The 16-story, mixed-use Downtown Plaza Tower that will stand next to the new downtown Sacramento arena has cleared a major milestone.

The Sacramento Planning Commission gave its approval of the project Thursday night, which will set construction in motion. The tower is slated for the space in between 4th and 7th Streets to the east and west, and J Street to L Street on the North and South. It will include a public lobby, retail and office space, 250 hotel rooms and residences at the top of the tower, 35,000 square feet of office spaces and approximately 45,000 square feet of retail/restaurant spaces. The tower will share the new arena's plaza area.

The construction of the project is expected to be complete by the time the new arena opens.

Here is more from Ryan Lillis of The Sacramento Bee.

In addition to the glowing nightscape above, here are some other renderings of the Downtown Plaza Tower project that were released.

To view more, click here.

As for the arena site, work continued this week on the pouring of concrete mat slabs and pile caps (the third of eight mat slab pours was completed). Construction of the arena's perimeter concrete walls that are below the street and plaza level, construction of the columns for the practice facility structure and construction of driveway ramps for the practice facility parking garage also continued.

It's. All. Happening. Folks.