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Project superintendent Jerry Spain of Brown Construction doesn’t flinch when asked if he’s nervous after the news broke late Feb. 26 that billionaire lead investor Ron Burkle had pulled out of the effort to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to Sacramento, throwing plans to build a stadium across the street from Spain’s building into jeopardy. The answer: Not at all. “Two totally different things,” Spain says. “One’s about sports. The other is about (downtown) living.”

While Burkle’s two-year-effort to purchase a majority stake in Sacramento Republic FC and help transform it into an MLS franchise are done, work on Spain’s building, a new Kaiser Permanente hospital and a Sacramento County courthouse continue at The Railyards, the largest urban infill development project west of the Mississippi River.

Sacramento City Council member Jeff Harris, whose district includes The Railyards, remains excited, saying, “The Railyards is a huge opportunity for the city and for the developer and it will continue.” (Project developer Denton Kelley is on Comstock’s Editorial Advisory Board.)

MLS announced Feb. 26 “that due to issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic” Burkle had opted not to move forward. Sources told ESPN Burkle’s reluctance had to do with money, with the stadium cost rising from $300 million to $400 million, infrastructure costs spiking from $27 million to $47 million, and a fundraising effort among project partners falling “roughly $60 million short.”

Harris says he was disappointed by the news, but not that surprised. “I can’t say that I hadn’t anticipated that it might go that way,” Harris says. “But it is frustrating that Burkle pulled out after reassuring us so many times that no, he’s still in, he’s still in, he just has to work out some issues, like that. I feel like we were led along a little bit and we went along with it because we believed in him.”

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg says that while he was disappointed to get the news, he bounced back and remains optimistic about finding an investor. “My phone is ringing off the hook, including five minutes ago, from a number of investors or representatives of investors who are very interested in this, in Major League Soccer in Sacramento,” says Steinberg, who expects to speak with MLS Commissioner Don Garber in the next day or two.

Steinberg and Harris both tout the shovel-readiness of the roughly 42-acre parcel directly east of Railyards Boulevard and 7th Street that would include a stadium, with Harris saying its entitlements are still current. Steinberg says the city has done a lot of work on the project over the past two years. “There’s one missing piece, and that missing piece is the lead investor,” Steinberg says.

Regardless of what happens with professional soccer, Downtown Sacramento Partnership Executive Director Michael Ault is hopeful about the future of The Railyards. “MLS, would it have been a great amenity? Yes, and hopefully it gets back on track,” Ault says. “But I think the opportunity for The Railyards development being additive to what we’re seeing in the (downtown) core is a tremendous opportunity with or without MLS.”

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