Sacramento Blue Diamond property eyed for up to 2,000 homes

Blue Diamond Growers says it has reached an agreement to redevelop part of the company's Sacramento property into a mixed-use community.

The company and Bardis & Miry Development released a joint statement Tuesday announcing the agreement, which involves 35 acres of Blue Diamond's Midtown campus.

Bardis & Miry, a Sacramento-based developer, says the project is expected to include 1,000 to 2,000 homes, along with ground-floor retail.

"The Blue Diamond plant site has been a part of Sacramento for over a century, and we are grateful for the opportunity to build on that legacy in a way that will serve the community for many years to come," Katherine Bardis of Bardis & Miry said in a statement.

Blue Diamond previously announced plans to shutter its 16th and C streets campus, impacting about 600 workers. However, the company later announced that it would continue some almond processing at the site for the time being.

Part of the agreement announced Tuesday includes a three-year leaseback at the site, allowing Blue Diamond's corporate headquarters to continue operating there through April 2030.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty and Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum welcomed the agreement.

"We look forward to seeing thousands of new residential units over the next decade," McCarty and Pluckebaum said in a joint statement.

The Blue Diamond campus includes a building that was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.