By Sara Beth Williams–
The Citrus Heights City Council, along with city staff, returned last week from a three-day visit to several suburbs of Denver, Colorado, where they studied various development projects in order to gain inspiration for the Sunrise Tomorrow plan.
In a presentation on Wednesday, council members and staff discussed what they learned from the different locations they visited, including Belmar Mall, Downtown Westminster, Edgewater Public Market, and the 40 West Arts District. The purpose of the visit was to study successful firsthand redevelopment projects that displayed mall repurposing, creative vacancy reuse, and arts as a catalyst for economic development.
During the April 9 City Council meeting, Mayor Jayna Karpinski-Costa said the trip was “not a vacation.”
“We didn’t have time to even shop,” Karpinski-Costa said, responding to a recent Letter to the Editor published in The Sentinel.
Other council members echoed Karpinski-Costa’s statements, emphasizing that in-person visits allowed them to observe in person things like parking availability, level of activity, atmosphere, and more.
The council members, along with Community Development Director Casey Kempenaar, said that despite cold weather, Belmar was bustling with people shopping and dining.
Kempenaar, along with Economic Development and Community Engagement Director Meghan Huber, outlined the timelines and progression of both Belmar Mall and Downtown Westminster, offering a compare-and-contrast overview of the two developments.
Council members described Belmar Mall as feeling “warm and friendly” during their visit, noting it resembled a small village, with shopping options from major retailers like Target, alongside smaller retail businesses, walk-up eateries, and sit-down restaurants.
There were no fast-food restaurants within the district, aside from a Chick-fil-A located just outside its boundaries, according to the council.
“That’s truly what we’re looking to build here: people coming from other parts of the region can enjoy our restaurants, and we can enjoy their revenue,” Schaefer said, referring to the future redevelopment of the Sunrise Mall property.
Vice Mayor Marijane Lopez-Taff said after reading the Sunrise Tomorrow Specific Plan cover-to-cover, she wondered what it might look like in real life.
“When I went to Belmar, I felt like I could place those pieces as we walked around the community,” Lopez-Taff said.
Belmar Mall was once a standard shopping mall called Villa Italia Mall, and it shares several features with Sunrise Mall. After being purchased by a new developer in 1999, the Villa Italia Mall closed in 2001. Redevelopment has been ongoing for over 20 years, occurring in various phases, the city said.
The new property, sometimes referred to as downtown Lakewood, now consists of 22 blocks of mixed-use development, offering a mix of housing, office space, retail with residential and office options above, an outdoor ice rink that becomes a roller rink in summer, outdoor gathering spaces and more.
Like Citrus Heights, Lakewood is a suburb of a capital region. However, Lakewood is larger in both population and land area, with 156,000 residents compared to about 88,000 in Citrus Heights, according to the 2020 Census.
During the April 9 presentation, Huber said the Belmar shopping district includes over 100 businesses, and 375,000 square feet of office space, plus 1,200 residential units. This combination allows for the potential of “24/7” sales activity. Without occupied office space, Huber noted, retailers typically lack daytime foot traffic. Current data for 2025 indicates the property has experienced a 435 percent increase in assessed value, and adjacent corridors have experienced a 46 percent increase in assessed value.
The council and staff also visited Edgewater Public Market in the small city of Edgewater, a once-vacant 50,000-square-foot retail space-turned-public market offering multiple shopping and dining options. They also toured the 40 West Arts District, a once-vacant shopping center revitalized by the Lakewood West Colfax Business Improvement District. The arts district is located on U.S. Route 40 (Lincoln Highway)—an international highway that passes through Citrus Heights with a western terminus in San Francisco, California.
As with Belmar, council members and staff said both the public market and arts district were bustling with activity on Friday night, despite cold and snowy weather.
The visit to Belmar and surrounding developments was prompted by Schaefer’s initial visit to Lakewood in June 2024 with the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG). That trip focused on various urban planning topics, including light rail, toll lanes, income-qualified below-market-rate housing, and government housing, according to Schaefer.
In August, Schaefer returned to the City Council and presented his findings, using Belmar as a comparison model for what Sunrise Mall could become. He encouraged other council members to experience it firsthand.
What’s next:
On April 23, a presentation by Ethan Conrad Properties is scheduled to take place at City Hall, during which the City Council will discuss and provide direction on the developer’s proposed amendments to the Sunrise Tomorrow Specific Plan.
The city announced a public hearing will be held and has encouraged residents to participate and provide feedback during the process.
Ethan Conrad, CEO of Ethan Conrad Properties, spent January and February presenting to multiple Neighborhood Area groups in Citrus Heights in an effort to gather community input and support for his proposed changes.
Want to share your thoughts on the proposed development at Sunrise Mall? Click here to submit a letter to the editor.
The Citrus Heights City Council, along with city staff, returned last week from a three-day visit to...
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