The Abridged version:
- Developers last week unveiled plans that would put a new sports complex in Citrus Heights, demolishing the largely vacant Sunrise Mall to do so.
- In all, the facility would span about 160,000 square feet and include ice rinks, turf fields and courts for basketball, volleyball and pickleball.
- Citrus Heights is considering putting up $60 million in public bonds to solidify the deal with The Mettle Shop, a development group.
The city of Citrus Heights is considering putting up to $60 million in public dollars to help spur redevelopment of the troubled Sunrise Mall site.
Last week, developers unveiled plans to demolish the largely vacant mall and replace it with a new sports complex with ice rinks, indoor and outdoor turf fields and courts for basketball, volleyball and pickleball.
The new Sunrise Sports Center would include a 4,000-seat arena with two NHL-sized ice sheets, indoor and outdoor turf fields and courts for basketball, volleyball and pickleball. In all, the facility would span about 160,000 square feet and is intended as a “year-round destination” for sports and entertainment, according to development group The Mettle Shop.
On Tuesday, the Citrus Heights City Council is set to vote on an economic development and participation agreement with The Mettle Shop. The vote would mark the city’s first formal agreement with the developers. If approved, the project would have to go through full environmental review and additional council votes down the line.
Potential public financing for new sports complex
Citrus Heights is considering putting up $60 million in public bonds to solidify the deal with The Mettle Shop.
A staff report on the agreement says public financing can be used to create viability for large projects that “would not otherwise ‘pencil’ under conventional private market conditions.”
“Continued delay would result in lost economic opportunity, diminished fiscal returns, and the persistence of blight at one of the city’s most visible locations,” the staff report states.
The report describes that the financing would have “several layers of protection” for the city, including using the property as collateral and giving Citrus Heights the first position to claim the property ahead of other creditors.
In exchange for the public financing, The Mettle Shop would be responsible for acquiring the property that currently holds Sunrise Mall, demolishing buildings on the 13.5-acre portion of the site where the sports complex would sit.
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The Mettle Shop initially had sights on bringing a similar project to Folsom, dating back to at least 2022. Under the latest plans, the group would work with developer Tallen Capital to bring the site to Sunrise Boulevard instead.
“Citrus Heights provided a pathway to build this much quicker,” said Matt Mahon, spokesperson for The Mettle Group.
Vacant storefronts plague Sunrise Mall
Sunrise Mall is far from its heyday of decades past. Vacant storefronts outnumber stores with active tenants, the food court is shuttered and portions of the mall are blocked off to the public.
The site is currently owned by Namdar Realty, which has faced significant scrutiny from the city of Citrus Heights. In a lawsuit filed last summer, the city alleged that the mall had become an “intolerable public nuisance” and sought some $565,000 in unpaid fees and penalties from Namdar.
The city adopted a formal plan in 2021 to “re-imagine” the 100-acre site that includes Sunrise Mall. The plan sketches out a vision to replace the mall with 2,200 housing units, three hotels, a tech hub and new office spaces, plus new restaurants and outdoor event spaces.
Felicia Alvarez is a reporter at Abridged covering accountability. She’s called Sacramento home since 2015 and has reported on government, health care and breaking news topics for both local and national news outlets.