The northeast corner of 20th and J streets in Sacramento is in search of an identity.

Five years ago, this was where Tropics Ale House stood. That business closed in August 2023, according to the Sacramento Business Journal. Another business from the same ownership group, Hoptology Beer Lab + Kitchen quickly took its place, but it’s shuttered now as well.

In the early part of the pandemic, Comstock’s followed Tropics and three other local businesses — the Sacramento Kings, the Citizen Hotel and the former California Family Fitness which now operates as In-Shape Family Fitness — and their broader sectors for a six-part series. The most recent installment ran in late 2021.

With the five-year anniversary looming of the first shutdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, life no longer feels stagnant and on some endless continuum as it did in the early part of the pandemic. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that all is well for every business that has attempted to come through the pandemic. And even five years on, there are residual impacts.

The state of affairs at the former Tropics site is emblematic for what local businesses have faced. While some big-name organizations are thriving and, in fact, appear to be in a better position than they were before the pandemic, other, smaller businesses are struggling or have closed entirely.

Sports and entertainment: Sacramento Kings

The early part of the pandemic wasn’t kind to the Kings. After the NBA halted its 2019-20 season, it resumed play in a bubble at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, where the Kings played out their season in empty arenas. Attendance didn’t get that much better for a time and the team’s epic run of futility — 16 consecutive losing seasons — kept going through the 2021-22 season.

Things are different now, though, starting with what Greater Sacramento Economic Council President and CEO Barry Broome considers the greatest brand in city history. It’s not Farm to Fork nor City of Trees nor the slogan, “Be more. Do Greater Sacramento,” that his organization coined. “It’s ‘Light the beam,’” Broome says. “I hear ‘Light the beam’ in New York. I hear ‘Light the beam’ in Miami. I hear ‘Light the beam’ in Dallas.’”

It’s just one more way that the Sacramento Kings have emerged with one of, if not the strongest positions of any private organization in the region.

What a difference five years has made for this franchise. In five years, the Kings have finally returned to being a winning organization, after 16 consecutive losing seasons. The franchise’s valuation has also soared to $4.45 billion, ranking it 14th among NBA teams, according to CNBC. Broome also says the Kings are around 10th in revenue among NBA teams, despite Sacramento being just the 28th-largest market in the league.

Beyond this, Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé has positioned himself to potentially land an expansion Major League Baseball franchise. He’s done this by allowing the former Oakland Athletics to use West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park, which he also owns, free of charge while the team prepares to relocate to Las Vegas. There’s also the potential that the Sacramento A’s could be a long-term thing if the team’s move to Sin City falls through.

Broome is also hopeful about Sacramento, which has Sac Republic FC of the United Soccer League possibly securing a Major League Soccer team.

“The entertainment dollar in Sacramento has been marginally tapped into, which is why a permanent MLS team — which now looks like USL may be producing a competing league — a permanent Major League Baseball team, is an important objective for us as a region,” Broome says.

John Rinehart, president of business operations for the Kings, was unavailable for interview. In general, representatives of the businesses profiled in this piece appeared to not want to talk about the pandemic anymore, with none responding to an interview request sent to each business.

Fitness centers: The former California Family Fitness, now known as In-Shape Family Fitness

California Family Fitness went through a lot during the pandemic, having to close and then operate outdoor parking lot workouts for a time. The downtown location on K Street struggled in particular, reopening later than some of the other locations for the company and facing a legal dispute with its landlord over unpaid rent.

From the outside, the K Street gym more or less looks the same. There is still big block lettering signage on the overhang and going up the side of the building, bearing the name California Family Fitness. But just above the doorway of the gym is a smaller sign that bears its new name, In-Shape Family Fitness. It’s the result of a 2023 merger after California Family Fitness owner Perpetual Capital Partners purchased In-Shape Solutions. Former California Family Fitness CEO Randy Karr is now CEO of In-Shape Family Fitness.

Once, downtown Sacramento gyms could count on legions of state and other public sector employees popping in before or after work or on their breaks to get in a workout. Downtown Sacramento Partnership Executive Director Michael Ault says there were 100,000 employees downtown before the pandemic. This number is now around 65,000.

“I think downtowns are finding that in order for them to survive long-term, perhaps there was an over-reliance on office and that downtowns will fundamentally be different,” Ault says.

There are some silver linings for downtown businesses. Ault notes that 41 businesses opened in his organization’s area in 2024, while just 20 closed. California Gov. Gavin Newsom also recently ordered state workers to return to in-person work four days a week. Still, other work might remain for downtown businesses that want to thrive.

“We’re going to need to embrace being a destination of choice,” Ault says. “People are going to have to choose to come here.”

Hospitality: The Citizen Hotel

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, people like Mike Testa, executive director of Visit Sacramento, which represents hoteliers, saw cartoonishly bad numbers for his industry, with occupancy rates below 10 percent.

Perhaps it wasn’t as bad for The Citizen Hotel, an architectural landmark in downtown Sacramento. Testa said in part VI of this series that the hotel is a popular wedding venue. It’s conceivable the hotel may have drawn other small groups or lone, curious visitors in the challenging first year or two of the pandemic. Still, things were bleak on the whole for Sacramento’s hoteliers.

Now, things are different, with Testa saying room nights are up 55,000 from where they were a year ago. Occupancy rates vary depending on location, though downtown — where The Citizen is located — they can be as high as 90 percent depending on what’s happening.

“I can tell you our numbers are up higher than a lot of California destinations,” Testa says. “So it’s a combination of coming out of COVID and I think a new convention center in Sacramento and some other factors that are driving that.”

Work remains. Prior to the pandemic, occupancy rates reached a robust 82 percent. Overall, occupancy rates haven’t gotten back to this point with Testa saying they’re at 78 percent downtown and are in the 60s in more outlying areas, which are struggling. He’s pleased, though, with some of the work his organization has done to improve marketing to other areas, saying that Chico and Redding are now among the biggest drivers of visitors to Sacramento.

“Visitation to Sacramento, conventions and business travel remain down,” Testa says. “They’re not going to be down forever. When they come back, based on the demand that we created during COVID, this market will go over 83 percent. I am confident of that. We just haven’t reached post-pandemic levels.”

Bars and restaurants: The former Tropics Ale House

When it was becoming clear in March 2020 that life would be shutting down for a time because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tropics Ale House’s Midtown location tried in vain to stay open. Its executive chef at the time, Steve Carrigan, vowed to keep the restaurant open for St. Patrick’s Day. “I think we’re going to be fine for this little hiccup,” Carrigan said at the time. “And I think people are just kind of overreacting a little bit. But at the same time, maybe overreacting’s not a bad thing.”

Some restaurants have appeared to get through the past five years unscathed. When Leonardo DiCaprio was in town in early 2024 to film “The Battle of Balkan Cross,” to be released in August 2025, he stopped in for a meal at Mulvaney’s B&L, a venerable Michelin Guide-mentioned venue. Other customers left him alone, with owner Patrick Mulvaney saying at the time, “They realized that when you come to Mulvaney’s, you just want to sit down and have a quiet meal with friends.”

Not every local restaurant can be a Mulvaney’s, though, able to draw people in from far and wide. Upstart efforts like Tropics, which was an expansion of a small chain of restaurants from the Hawaiian islands, faced a tough road. Aside from the now-closed Midtown location, owner Pat Kashani also attempted to open a location on K Street near Golden 1 Center. It has also since closed.

On the Sacramento Reddit page, users have savaged Kashani’s other offering at 20th and J, Hoptology. Yelp reviews for the business were more positive.

Ault says that mom-and-pop businesses had to be bare bones in their operations in order to hold on, though that wasn’t the only thing helping them.

“Quality endured,” Ault says. “Those that did a good product and were here were able to fight through it.”

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