Excerpt:

Exhibits:

1. Alameda Point Zoning Map

2. Alameda Point Building Map

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Recommendation to Receive Status Report on Job Creation Efforts at Alameda Point, Including an Update on the Enterprise District Marketing Strategy (Base Reuse 819099)

To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council

From: Jill Keimach, City Manager

Re: Recommendation to Receive Status Report on Job Creation Efforts at Alameda Point, including an Update on the Enterprise District Marketing Strategy

BACKGROUND

When the Naval Air Station Alameda closed in 1996, the City of Alameda lost an estimated 18,000 jobs. Consistent with the community’s long-term vision for Alameda Point, one of the City’s priority has been to attract industries and uses that generate high-end, high-tech jobs that will replace those jobs lost and serve as a catalyst for the rest of Alameda Point and an economic engine for the City as a whole.

In April 2014, City Council directed City staff to issue a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) from developers for an 82-acre commercial development site within the Enterprise District at Alameda Point 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, negotiations with two finalists 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, on September 20, 2016, the City Council approved a strategy for attracting employment uses to the Enterprise District focused on Site A development timeline and its major backbone infrastructure improvements, which are crucial to the feasibility of a large-scale new commercial development to this area.

There is still strong interest in large scale development in the Enterprise District, as is evident in the 65 inquiries in the Enterprise District marketing status update addressed later in this report. However, any new development is highly dependent on the significant backbone infrastructure (new sewer and water lines, storm drains etc.) being financed and developed by Site A. In the meantime until Site A commences infrastructure construction, staff has expanded its focus beyond new infrastructure-dependent development to strategies that target re-use of existing buildings, which can take advantage of existing infrastructure and leverage investments that are already happening in both the Adaptive Reuse and Enterprise Districts.

This report describes a more comprehensive summary of staff’s efforts to create jobs at Alameda Point beyond just new commercial development in the Enterprise District, yet also includes an update on those ongoing Enterprise District marketing efforts.