Jerry Brown’s new pad.Photo: Fulcrum PropertyCalifornia’s new governor, Jerry Brown, is getting some urbanist love for his choice of dwelling. Brown and his wife, Anne Gust Brown, are going to be crashing in a loft apartment within walking distance of the State Capitol Building in Sacramento. It comes with a great Walk Score and enough smart-growth street cred that the California Planning & Development Report headlined a recent blog post (somewhat tongue-in-cheekily) “Jerry Brown, Urban Hipster and Trend Setter?“:
The incoming governor’s new digs, on the busy intersection of 16th Street (historic Highway 160) and J Streets, was one of the first modern mixed use projects in Sacramento. Bordering the unofficial boundaries of Sacramento’s Downtown and Midtown areas, the former Chevrolet dealership was rehabbed by LoftWorks and Fulcrum Property in 2003 to create an 18-unit project with 11,000 sq. ft. of ground floor retail and 11,000 sq. ft of office space. The Governor-elect is expected to reside in a modest 1,450 sq. ft one-bedroom apartment — unfurnished for now.
The last time he was governor, Brown slept on a mattress on the floor. This time around, the setting will be a lot more polished — the developer touts the Elliott Building as being “one of the most stylish fixtures on Sacramento’s urban landscape” (which, admittedly, is a relative concept). Brown is also keeping his house in the Oakland hills, which has drawn some criticism in the past for being pretty swank for a guy who talks a lot about how frugal he is.
Carbon-footprint-wise, Brown’s new pad certainly beats the arrangements favored by his predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger — who used to charter a flight back to his home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, most weeknights (at his own expense), and who favored a penthouse at the Hyatt hotel when he did stick around the capital.
(Via Planetizen.)
