue to be very attractive, which has led to considerable interest by institutional investors in core markets. One significant example of this was the sale of Wells Fargo Center, which was by far the largest office building sale of 2016, and the last decade, closing at $175.5 million. Cushman & Wakefield was involved in the disposition and was retained as the leasing agency for the asset.

Retail continues its renaissance in the city, with several major developments currently underway. Essentially, the entire retail and restaurant experience in Sacramento is being redefined and repurposed. Downtown Commons, adjacent to Golden 1 Center, will add 280,000 square feet of combined retail, hospitality, residential and office space to the already burgeoning CBD landscape.

“This is a wonderful time to be living in Sacramento. We're essentially experiencing a complete renaissance here and the CBD is just bustling with activity,” Thomas tells GlobeSt.com. “The commercial market enjoyed very positive results last year, and retail is alive and well, provided the right uses are offering customers the experience, the product and value that appeals to them.”

In other large leasing transaction news, Cushman & Wakefield recently advised Sunergy America LLC, a subsidiary of China Sunergy (Nanjing), on a 140,000-square-foot lease at McClellan Business Park, located 12 miles from downtown Sacramento. Cushman & Wakefield managing director Ken Reiff was the lead broker on the project and assisted China Sunergy in negotiating the lease with McClellan Park.

“This modern and state-of-the-art facility will result in broadening the footprint of China Sunergy and simultaneously create a substantial amount of jobs for the Greater Sacramento trade area. Sunergy America selected McClellan Business Park due to a variety of factors, including logistical, available pool of labor and this area's enthusiasm for the solar industry in general,“ said Reiff.

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District was also instrumental in consummating the deal and offered China Sunergy its economic-development rate, a special pricing structure available to new or expanding companies that will use significant amounts of energy and bring new jobs to the region.

China Sunergy is expected to begin operations inside the manufacturing building at the park in September of this year and will generate more than 200 jobs locally. The work being done at the factory will include assembling solar modules that can be placed on a ground mount or rooftop to be sold commercially.

McClellan Business Park offers amenities including aircraft-related industries, technology incubator, data call centers, and upscale hotel and conference facilities.

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