“This is a good location, it’s got wonderful potential,” says Tony Cardoso, head of Capital Pacific Co., which bought the 5-acre center from lenders in a deal that closed last week.

Cardoso’s goal: Change the picturesque center’s image from “the Beverly Hills of Granite Bay” to one offering more affordable shopping and dining alternatives.

Rents are being cut nearly in half ? a move made possible by the discounted price Cardoso was able to pay for the center. He declined to reveal the sales price, but we hear it was in the neighborhood of $5.9 million.

The Douglas Boulevard center was opened in 2006 by Bay Area developer Lisa Powers and drew attention with a mix of eclectic, one-of-a-kind shops and restaurants. But Powers fell behind on her $19 million loan as the economy faltered.

Lenders foreclosed on the property last year and put it up for sale several months ago. There were multiple offers, according to local commercial brokers.

Cardoso says he and his wife live near Quarry Ponds, often dined there and were eager to make an offer when they saw it come on the market.

“We saw the opportunity,” he says, adding tongue in cheek: “We had the money in the bank making all that big interest.”

He says the center is now about 75 percent occupied, with key tenants including the acclaimed Hawks restaurant, Pete’s Restaurant Brewhouse, Source Global Tapas and Capitol Cellars.

His goal: Boost occupancy to 85 or 90 percent by summer.

Investors needed

Developers of the massive Township 9 residential project are looking for a little help.

They recently hired San Francisco-based JMP Securities to bring new investment money into the 65-acre mixed-use project north of downtown Sacramento.

“We’re at the point now where we have to have partners to (take the project) vertical,” says Steve Goodwin, one of several developers behind the project.

He reports that the project ? which has captured more than $34 million in public funds ? is still on schedule.

Construction of a Green Line light-rail station at the project’s entrance is due to be finished by year’s end. Site work ? including water and sewer lines and street layouts ? is likely to be done by the end of 2012, Goodwin says.

So now is the time to bring in other groups that want to buy up parcels or otherwise invest in the project.

Goodwin says his current partners will want to build some of the apartments and possibly office buildings and condos that are slated for the project.

But, he adds, Township 9 is way too large for any one group to monopolize.

“Doing it all ourselves,” he says, “would be crazy.”

Making waves

You’ve heard of Occupy Sacramento. But how about Octopi Sacramento?

That’s the name they’re giving to the new mural taking shape on the windows of Bistro Michel, the French restaurant at 14th and O streets in downtown Sacramento.

Alison Wells, the bistro’s “chalkboard artist,” started off painting waves on the windows to draw attention to the new seafood bar that opened there a couple of weeks ago.

But Wells’ whimsical art projects tend to evolve as she works on them. The waves became tentacles. Octopi Sacramento was born.

Is there any connection between the Octopi and Occupy movements.

Yes, Wells says. Both are “all about change.”

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Article source: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/19/4066158/bob-shallit-new-owner-hopes-lower.html