Building Near Golden 1 Center Could be Converted to Office Condos

Downtown Sacramento could see its first office condominium conversion since being upended by the Covid-19 pandemic.

City planners have received an application to put a condo map on a four-story building at 700 L St., creating for-sale spaces of up to 7,000 square feet.

“This is very popular right now in Folsom and Roseville,” said Turton Commercial Real Estate President Ken Turton, whose firm is marketing the building for lease and eventually, potential condo sales. “I’m shocked we haven’t seen it more in Downtown Sacramento.”

Under the proposed plan, the ground floor of 7,000 square feet, second floor of 3,000 square feet and top two floors of 7,000 square feet each would become individual condos for either office, or on the ground floor, retail users.

Turton said the building is also in contract to be sold to a new owner, who he did not identify. The new owner is carrying out the plan for conversion and should close escrow by year’s end, once the map in is place, Turton said.

That new owner will also oversee necessary renovations for turning the building into condos, he said. Turton Commercial is marketing the condos at about $300 per square foot, with tenant improvements priced at about $125 per square foot, he added.

Built in 1975, 700 L St. for the majority of its history was a local hub for Union Bank. After U.S. Bank acquired Union, it sold 700 L St. to Schwager Development LLC for $4.3 million in 2021.

After the sale, Turton brokers said the owners planned to fully renovate the building to attract new office and retail tenants. It’s not clear if those efforts bore any fruit; a message sent to Schwager through the company website wasn’t returned Thursday.

Even so, the building still has a lot of positive attributes, Turton said. “It’s a 7,000-square-foot office condo, two blocks from the Capitol and near Golden 1 Center, with parking,” he said. “You can’t get that.”

Other building owners in the urban core may consider such options as well, though not all have the neighborhood amenities that make 700 L St. a good bet, he said.

Turning an office building into condos also brings other complexities, such as all the owners agreeing on building upgrades or amenities, he added.