New building permits have been filed for 72 townhouses across ten four-story structures on the site of the old Sacramento Bee headquarters in Midtown, marking the next concrete step in a years-long transformation of the former newspaper campus at 2100 Q Street. The application, filed by Roseville-based Tim Lewis Communities, covers a 6.28-acre portion of the 9.4-acre property once occupied by the paper’s printing presses and newsroom.
The filing was first reported by San Francisco YIMBY, whose Andrew Nelson detailed the design for the project, known as Q21 @ The Press. The 2100 Q Street property spans two full city blocks, bounded by 21st Street, 23rd Street, Q Street and R Street, and sits about four blocks from the Ice Blocks shopping center and close to a Gold Line light rail station. Tim Lewis Communities acquired the 6.28-acre parcel from Irvine-based Shopoff Realty Investments in July 2025 for $18.5 million, or roughly $49 per square foot, according to Traded.
The recent application calls for the 72 townhouses to rise across ten four-story buildings, designed by TCA Architects with gabled roofing and street-level stoops meant to give the complex a rowhouse feel. Facades will mix brick veneer, fiber cement, metal panels and likely stucco, per the same filing. The 72 units represent a first phase of what is expected to grow to 122 units total once the project is complete.
From Newsroom to Rowhouses
The Sacramento Bee’s headquarters was built in 1952 and served as the paper’s printing plant and newsroom for seven decades. Shopoff Realty Investments had originally acquired the full 9.4-acre campus in a 2017 sale-leaseback deal with McClatchy Companies valued at $44.75 million, according to the Orange County Business Journal. McClatchy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February 2020 and vacated the building the following year, clearing the way for redevelopment…