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The bonds built over eight years of planning and construction were on full display last week when hundreds gathered to celebrate Aggie Square opening its doors to the public.

The innovation district that blends public, university and private industry spaces to encourage collaboration opened Friday (May 2), welcoming attendees with displays showing work already underway and encouraging them to envision future uses for the 767,000-square-foot development.

“It's so great to see the space full of people,” said Bob Segar, who in 2023 retired as chief planning director for Aggie Square and associate vice chancellor for Campus Planning and Environmental Stewardship. In comparing Aggie Square to other projects over his 34 years as 91��Ƭ Davis’ first campus planner, he said it differed from most university developments, which usually include primarily campus units.

“This was the biggest, most complicated project in my career,” Segar said. “This one had so many partners.”

Segar praised the staff — both from 91��Ƭ Davis and partners like Wexford Science & Technology — who completed the project despite challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit just months after Wexford was chosen to lead development of Aggie Square.

Many others who worked on Aggie Square attended Friday to see the finished product.

Becky Shattuck, vice president of business development for WeidnerCA, the firm that created many of the wayfinding signs at Aggie Square, was taking photos of the finished installations.

“Seeing it all completed is what's fulfilling,” she said, noting that the project was extra special because it’s only a six-minute drive from their headquarters.

Sacramento ties

Aggie Square’s local impact and connections were visible throughout the event.

Sactown Makers, a nonprofit that teaches people how to use 3D printers for small-scale commercial manufacturing, was on hand to tell attendees about its 13-week-long series of free classes.

Christina Granados, founder and executive director, said the 10-person cohorts comprise people from various backgrounds. She praised the people behind Aggie Square, noting that Sactown Makers’ program is already in its fifth week at the innovation district.

She recalled promises made during the planning stages of Aggie Square.

“I live in Oak Park,” Granados said. “They're actually doing what they said they would do, because they’re letting us use the space for free.”

Diane Garcia, who has lived in the nearby Elmhurst neighborhood for 50 years, walked to Friday’s grand opening and said the finished product was “more impressive” than the renderings she’d seen.

“I’m really pleased they’re allowing the community to be a part of this,” she said, adding that she hopes a farmers market will one day be hosted at Aggie Square.

Future promise

Elsewhere, exhibitors showcased other projects underway as attendees looked to the future.

Tech Foundry, a unit of the Department of Biomedical Engineering that makes prototypes and one-off tools, showed off its Aggie Square expansion and examples of previous work, like models that helped surgeons practice the .

East Sacramento resident Peter Nguyen ’05 said Tech Foundry was one of the parts of Aggie Square that caught his eye.

“The breadth of things already here is pretty impressive,” he said, adding that he hopes Aggie Square will bring new types of industry to the area. “I’ve been paying attention to it because my career is in biotech, and there’s not a lot of biotech in Sacramento.”

Others were similarly impressed.

“It’s an incredible job they’ve done,” said South Sacramento resident Judy Mayberry. “This is such a great development.”

Upcoming Aggie Square events

More events are already on the horizon at Aggie Square.  will host a . And three installments remain in Quarter at Aggie Square’s noontime Critical Medical Humanities 2025 Speaker Series:

• Lisa Ikemoto, School of Law: (May 12)
• Kim Badal, 91��ƬSF: (May 19)
• Natalia Duong, Asian American Studies and Science and Technology Studies: (May 28)

Those interested in hosting an event at Aggie Square or reserving space for a meeting are encouraged to .

Segar, the former chief planning director, envisioned the space drawing in many people from the area.

“People across the Sacramento region are going to want to do events here just to be here.”