State of Downtown 2025
Making Progress Through Partnership
This year’s State of Downtown was a special one for Downtown Sac. In a few months, downtown property owners will be voting to renew our organization for another ten years. This year’s event focused heavily on declaring our priorities for the next ten years, and reflecting on our community’s accomplishments over the past decade.
And what a decade it’s been. Since 2016, Sacramento has accomplished:
- An expanded convention and performing arts center
- A multi-billion dollar medical complex under construction in the Railyards
- The Golden 1 Center ranked as the #1 arena in the NBA
- A second major league sports franchise
- A soccer stadium in the works — driven by the first professional team majority owned by a Native American tribe
- A new grand gateway to Capitol Mall
- A 20% increase in downtown residential population
Most of that happened while navigating the effects of the pandemic, by the way.
As this year’s theme, Progress Through Partnership, made clear: none of that is by chance — it’s the result of a community coming together in the pursuit of impossible dreams.
Next on that list: bringing a downtown university campus to fruition. We got to share that Sacramento State is in the process of exploring how it can transform Capitol Mall with a university village. We’ve been facilitating conversations with the university and the state, and are here to support any efforts to see it through.
A Lifetime of Service
Every year, the Jvance Stewart Award for Community Service goes to a community leader who is dedicated to improving the quality of life in downtown through service. The 2025 recipient was Janie Desmond Ison, the long-time owner of Steamers Café in Old Sacramento Waterfront, and one of the leaders that helped establish the Downtown Sacramento Partnership.
Janie has been a fierce advocate for downtown and reminds us on a regular basis to not forget about the importance that old Sacramento holds to our region. As Janie loves to say, “History should be our north star – we must understand where we have been to know where we should be going.”
Her brother, County Supervisor Rich Desmond, along with Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum and Senator Angelique Ashby, presented Janie with County, City, and State resolutions to honor her lifetime of service.
Building Together
We also heard from other community leaders like Mayor Kevin McCarty, Athletics Interim President Sandy Dean, and Sacramento Kings Owner and Chairman Vivek Ranadive, who doubled down on his enthusiasm for our city. You can view the full program below!
Downtown, Redefined
As summarized by an editorial from KCRA: “Pushing the boundaries of what is possible only happens when we identify our biggest challenges and reimagine new solutions to set a new standard of excellence.”
What’s next for downtown? Check out this year’s annual report to see our vision for a fully-realized downtown, and our priorities for the next decade.
State of Downtown 2025
