Construction has stopped at the not yet built, but already locally famous, John Saca "Towers" project in downtown Sacramento.

Recently reported, several key sub contractors, including the original general contractor, Turner Construction has filed liens on the project totally 7.3 million, reported recently in the Sac Bee. Contractors include, general contractor, Turner Construction, the architectural work and the pile driving contractor.

While not the first blow to the ambitious 53 story project, headed by John Saca, but this certainly has created a major stall. Reportedly, the project has 383 units with non refundable deposits which puts them very close to achieving their financing goal of 400 + units, but this is sure to lengthen the project time to hit the goal of 400 units which is the Deutishe Bank loan requirement.  We have heard insider rumors that 3/4 of the incoming calls are current depositors asking about refunds.  Another rumor is they may be leaning, (sorry, no pun intended) toward reducing the project to one tower.  While these rumors may or may not be true, it very well could be an indication of the huge task ahead for the Towers Project.

On a side note: If you are interested in investing in this project, this just might be a good time to price a out a unit.

I can't help but think of a conversation with a head construction employee at Turner. He was telling me over six months ago that they recommended to Saca that the project be scaled down, reducing some floors in order to save considerable construction costs.  In his opinion, it was the strong feelings of the Saca group, that they keep on with the original design.

I'm confident they will pull this together, but one thing for sure, this has been one big learning experience for Mr. Saca and his group.  Now that there is a huge void of ground looking into downtown and the Capitol, it will be interesting to see just how much help the city of Sacramento will need to lend.