Cornered: September

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Rural Guy's Penchant for Urban Renewal

Franklin Burris is usually a blur of activity in his small office on Tribute Road, his home base for working on new commercial real-estate projects all over the region. As the area continues its commercial boom, the projects are“getting farther and farther out” from downtown Sacramento, he says.
    The president of the North Sacramento Chamber of Commerce is manager of development services at family-owned Taylor Properties Development, working since 2000 in a role that he jokingly describes as a “political and design hack.”
    Burris, once chief of staff to former Sacramento City Councilman Rob Kerth, says he loves to convince people who say “this will never work” that a project will indeed work. And he enjoys working with all stakeholders — no matter what the project. “The kinds of projects I enjoy are the ones that rely on some kind of team collaboration to get somewhere,” Burris says.
    His latest attempt at pulling people and agencies together is working to develop a 30-acre parcel purchased earlier this year from the Port of Sacramento, a parcel where he envisions new retail space in the booming Southport area of West Sacramento. Burris says it’s the biggest project yet for Taylor Properties and a strong example of mixed use helping to push some infrastructure forward as well.
    “It’s a great jurisdiction to work with,” he says. “You have the Port, West Sacramento Redevelopment and the city of West Sacramento. They have some vision and some direction as to where they’re going, whereas some other places, well … ”
    The 40-year-old Burris grew up in Davis and earned a bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, with a major in corporate design and a minor in public administration. His experience working with various political offices around Sacramento has given him the advantage of knowing the political landscape that other developers can find daunting. “Since I was brought up in the city policy arena, I recognize that a regulation is trying to achieve some policy unlike most developers, who simply say, ‘Gee, I don’t want to pay that,’ and get frustrated by the setbacks.”
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