We’re introducing our Best Real Estate Projects for 2021-2022. This is the top office rehab project.
The developers of 660 J St. have been taking a gamble.
In August 2020, when Covid was crushing the demand for Downtown office space, RevOZ Capital and Argosy Real Estate Partners bought the mostly vacant 1980s office building at the corner of Seventh and J streets. They gutted the interior, upgraded the building’s operating systems, and reskinned the exterior, betting that when the market picked up, quality office space would be the most desirable.
The vision was to “foster an environment that will attract employees back to the physical workspace,” said Alex Bhathal, founder and managing partner of RevOZ. That meant creating a Class A office building that offers a “smarter, healthier and versatile workplace for the modern post-Covid office world.”
Renamed SixSixty, the developers view the building as the capstone of the Downtown Commons retail area, the Golden 1 Center and the Kimpton Sawyer Hotel. Argosy and RevOZ bought the four-story, 120,000-square-foot building for $20.2 million from a subsidiary of Sacramento Basketball Holdings LLC. Bhathal is a co-owner and executive director of the LLC, which owns the Sacramento Kings.
The first step in the rehab was to demolish the building’s interior. “The building had solid bones,” said Julian Watt, studio director for LPA Inc., which provided engineering services for the project. “The goal was to pare it back to its structural core and redo all the systems within it, as well as the façade.”
After demolishing the interior, MarketOne Builders rehabbed the building’s common areas, including the main entry, lobby, bathrooms and corridors. But it left the second, third and fourth floors of the building “see through” or open so that individual tenants could design their own space, said James Fitzgerald, partner and owner of MarketOne, which also built the DoCo retail area.
By all accounts, the most challenging aspect of the project was refurbishing the exterior with floor-to-ceiling glass. “It was a costly and extensive process, but we prioritized giving the building a fresh, modern look,” Bhathal said.
The massive glass panels, which measure 12 feet tall and up to 5 feet wide, were fabricated off-site by Bagatelos Architectural Glass Systems Inc. in Sacramento. The north and east façades of the building, which face J and Seventh streets, are curtain walls, with the glass panes hung like a curtain from the floor slab above into slots on the floor below. The south and west sides have ribbon windows set back into metal panels to provide shade and reduce heat.
In a nod to Covid, upgrades include touchless entry using a bluetooth access control system for entrances and elevators, a mobile app to facilitate communication among in-office and remote workers, and an upgraded heating and air conditioning system. SixSixty is certified by the International Well Building Institute for its enhanced sanitation and healthy reentry plans, and is LEED certified for using sustainable sources and low-emitting building materials.
Leasing is underway, with an eye toward Bay Area tech companies with clusters of employees who fled to Sacramento during Covid. The plan is to lease the second floor to a number of smaller tenants, and the third and fourth floors each to a single large tenant.
Bhathal declined to disclose the cost of the rehab, stating that “a significant investment was required and made” to comply with opportunity zone regulations. SixSixty is in such a zone, which encourages development in low-income areas by providing tax incentives to qualifying investors.
As an opportunity zone investor, Bhathal views SixSixty as much more than just another Class A office building. In addition to creating hundreds of jobs during construction, it also will create “permanent space for new jobs and businesses once completed,” he said. “The project will provide important social and economic benefits to the Downtown district.”
FAST FACTS
Details: Rehab of a four-story, 120,000-square-foot office building
Cost: $20.2 million to purchase the building; rehab costs not disclosed
Completed: Exterior and shell are largely completed; ongoing tenant improvements
Developer: RevOZ Capital and Argosy Real Estate Partners
Contractor: MarketOne Builders
Architect: LPA Design Studios
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