Maydestone Apartments - restoration is in full swing!

A few months ago, my sweetie and I were eating breakfast on a Sunday morning and picked up a copy of Midtown Monthly...we were looking through it for some ideas as far as what to do for the rest of the day when we stumbled across an article about the renovation of The Maydestone Apartment Building.

Now I have lived in Sacramento my entire life, and had driven past the old, boarded up Maydestone building on 15th and J Streets a million times, but had never known anything about it. We were so intrigued by the article, we decided to take a little field trip downtown to check it out.

So a little history...The Maydestone was originally built in 1912 as a 32-unit apartment building, each unit complete with its own kitchen, bathroom, and a pull-out beds - a luxury in that era. As Sacramento was rapidly expanding, the demand was high for affordable housing that was located within a short distance to the center of the city.

Fast forward to the 21st century...The Maydestone was boarded up in 2003 after a fire on Halloween night. It has been sitting as a vacant eyesore for the past 7+ years.

Fast forward to today...The Maydestone is being restored to the Mission-Revival style beauty it once was with the help of grants and loans from the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency. The existing four levels of apartments are being restored and the basement is to being converted into a community center for the residents. They are also making the building highly energy efficient, and it will be LEED certified. There will be 32 units total ranging from small studios to 1-bedroom units. The project architect and the developer are working hard to ensure that the building maintains its original character.

So - the next time you are downtown, swing by The Maydestone! You can peak inside and see for yourself...