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Category: Business

  • Public hearing to be held for proposed event center near Sunrise Mall

    Public hearing to be held for proposed event center near Sunrise Mall

    The site of a former nightclub at 7942 Arcadia Drive in Citrus Heights is proposed to become an event center. // M. Hazlip

    By Phillip Pesola–
    The Citrus Heights Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on Wednesday before deciding on whether to approve a use permit for a new event center on Arcadia Drive, in the Citrus Town Center.

    According to the staff report included in the commission’s Sept. 13 agenda packet, the proposed event center would be available to rent for events such as weddings, birthdays, baby showers, graduations, conferences, and seminars. The 6,000-square-foot building at 7942 Arcadia Drive has been vacant since 2018.

    The Sentinel previously reported in July that plans had been submitted by Citrus Town Event Center LLC to city staff for review. The space was previously home to a string of nightclubs including Alley Katz, Paradise Beach and Sand Bar.

    Sam Hameed, the owner of Citrus Town Event Center, indicated in the project description that security guards would be hired for each event. He also stated that a wall, sound barrier, and sound level monitor would be added to the site to address any noise concerns of nearby residents.

    The proposed use permit specifies a 10 p.m. cutoff for music and patio use at the event center. Additionally, in order to minimize noise, no music or organized events are allowed in the patio area, and no doors may be propped open during an event. These conditions were added due to the close proximity of homes along Arcadia Drive within 200 feet of the site.

    Project plans indicate that there will be no structural changes to the existing building. The interior is expected to be updated with refinished walls and floors, new interior designs, and changes to the food prep area.

    All property owners within 500 feet of the project site were notified by mail of the upcoming meeting. At the time of publication of the meeting agenda, the city had not received any comments on the project, according to the staff report.

    Those interested in commenting on the project can do so in person at 6 p.m. this Wednesday at City Hall, located at 6360 Fountain Square Drive, or by submitting a comment via email to planning@citrusheights.net, which will be read aloud during the meeting.

  • Plans for mystery ‘grocer’ tenant in Citrus Heights still moving forward

    A recently remodeled location at Sunrise Village is listed as being the future home of an unnamed grocer tenant. // M. Hazlip

    By Mike Hazlip—
    Months after exterior renovations were completed, a prominent anchor suite at the Sunrise Village shopping center on the northwest corner of Sunrise Boulevard and Madison Avenue remains vacant with an unnamed grocer tenant still slated to open in the space.

    Tenant improvements appear to be underway inside, but no signage was visible as of Sept. 6. An email inquiry to property owner MerloneGeier Partners was not responded to by press time, but Sunrise Marketplace Executive Director Kathilynn Carpenter confirmed in an email that the name of the grocer planning to open has not yet been released.

    Citrus Heights spokeswoman Marissa Brown said the tenants have not yet filed plans with the city.

    Several sources with knowledge of the project last year told The Sentinel that Amazon Fresh was slated to become the tenant for the space. The Sentinel was not able to confirm the statements with the retailer directly.

    Amazon is known for being silent about plans for its grocery concept stores to open in other parts of the country. An Ohio-based news outlet reported Amazon being mum about plans for a new grocery store in Cleveland and said the company is known for using a generic “National Grocer” name for its projects elsewhere.

    The tenant is only listed as “grocer coming soon” in online marketing information for the shopping center.

    Redevelopment of the Sunrise Village shopping center has been ongoing since the first quarter of 2021 with the demolition of the Benihana restaurant. Recently, See’s Candies moved into the former Patelco building and updated signage at the entrance was put in place.

  • Citrus Heights Leatherby’s to host first-ever Sock Hop event

    File photo, Leatherby’s is located at 7910 Antelope Rd., in Citrus Heights. // CH Sentinel

    Sentinel staff report–
    The Leatherby’s restaurant near Sunrise Boulevard and Antelope Road will host a Sock Hop event on Friday, Sept. 15, with a DJ, classic cars and games.

    General Manager Leslie Ray told The Sentinel in an email last week that the event will be held from 4-9 p.m. on Friday night. She said the event has a goal to highlight members of the community and will include participation from the Citrus Heights Police Activities League and the City Council, and a visit from Metro Fire. High school sports teams in the area have also been invited.

    See event flier: click here.

    Sock Hop parties date back to the 1950s, and possibly earlier, originating as informal school dances where participants had to take off their shoes to not damage varnished gym floors. Sock Hop parties today often include hula hoop competitions, the limbo, jump rope, costume contests and other activities.

    Leatherby’s is located at 7910 Antelope Rd., in Citrus Heights.

  • What’s going on with the housing market in Citrus Heights?

    A 3,348-square-foot home for sale on Cottingham Way is one of the highest price listings in Citrus Heights in September 2023. // CH Sentinel

    By Mike Hazlip—
    The highest-priced homes in Citrus Heights top out just under $900,000, down from a record-breaking million-dollar listing that sold over the summer.

    As of Sept. 6, two homes are listed over $800,000 with most single-family dwellings in Citrus Heights asking prices in the $5-600,000 range, according to a Sentinel review of real estate listings.

    The top spot is a 2,728-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-bath home at 8117 Glen Canyon Ct. that is listed for $899,000. At more than $300 per square foot, the listing has been on the market for more than 130 days. It features a private gated entrance, new roof, and updated bathrooms, lighting, and kitchen, according to the listing.

    A second home in that price bracket is a 3,343-square-foot five-bedroom, three-bathroom home listed for $865,000. Built in 1991, the home at 7713 Cottingham Way offers a pool, three-car-garage, and an open floor plan, the listing says. Priced at $259 per square foot, the home has been on the market for about two weeks.

    In an Aug. 16 article, real estate appraisal expert Ryan Lundquist said he is seeing a “weird housing market” that is a combination of high prices but decreased volume. The market has likely seen a seasonal peak in July, Lundquist said, with weekly median sales price in the Sacramento region in the high $500,000 range.

    Lundquist told The Sentinel the highest price ever recorded for a single-family home in Citrus Heights was $1,090,000 in June of this year. There was also a property with two houses on one lot that sold for $1.25 million last year, he said.

    “What’s happening to prices in Citrus Heights is very similar to the regional price trend, which underscores that all ships rise and fall with the tide,” he said. “Prices are down from the peak in May 2022, but after a spring rebound this year, they’re not down as much as they were in the fall of 2022.”

    One factor in the current market is higher interest rates that Lundquist said has “cooled the market.” Sacramento County sales have slowed 45 percent in the last 60 days compared to the average prior to 2020.

    “Simply put, it’s more difficult today to make the math work for buyers,” he said, noting that both buyers and sellers need affordability as sellers seek replacement homes.

  • Citrus Heights site once slated to become theater back on market

    File photo, an unfinished building at 8501 Auburn Blvd. is back on the market. // S. Williams

    By Mike Hazlip—
    A large, partially renovated commercial building in Citrus Heights with visibility from Interstate 80 is back on the market, with the listing noting potential for a movie theater, gym or grocery tenant.

    The 60,034 square-foot building at 8501 Auburn Blvd. that was once home to K-mart is now listed on commercial real estate site LoopNet. The property is listed by Colliers for sale or lease, and no price is listed for the asset.

    Messages left with the Colliers listing agent on Thursday were not returned by press time.

    A listing at Colliers.com shows a total of three parcels make up the 4.58-acre site. A brochure describes the site as “currently in cold shell condition. Project is in process of movie theater specific buildout.”

    The listing shows an adjacent former Big Lots store and most of the front parking lot facing Auburn Boulevard are not included in the offering, but 300 parking spaces located to the south of the building are included.

    The site was slated to become a Studio Movie Grill until the theater chain filed bankruptcy in October of 2020. The company exited bankruptcy about six months later, according to a 2021 announcement by the Dallas-based chain.

    The Sentinel previously reported that another theater chain had plans to develop the site, but the name of the potential tenant was never disclosed. STORE Capital acquired the building in 2021, with the company’s website saying it focuses on long-term investing with purchases made in cash and properties turned around for leasing to tenants.

    As previously reported, the partially renovated, abandoned building has been vacant since 2016, when the Citrus Heights Kmart store liquidated its inventory and closed its doors. Plans for a Studio Movie Grill began to take form in 2017, but later fell through.

    The building was first constructed in 1972 and has a renovation date of 2020 listed.

  • Citrus Heights hot chicken restaurant gets new name with new owner

    Owner Mohammad Samim Omary stands inside his newly renamed grill house in Citrus Heights. // M. Hazlip

    By Mike Hazlip—
    A restaurant known for spicy chicken dishes has a new name and new owner who says he is bringing back some of the Middle-Eastern foods that were once served there.

    The former Inferno Chicken restaurant near the Target in the Marketplace at Birdcage is under new ownership with more food choices on the menu. Owner Mohammad Samim Omary said he purchased the business from previous Inferno Chicken owner Naz Salmanyan in March of 2023.

    Now called Sam’s Grill House, Omary said he plans to keep some of the same fried chicken menu items, burgers, and spicy sauces while also offering some food choices from his home country of Afghanistan. He said the location once served Armenian food that is similar to the kabobs and wraps he serves.

    Omary also owns a similar restaurant in Roseville, Skewers Kabob and Gyro Grill, and said he was able to open the second location after he returned to help some of his family members leave Afghanistan in August of 2021.

    “When the government collapsed, there was the evacuation decided from the U.S.,” he said. “They were allowing a couple of family members. Because there was no one from my family to be with them on the evacuations, they came out with me.”

    Omary said he is one of the lucky ones who made it out of the country.

    “There was lots of struggling being outside the airport back home because it was a hundred thousand people trying to get in to the evacuation, “he said. ” I was lucky.”

    In the six years that Omary has been in the United States, he’s taken college courses and worked various jobs before venturing into the restaurant business.

    “I feel like Allah is helping, God is helping me,” he said. “Wherever I go I can feel that God is helping me to reach my goals.”

    Sam’s Grill House is located at 5925 Birdcage Centre Ln., suite 109, and is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, according to the restaurant’s webpage.

  • New burrito drive-thru opens in Citrus Heights after years-long delay

    Restaurant owner Jaime Tobanche stands outside California Burrito, at 7858 Lichen Drive. // M. Hazlip

    By Mike Hazlip—
    The long-awaited opening of California Burrito on Lichen Drive near Interstate 80 arrived this week.

    California Burrito opened Wednesday, Aug. 30, at 7858 Lichen Drive and was already seeing a steady stream of customers during a visit by Sentinel staff. Restaurant owner Jaime Tobanche said the delay was due to a combination of factors including new requirements to bring the building up to code and a delay in the architectural plans.

    Opening day was not without its hiccups, Tobanche said. There were problems with the wireless internet network as well as the payment devices, he said. Staff gave away food at no charge for about an hour until the system was back up and running.

    Tobanche said the location near Raley’s needed additional plans to bring the building up to current code requirements, since a restaurant has not operated at the location in more than a year. The building was a Goodwill location for years, after the closure of a Kentucky Fried Chicken.

    The delay was costly for Tobanche, who said he was able to open his previous locations in a shorter time frame. This, the company’s 15th location, is the first in Citrus Heights, he said.

    California Burrito began renovation of the property last year after a failed attempt to bring a Burger King to the location in 2021, according to a previous report by The Sentinel. The Burger King franchise was blocked after discovery of a 1987 non-compete clause in favor of the adjacent McDonald’s restaurant, the prospective franchise owner said.

    California Burrito lists locations throughout Sacramento, Fairfield, Vacaville, Lodi, Antioch, and Pittsburgh, according to their website. Each location has between 12 and 14 employees, Tobanche said.

    While the building was vacant, Tobanche said it was vandalized and about 20 homeless people were living inside. Now that the location is open, he hopes the restaurant will operate in Citrus Heights long-term.

    “I want to have a good relationship with the people here and the city, give good customer service, good food,” he said. “And I hope they like it and we stay here for a long, long time.”

    According to an online menu, California Burrito locations serve a variety of Mexican foods, including breakfast burritos, combo plates, seafood, tostadas and tacos.

  • How much rent is at those new low-income apartments in Citrus Heights?

    Sunrise Pointe is located at 7424 Sunrise Blvd., in Citrus Heights. // Josiah Otterstad

    By Mike Hazlip—
    Sunrise Pointe, which opened on Sunrise Boulevard near Oak Avenue this summer, is accepting tenants with varying rents calculated based on income as a percentage of the median income.

    Asked what rental rates tenants are paying, Irvine-based developer Jamboree Housing Director of Marketing and Communications Marissa Feliciano told The Sentinel that rent varies for each of 46 low income units. Month-to-month rent is calculated based on income and apartment size and can range between $200 and $890 per month, she said.

    Feliciano said households that earn between 30 percent and 50 percent of the area median income can qualify to become tenants. Applications are through the John Stewart Company, which manages Sunrise Pointe.

    The community has a total of 47 units, with 46 of those designated for low income individuals and families. One unit is fair market rent, for the on-site, live-in manager.

    Sunrise Pointe is a cooperative effort between Sacramento based housing assistance organization Hope Cooperative and Jamboree Housing. Amenities include a community room and kitchen, an after school program, outdoor BBQ and picnic areas, and a playground. There is also a laundry facility at the site.

    The supportive housing project combines housing and mental health assistance, along with assistance for residents in job training and household budgeting.

  • Large lot once slated to become church campus listed for $825k

    A vacant parcel at 7828 Auburn Blvd. was once slated to become the site of a large church campus. // M. Hazlip

    By Mike Hazlip—
    Vacant land across from Rusch Park once slated to be home to a new church building is now on the market for $825,000.

    A 2.79-acre site at 7828 Auburn Blvd. was listed by Synergize Realty President Robert Balina and includes 255 feet of frontage along Auburn Boulevard. A phone call to Balina on Thursday morning was not returned by press time.

    The price works out to $295,699 per acre and is listed as commercial, according to the listing. An adjacent 1.14-acre parcel is also available, according to the listing.

    The Sentinel previously reported the Planning Commission unanimously approved development of a 34,000-square-foot church building and auditorium at the site in 2021. Landowner Pioneer Baptist had plans to develop the property, but rising construction costs and a rapidly growing congregation influenced their decision to purchase an existing church facility, Pastor Kyle Conley told The Sentinel previously.

    Records show Cripple Creek runs through the property, causing Pioneer Baptist to develop plans that would accommodate projected flood water levels. A document provided with the listing shows city approval of a use permit, design review permit and a tree permit was set to expire on July 28, 2023, but a request for a one-year extension was submitted by the church.

    From 2020: Proposed future church site in Citrus Heights has not-so-holy past

    Although the future of the property is unknown, The Sentinel previously reported that the smaller vacant parcel on northern side of Cripple Creek has had a seedy reputation and has changed hands several times over the years.

    Citrus Heights historian Larry Fritz said early records show a bar called the Cripple Creek Tavern was located at the site and was known as “kind of a rowdy place.” In the documentary, Ladies to the Rescue, one first-responder recalled responding to emergencies in the middle of the night at the Cripple Creek Tavern in the 1960s, where said she would bring her dog for backup.

    Sometime after the tavern shut down, the building became a nude bar called the Satin Lady, which later became Cheerleaders. Jeannie Bruins, a former councilwoman who led the city’s incorporation effort in the 1990s, previously told The Sentinel there was a concerted effort to stop the owner of Cheerleaders from expanding with a second location, and also to shut down the existing location.

    A report from the Sacramento Business Journal from March of 1999 shows local citizens held a protest to stop the “invasion of our city by sexually oriented businesses.”

    After the closure of Cheerleaders, Bruins said the city contacted the property owner who gave permission to bulldoze the building, and the property has sat vacant since then.

  • 92-year-old Citrus Heights resident reflects on six decades with See’s Candies

    Esther Pelkey stands in front of See’s Candies new store at 5499 Sunrise Blvd, in Citrus Heights. // M. Hazlip

    Updated Aug. 22, 1:10 p.m.–
    By Mike Hazlip— Esther Pelkey started working for See’s Candies in the 1950s, long before the company’s now-shuttered location at Sunrise Mall ever opened.

    The Sentinel spoke with Pelkey at the new See’s Candies store on Sunrise Boulevard, where she shared about her six-decades of work with the company. Retiring in 2018, Pelkey said she started working in 1950, although official records only count her employment from 1953 onward.

    The 92-year-old said she managed the first Roseville location for the candy company and also worked at other locations in downtown Sacramento. She recalls Citrus Heights being “way out in the country back then,” and describes the new location on Sunrise Boulevard “very pretty, but very similar to the old ones.”

    Now a resident of Citrus Heights, Pelkey said she also lived in Orangevale and has seen the area go through changes, coming full circle with the recent closure of the Sunrise Mall See’s Candies location.

    “Sunrise Mall was nothing back then,” Pelkey said. “But of course it’s not much now either. It kind of went from nothing to something and now nothing again.”

    A broken leg and failing eyesight prompted Pelkey to retire five years ago, she said, adding that she might still be working if her health would allow it. Pelkey said she enjoyed her time with the company and would look forward to going to work.

    Her children often received boxes of chocolates for Christmas and other occasions. At a price of just $1 per pound in those early days, Pelkey would give out gift certificates for a pound of chocolate, telling her children the certificates would increase in value as the price of chocolate increased. At $32 per pound today, the company no longer offers gift certificates by weight.

    Marzipan and Polar Bear Paw are her favorite chocolates today, although she says it would change from day to day during her time with See’s Candies.

    See’s Candies was founded in 1921 by Charles See, who opened the first shop in Los Angeles and sold candies made from his mother’s original recipes, according to the company’s website. More stores opened up across the state over the years, until See’s Candies was purchased by Berkshire Hathaway in 1972 and later expanded internationally.

    See’s Candies was one of the original stores that opened at Sunrise Mall, which remained open until this summer.

    Correction: a prior version of this story incorrectly referred to the new See’s Candies building as a corporate headquarters for the company. Initial information from the building’s property owner indicated the building would be home to corporate offices as well as a retail store, but a See’s Candies spokeswoman later confirmed the new location “solely serves as a retail location.”