The Elk Grove City Council voted unanimously on June 11, 2026, to approve a mixed-use retail and self-storage project at Calvine Pointe Shopping Center, ending more than 20 years of failed efforts to develop a 1.86-acre pad that has sat vacant since the center's original 2005 approval. Developer Paul Petrovich's plan replaces the previously entitled retail building with a three-story, 135,444-square-foot structure containing 123,444 square feet of personal storage, 10,000 square feet of commercial and office space, and 2,000 square feet of flexible retail or office use, plus a separate 3,900-square-foot drive-up storage building.
The vote is a California infill story with a regulatory footnote: city staff told the council they are preparing potential zoning amendments later in 2026 that could add new restrictions on self-storage projects across Elk Grove.
What Is Being Built at 8854 Calvine Road?
Senior Planner Sarah Kirchgessner presented the project at 8854 Calvine Road, on the southwest corner of Calvine Road and Elk Grove-Florin Road. The site occupies a Major 3 pad within the existing Calvine Pointe Shopping Center. Key project specifications:
- Three-story main building: 135,444 gross square feet
- Personal storage: approximately 123,444 square feet
- Ground-floor commercial: 10,000 square feet of commercial and office space
- Flexible space: 2,000 square feet for retail, office, or storage
- Drive-up building: separate 3,900-square-foot structure with drive-up units
- Security: electronic gates, unit locks, comprehensive camera coverage
- Buffer: existing masonry wall and landscaping between the site and adjacent residential properties
Kirchgessner told the council the development is consistent with Elk Grove's General Plan and would have minimal neighborhood impact. The public hearing drew no opposition before the vote.
Petrovich, who has owned the property since before Elk Grove incorporated, described himself as a 45-year retail developer and the city's longest-tenured major shopping center owner. He said changing retail trends, Highway 99 commercial competition, rising development fees, and grocery saturation at the Calvine-Florin intersection made traditional retail tenants impossible to land.
I've developed a couple billion dollars worth of retail projects and this has been a personal quasi-failure for me to not bring the center to its fullest potential.
- Paul Petrovich, Developer, Calvine Pointe Shopping Center
Petrovich argued storage activates land that has attracted trash and sat empty, while ground-floor commercial preserves a retail presence. He described the building design as resembling an office with retail rather than a traditional storage facade, and called the finished project "about the quietest neighbor the neighborhood can have."
Why Did Elk Grove Staff Support Storage on a Failed Retail Pad?
City staff's support hinged on activating an underutilized parcel inside an existing shopping center rather than greenfield sprawl. Kirchgessner acknowledged concerns about the growing number of self-storage facilities in Elk Grove but said the Calvine Pointe proposal made sense because it fills a hole in an approved center that never delivered its entitled square footage.
That logic is appearing in municipalities nationwide: when big-box and inline retail pads fail after years on the market, storage becomes the use that clears entitlement, generates tax revenue, and produces minimal traffic compared with restaurants or grocery. Elk Grove's vote follows the same pattern as mixed-use approvals in other California markets where planners trade storage square footage for ground-floor commercial activation.
The counterweight is regulatory. Kirchgessner told the council that staff is preparing zoning amendments that could include new restrictions on self-storage citywide. Operators and developers should read the unanimous approval as site-specific relief on a long-vacant pad, not a permanent open door for every future application.
What Does This Signal for Sacramento-Area Self-Storage Supply?
The Sacramento region has seen sustained self-storage development as household growth pushed east from the urban core. A 123,444-square-foot storage block at a major intersection adds meaningful supply in a submarket where Petrovich himself noted existing competition. The project's mixed-use wrapper, ground-floor commercial, architectural masking, and drive-up accessory building, reflects the entitlement strategy operators increasingly need in California suburbs facing storage fatigue.
For institutional capital, the Petrovich approval is a case study in sponsor credibility. A local developer with decades of center ownership and a documented history of litigation (including a $26 million Sacramento settlement in 2023 over a Curtis Park gas station approval) still won a unanimous council vote with zero public opposition. Relationships and site history matter as much as yield-on-cost spreadsheets when cities are skeptical of the product type.
The separate 3,900-square-foot drive-up building also shows how developers split product lines to meet code, neighbor concerns, and operational efficiency on constrained pads.
The Numbers Worth Writing Down
- Council vote: Unanimous approval, June 11, 2026
- Site: 8854 Calvine Road, Calvine Pointe Shopping Center, Elk Grove, California
- Parcel size: 1.86 acres (Major 3 pad)
- Main building: 135,444 square feet total; 123,444 square feet of personal storage
- Commercial component: 10,000 square feet ground-floor commercial and office; 2,000 square feet flexible
- Drive-up building: 3,900 square feet, separate structure
- Retail failure timeline: Vacant pad since shopping center approval in 2005; more than 20 years of unsuccessful retail marketing
- Regulatory outlook: City staff preparing potential 2026 zoning amendments that could restrict future self-storage development citywide
- Public opposition at hearing: None recorded
Storage Wins When Retail Quits
Elk Grove's Calvine Pointe vote is not a blanket endorsement of self-storage everywhere in the city. It is a pragmatic decision on a pad that retail could not save. Paul Petrovich spent decades trying to make traditional tenants work. Storage is what the council accepted when the alternative was another decade of vacancy.
The industry takeaway is twofold. Mixed-use packaging and architectural discipline can unlock infill approvals even in storage-skeptical suburbs. And the same cities approving those projects are already drafting the next round of restrictions. Build the entitled pipeline now. The zoning window is not staying open forever.
Sources
- Elk Grove Approves Calvine Pointe Self-Storage Project After Two Decades of Failed Retail Development Efforts, Elk Grove News
- Self-Storage Development and Zoning Activity: June 2026, Inside Self-Storage
- Carmel NY and Cashmere WA Consider Self-Storage Moratoriums, Modern Storage Media