Can rebranding, renaming salvage the city's Ghost Ship now known as Old Town Elk Grove?
The Wednesday, April 23 Elk Grove City Council meeting lasted three hours and 30 minutes. While the city spent about 30 minutes on proclamations, much of the meeting was devoted to discussing a single item.
That item was a presentation about the possible rebranding, for the purpose of this story, which we will refer to as Old Town Elk Grove, the city's long-beleaguered special planning area. Including the staff presentation, the time spent on the item was about an hour and 20 minutes, or over one-third of the meeting.
If you would like to watch the staff presentation and discussion, the video below is queued for that portion of the meeting. Aside from the city staff's marketing recommendations, the mayor and city council were divided on how Old Town should be rebranded.
Should it be called Main Street Elk Grove? Or Historic Downtown Elk Grove? Should the boundaries of Old Town Elk Grove be expanded to Highway 99? Is this excessive focus on Old Town Elk Grove unfair to other small businesses who are clamoring for help? You get the idea.
These and other concerns were voiced and, at times, heatedly discussed by Mayor Singh-Allen and her four councilmen. After establishing general guidelines to continue the process, the rebranding, renaming, and marketing efforts will be returned to Mayor Singh-Allen for her approval.
According to comments from City Manager Jason Behrmann, the final decision on the rebranding will happen in fiscal year 2026, which begins on July 1, 2025.
Regardless of what the city decides to do regarding the rebranding and new marketing scheme of Old Town Elk Grove, long-time residents have seen this show before. While trying to resurrect Old Town Elk Grove might be viewed as admirable, is it something that will change its destiny?
Coincidentally, today, one of Sacramento's TV news programs featured a video of Elk Grove's newest and hottest shopping center, which is not surprisingly located west of Highway 99. That development is the Village.
The new shopping center features trendy tenants, including Whole Foods, Shake Shack, and other popular retailers, which will undoubtedly draw in shoppers. Although details are sketchy, the city of Elk Grove is also spearheading the development of the adjacent so-called Project Elevate - a highly touted mixed-use development featuring trendy housing, lodging, and high-end retailers.
Do Old Town Elk Grove retailers have any chance of drawing shoppers to what we will say charitably are undercapitalized small businesses with limited selections, away from the Village, Project Elevate, The Ridge, or Sky River Casino for dining and entertainment?
Sure, there will be a few bars and restaurants, but over the last 25 years, we have seen that Old Town has limited appeal to Elk Grove residents, let alone the out-of-town visitors that city leaders aim to attract.
This is not to say there should be no effort to bolster the district. But at what point does the city realize that short of demolishing the entire area and restarting, Old Town, or whatever the city decides to rename it, will never be substantially different from what it is today?
For years, numerous efforts have been made to revitalize the district, but none have yet created the shopping and tourist destination the city has envisioned. There is just no there, there.
With this in mind, Old Town Elk Grove is like the famous Ghost Ship, the Flying Dutchman. You may recall that a ghost ship, or specifically the Flying Dutchman, is a cursed vessel condemned to sail the sea forever, never reaching port.
Elk Grove has tried to reach port repeatedly with Old Town, but with more appealing, trendy shopping options and entertainment venues available in and out of Elk Grove, it is a Ghost Ship that will, unfortunately, remain adrift for decades to come.
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