Railyards - Sacramento, CA

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Sacramento Railyards Sump 163 Stormwater Pump Station

Marcus Edwards

By Helen Harlan

Sep 11, 2025

The Business Journal is profiling the honorees for its 2025 Best Real Estate Projects awards. Sacramento Railyards Sump 163 Stormwater Pump Station is the honoree in the New Infrastructure category.

After a decades-long vision with many stops and starts, Sacramento’s Railyards project has finally gained momentum.

Anchored by the AJ, a mixed-income housing project with 345 units and a $1 billion, under-construction 18-acre Kaiser Permanente medical center campus, the project’s future also includes a 12,000-seat Sacramento Republic FC soccer stadium and Paint Shop, a 3,000-person live-event venue.

And underneath it all, on just one half acre of land, a pump station, formally called Sacramento Railyards Sump 163 Stormwater Pump Station, will do the drainage work necessary to sustain the entire 235-acre Railyards project. And it will do it all nearly 28 feet below ground with a total volume capacity of approximately 25,000 cubic feet. Six total pumps, ranging from 200 to 500 to 700 horsepower, will provide a pumping capacity of 189,000 gallons per minute.

“From an engineering perspective, to build this, construct this at this depth below groundwater, was a Herculean challenge,” said Josh Leachman, senior vice president - project development with LDK Ventures, the pump station’s developer. "I think it's easy for folks to not appreciate the underground infrastructure that allows for all these tremendous, above-ground experiences."

The pump station is the last piece of critical infrastructure needed for the complete build-out of the Railyards. Leachman, who has been with LDK for nine years, said he and his team worked to achieve a pleasant presentation in the final product.

“We tried to, of course, have a nice aesthetic with it all,” he added. “Even though it is a piece of public infrastructure.”

Fast Facts

Details: Vital infrastructure for up-and-coming Sacramento neighborhood

Cost: $35 million

Completed: Fall 2025

Square footage: Half an acre

Developers: LDK Ventures, Downtown Railyard Ventures

Contractor: T&S Construction

Architects: RMW Architecture & Interiors