Excerpt:

Exhibits:
1. Ground Lease Agreement - Family Project
2. Ground Lease Agreement - Senior Project
3. Presentation,
4. Ordinance - Family Project,
5. Ordinance - Senior Project

...

BACKGROUND

In June 2015, the City Council unanimously approved the Site A Development Plan and a Disposition and Development Agreement (DDA) with the private developer, Alameda Point Partners (APP), for a 68-acre area within Alameda Point that extends generally from the Main Street entrance of Alameda Point to the eastern edge of the Seaplane Lagoon. Site A includes 800 housing units, 600,000 square feet of commercial development, and extensive parks and utility infrastructure (Site A Project). The Site A Project represents the first major public/private development at Alameda Point since the base closed and lost 18,000 jobs in 1997. It is an important first step toward achieving the community’s vision of a mixed-use transit-oriented development at Alameda Point.

Two hundred (200) of the residential units (25%) at Site A are required to be affordable units. One hundred thirty (130) affordable units will be provided in two projects on Block 8: a family project with 70 units, and a senior project with 60 units (Block 8 Projects). The moderate-income units will be provided in a teacher housing project with Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) or distributed among the market-rate units in the other buildings provided by APP.

In March 2016, APP assigned the Affordable Housing Implementation Plan approved as part of the DDA to Eden Housing, thereby designating Eden Housing as the Qualified Affordable Housing Developer for the development of the low- and very-low income affordable units within Site A consistent with the DDA. Eden Housing is a highly qualified nonprofit affordable housing developer that constructs and managers thousands of units of affordable housing throughout the Bay Area. Eden Housing, in coordination with APP, has expended significant staff and financial resources securing financing sources to fund the Block 8 Projects and have been successful at obtaining numerous funding sources, as described in greater detail below. Eden Housing is also pursuing additional financing options, including re-applying to the State of California through the Affordable Housing Sustainable Communities (AHSC) grant program, applying for 4% non-competitive and 9% competitive Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and/or the State’s Housing and Community Development (HCD) Infill Infrastructure Grant program (IIG) in 2017/2018. Many of the already obtained, as well as pending financing sources, require that Eden Housing demonstrate direct site control with the land owner for Block 8, which is the City, and an infrastructure contingency plan in the event of further delay by APP in order to maintain strict deadlines for starting construction once funds have been committed.

While APP cured its recent default by making a $1.35 million option extension payment to the City to extend the Phase 1 outside closing date to April 9, 2018 and the DDA with APP remains in full force and effect, uncertainty remains regarding the exact timing of closing of the Phase 1 property and delivery by APP of the new backbone and site-specific infrastructure for Block 8. As a result of this uncertainty and the issues raised by AHSC staff (and other funders) regarding using the DDA as Eden Housing’s evidence of site control in the first unsuccessful attempt at obtaining funds through AHSC last fall, Eden Housing has requested that the City enter into a direct relationship with them via long-term ground leases for each of the Block 8 Projects (Ground Leases).

Ground Leases between the City and Eden Housing provide Eden Housing with direct site control over the two Block 8 projects and allows Eden Housing to implement an infrastructure contingency plan in order to commence construction of the Block 8 Projects regardless of the actions taken by APP, significantly increasing Eden Housing’s competitiveness for the upcoming AHSC grant cycle and the upcoming LIHTC rounds, as well as for meeting the readiness and delivery requirements of the Alameda Housing Authority veteran’s vouchers (VASH Vouchers) program already awarded to the Block 8 Projects.