SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Rio City Café in the Old Sacramento Waterfront will be officially closing Saturday, August 3.
The restaurant previously made that announcement on Facebook last Monday but hopes for it to stay open were bolstered the following day when Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said he would meet with the owners and see what they could do.
General Manager Jimmy Gayaldo previously told ABC10 they were closing because the city – the business’ landlord – closed both their decks and refused to fix them, cutting their revenue significantly. Steinberg said he believed most of the ownership was ready to retire.
Now, Steinberg’s statement Tuesday sheds more light on behind-the-scenes discussions and efforts to keep the business open.
He says the owners, Mark and Stephanie Miller, need immediate access to a deck city engineers said is unsafe. He also says the city offered a significant rent discount, but the owners said that would not be enough to get them to stay open.
“I talked directly with the structural engineers to see if there might be a safe 'patch' for the deck. They told me there is no way to open it safely without spending $1.5 million (or more) and at least six months in design and construction. This repair would last only three to five years and would allow use of only a portion of the deck. The full cost of repairing the deck is close to $5 million, which can be included in the waterfront renovation plan,” Steinberg said.
Steinberg also addressed why the city hadn’t repaired the decks prior to the announcement.
You can read his full explanation below:
"I had been told of the deck’s condition prior to the Millers’ announcement. The city economic development and public works staffs have been discussing the deck and the options with the Millers for months. The city has offered to help build an outside dining area in front of the restaurant (not nearly as good as the river access offered by the deck for sure) and to adjust their rent. The Millers have – at their own request – been on a month-to-month lease with the city since 2019.
This year, the city’s economic development staff recommended not spending more than a million dollars of public money to temporarily repair the deck. Instead, they will recommend soliciting proposals from potential tenants for the Rio City site and other key assets in Old Sacramento, including the north and south Public Market buildings.
The idea is to dream big about how to use the city’s prime waterfront parcels to attract the most visitors, generate the most revenue and provide the best experience of the Sacramento River in a way that respects the history of Old Sacramento.
Had the Millers decided to keep Rio City open, they could have submitted their own proposal for the site.
The staff’s recommendation is not coming in a vacuum. They recommend soliciting other proposals because once again the city has a golden opportunity to remake our historic waterfront.
Before I leave office, I will work with city staff and my colleagues to bring forward to the City Council a $40-million plus Old Sacramento Waterfront modernization plan. I won unanimous City Council approval for a similar plan in December 2019, but it was delayed after Covid wiped out our hotel occupancy tax fund.
Our hotel occupancy in Sacramento has since rebounded, and with it our ability to invest millions in enhancing tourism without raising the hotel tax.
And unlike in 2019, we now have absolutely clear legal authority to invest hotel taxes in the waterfront. That’s because in 2022, I joined forces with Visit Sacramento to propose and win approval for Measure N, which allows the hotel room tax to be used for tourist-serving facilities such as Old Sacramento. The previous language said the city could only spend hotel taxes on convention centers and community theaters.
The passage of Measure N gives us the chance to make our waterfront more inviting for locals and tourists alike without affecting our general fund or vital city services.
The waterfront modernization plan will include: Renovating or replacing the existing public market buildings to open them up to the river; building a new playground with design input from the Native American tribes who originally inhabited the riverfront; creating new public and performance spaces; and constructing a viewing platform so visitors can better enjoy the special views of the Sacramento River. The future of the building that houses Rio City Café will be part of this plan.
In the shorter term, the funding plan will include rebuilding the worn wooden sidewalks of Old Sacramento and other upgrades. The city staff is exploring activations to fill the Rio City building in the meantime.
As hard as it may sound in the short run, I agree with my city colleagues that serving the public means soliciting interest from other high-end restaurants and potential users for the prime riverfront space Rio City currently occupies. Our staff is confident this space will be in high demand.
Enlivening our waterfront will be completed long beyond my term. I intend to get it started. I look forward to the next Mayor and Council seeing it through to completion.
The Rio City Café will always be an important and positive part of our city’s history. I am grateful to the Millers and look forward to a great future for Old Sacramento and our waterfront."
Rio City Café later posted on Facebook confirming the Saturday closing.
"Despite best efforts, we could not reach an agreement with the City. Saturday will be our last night and we proudly hang our hats after 30 years. We want to personally thank you not only for the lifetime of memories but the unremarkable passion shown for Rio over the decades. We are forever grateful. Cheers," wrote the café.
WATCH MORE ON ABC10: Sacramento County sees summer spike in coronavirus cases
