Best Real Estate Projects 2023: Wexler
The Sacramento Business Journal
September 8, 2023
Odin Rasco
As Sacramento State students filled all 762 beds that luxury student housing community Wexler had to offer in fall 2022, it was as though The Martin Group and AECOM-Canyon Partners had finally passed a challenging test.
When the plans for Wexler initially came together, the need for more student housing options was immediate and undeniable. Pushing against the perception that California State University Sacramento was a commuter school, more students were opting to move close to campus, and enrollment numbers were trending upward.
With an underutilized property located blocks from the university and adjacent to the SacRT University/65th Street Station, Stephen Siri, principal with co-developer The Martin Group, envisioned a thoughtfully designed housing solution and community gathering spaces.
When ground first broke for construction, however, nature and circumstance delivered the project an unanticipated set of challenges.
As primary contractor on the project Johnstone Moyer Inc. began to shovel away the first piles of dirt in March 2020, Covid-19 almost immediately sewed disarray across all industries. As supply lines were impacted, even basic materials became hot commodities, according to Dan Wright, assistant project manager who oversaw the majority of the Wexler construction. He navigated the early days of Covid, including planning around weekly rations of materials such as drywall.
Despite unanticipated challenges such as creating new safety measures for workers in the early days of the pandemic, the construction still went smoothly enough to hit all targets on time, according to Project Manager Scott Cady.
"We were able to complete the project on time and in schedule despite the ever-changing circumstances and limitations in the early days of Covid," Cady said. “And through it we were able to keep a regular and consistent workforce.”
As construction continued along with relative normality, instruction had taken a different form for the neighboring college. Students were transitioned to exclusively online classes; suddenly, housing adjacent to campus was not a priority.
Though the future was hazy, The Martin Group remained confident in the project.
"Our ownership team remained steadfast in the belief that school would go back to in- person instruction and that there would be a strong demand for student housing close to campus," Siri said.
The inevitable demand that did come is easy to explain; the student apartments are the first transit-oriented project of their kind in the city, linking directly to Regional Transit’s University/65th Street Transit Center.
Van Tilburg, Banvard & Soderbergh’s Johannes Van Tilburg brought decades of experience to Wexler’s design, taking a "bold, contemporary approach" to the project that offers a variety of floor plans for students. With the inclusion of an above-ground parking structure and retail space, Van Tilburg explained that the goal of his design was to go beyond simply providing student housing, but building a community.
“We took a bi-fold approach to the development, with the goal of providing these student housing units while also uplifting Sacramento as a whole a bit. In our way, by providing retail and commercial space alongside the housing, we create a neighborhood,” Van Tilburg said.
Details: Apartment complex for Sacramento State students
Cost: Not disclosed
Completed: Fall 2022
Developer: The Martin Group and AECOM/Canyon Partners
Contractor: Johnstone Moyer Inc.
Architect: Van Tilburg, Banvard & Soderbergh