Excerpt:

Exhibits:

1. October 20, 2015 Enterprise District Staff Report and Presentation

2. Enterprise District Marketing Strategy

3. Enterprise District Marketing Brochure

4. Cushman & Wakefield Broker Blast

5. Cushman & Wakefield Targeted Mailer to Regional Groups

BACKGROUND

In April 2014, City Council directed staff to issue a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) from developers for an 82-acre commercial development site within the Enterprise District at Alameda Point, previously referred to as Site B (Exhibit 1) at the same time as the RFQ for the 68-acre mixed-use Site A project. Although there were four qualified developers that responded to the RFQ and two of which the City Council selected to negotiate with, the discussions stalled because the developers were not willing to commit to upfront infrastructure, land payments or a milestone schedule for implementing development due to the uncertainty of the commercial market in Alameda and the high cost of infrastructure. As a result, in December 2014 the City Council approved postponing any decision on Site B until 2015 when there would be more certainty about the Site A development and the timing of its infrastructure development.

With the approval of the 68-acre Site A development in July 2015, with 800 housing units and 600,000 square feet of commercial space in the design and construction phase, including major infrastructure investment, the uncertainty about the schedule and commitment toward infrastructure has been minimized. On October 20, 2015, staff recommended to the City Council a new development strategy for the Enterprise District that focuses on attracting a major commercial business or “end user,” instead of commercial developers, leverages its existing leasing agent, Cushman & Wakefield, and ties the marketing approach with progress being made at Site A Staff’s recommendation also included regular 6-month updates to the City Council on the status of the marketing effort and a summary of performance metrics for the work being conducted by Cushman & Wakefield. The October 20 City Council staff report and presentation are provided in Exhibit 1.