Loading...
1998-04-01 ARRA MinutesAPPROVED MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE ALAMEDA REUSE AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY Wednesday, April 1, 1998 The meeting convened at 5:40 p.m. with Chair Appezztopresiding. ROLL CALL Present:Chair Ralph Appezzto, Mayor, City of Alameda Albert DeWitt , Councilmember, City. of Alameda Barbara Kerr, Councilmember, City of Alameda Tony Daysog;.Councilmember , City of Alameda James Sweeney, alternatetoCouncilmember Karn Lucas , City of Alameda Mark Friedman, alternate to Wilma Chan, Alameda County Board of Supervisors District 3 Jay Leonhardy, alternate to Henr Chang, Jr.alternate to Elihu Hars , Mayor, City of Oakland Kathleen Ornelas , alternate to Ellen. Corbett , Mayor .City of San Leandro Absent:Vice Chair Sandre Swanson, Distrct Director, 9th Congressional District Ex-officio: Lee Perez, Base Reuse Advisory Group (BRAG) CONSENT CALENDAR 2- A. . Approval.of the minutes of the regular meeting of March 4. .1998. Speakers : None. Alternate Leonhardy moved approval oftheConsentCalendar. The motion was seconded by Member DeWitt and passed by the following voice vote: Ayes: 8. Noes: O. Absent: 1. ACTION ITEMS A. Report recommending authorization for the Executive Director to finalize and execute a l4-year lease with Orton Development. Inc. for Building 5 Ed Levine ARR Facilities Manager, providedinformationaboutthe1ayoutofBuilding 5 and advised that it is essentially impossible to lease asis because of its size (375 000 sq.ft.).and configuration. The. best solution seems to be to bring in Orton Development which wil convert the building into multi-tenant use. Orton wil front all of the expertise and money needed to finance building upgrades. They wil also provide construction management and handle the leasing for the space. The ARR wil then share in the net proceeds from the leases. $recycled paper H:\MENSLEY\ \MINUTES\ 1998\4-98.MIN Chair Appezzto inquired if all the upgrades revert to the City without cost , and Mr. Levine confirmed that this is true. Member De Witt noted that the MasterPlan or Reuse Plan shows this area to be demolished although that cost would be very expensive ($2 millon). He asked if Executive Director Miler agreed with the strategy of Orton Development instead of demolishing the building. Executive Director Kay Miler confirmed that this is consistent with the use of many of the hangars that need to be upgraded. It will be a number of years before development gets to that par of the base , and this seems like a good use of the propert and good source of revenue. Member Kerr brought up the difference between the building s size (375 000 sq.ft.) and the leasable space (250 000 sq.ft.) and asked why there is such a large difference between the two figures. Mr. Levine introduced Eddie Orton, who stated that some of these buildings were built without regard to prevailing lawforthisjursdiction. The primar effect of this is that there is not adequate exit space , and much ofthislostspacewill be given up to providing mandated exit areas. Member DeWitt asked ifthere were any contamination issues which would result in lesser use of the building. Mr. Orton stated that environmental issues are being addressed , and they wil affect the design but he is not certin to what extent at present. Chair Appezzto inquired ifthere have been any potentiaLrenters jnterested yet. Mr. Orton indicated that he has received some good press coverage already, and he is working with local people who are familiar with the marketplace. Speakers Bil Smith , interested citizen of Alameda, stated he was happy to see an actual developer come forward to take over this proj ect and encouraged futue live/work space accommodations. Alternate Friedman motioned to recommend authorization to finalize and execute a 14- year lease with Orton Development for Building 5. The motion was seconded by Membef Kerr and passed by the following voice vote: Ayes: 8. Noes:. O.Absent: 1. B. Alameda Point campus issues Final report by Dr. Robert Fisher and consideration of results of campus outreach! marketing efforts. Executive Director Miler introduced Dr. Robert Fisher, the consultant hired to prepare a campus outreach and marketing proposal. for Alameda Point.. Dr.. Fisher .stated that this project entailed disseminating. information about the availability ofthecampus area to the higher education community. The feedback he received was that there was no one institution interested in taking over a substantial portion of the propert. $recycled paper H:\MENSLEY\RR\MlNUTES\ 1 998\4-98.MlN Overview by Ed Levine , ARR Facilities Manager , of potential campus users. Ed Levine briefly described eachofthepotential campus users and outlined exactly which areas they are interested in. California School of Professional Psychology(CSPP) offers programs in.research and clinical psychology and is curentlyJocatedin the Marina Vilage area. They are interested in relocating to the former medical/dental clinic building,whichcontains39 000sq.ft. Touro University is a New York City based school offering undergraduate , graduate and pro- fessional degree programs. They are interested in moving their School of Osteopathic Medicine from San Francisco to Alameda Point. The space they desire includes the former movie theater bowling alley, re-employmentcenter , CPO galley, and BOQ, for. a total of 273 000 sq.ft. Pan-Pacific University (PPU) is a newly-formed and not yet. credentialed institution. They are interested in the BEQ and galley, comprising 284 000 sq. ft. Board considerationofARRA staffrecommendation to. commence serious negotiations with three potential campus users (California SchooLofProfessionalPsychology, Touro University and Pan-Pacific University) ChairAppezzto voiced concerns about accreditation for all three schools , whether the enroll- ment projections for all three schools are realistic , and whether tuition fees will.financially sustain them. RegardingPPU they have indicated they wil have $3 milion in the ban , yet $2.7 milion is needed just for building upgrades , so where wil operating income come from? Can PPU look to Mokwon University of Korea for additional fuding if needed? He said it would be a "public relations nightmare " if any of the schools were to fail after locating here , and he does not want the City to beJiablefor any expenses or cOmmitments the schools canot fulfil. Member Kerr expressed her concern about Pan-Pacific because of its past track record and its funding coming from a foreign source. She stated she does. not feel it is worth devoting more staff time to PPU. There was. further discussion regarding the diffculty and . lengthiness of the accreditation process how a revenue bond would affect the City (olly being considered for CSPP), the cost of bringing different facilities up to code , and , specific toPPU , whether MokwonUniversity could take on an "affiliate " relationship with PPU, which may help with their financial and accreditation issues. It was stressed that PPU is not being singled out for special treatment , but that there. are serious concerns since they have no faculty or governng body, few students , questionable financial resources , and no accreditation. However, itwas felt by most. members that all three schools should be given the opportunity to present their proposals. Speakers Bil Smith , interested citizen of Alameda, stated that it seems like there is a "hot market" for university cluster arrangements at Alameda Point. Srecycled paper H:\MENSLEY\\MlNUTES\1998\4-98.MlN Member Daysog moved, and AltefnateLeonhardy seconded, the following motion: Accept the staff recommendation that the ARR Board accept the report of Dr. Fisher regarding the campus and authorize staff to immediately comMence serious discussions with California School of Professional Psychology, Touro University and Pan-Pacific University for facilties in the campus area at Alameda Point, with the understanding that whichever agency is moved forward for final approval bytheARR depends on the satisfactory provision in a timely manner of documents that allow theARR staff and Governing Board to exercise its due dilgence responsibilties. The motion passed by the following voice vote: Ayes: 7. Noes: 1 (Kerr). Absent: 1. ORAL REPORTS A. Oral report from the BRAG updating theARR on curent activities Lee Perez , BRAG Chair , concured with the recommendation that was made regarding the campus users. The BRAG is continuing to discuss its reorganization and will report on that at the next meeting. 4- B. Written report from the Executive Director updating the ARR 1. Status of the Western Aerospace Museum business plan for Hangar 41 2. Quarerly report on lease revenue Member DeWitt asked about the uses. of the lease revenue fuds. Executive Director Miler stated that the largest expendifuesare the EDA grant match , the port operations and the common services fees paid to the Navy. It wil be a number of years before the propert is self-sustaining. If the EDC plan is approved , itmayresuWin ajointventuewiththeNavyfor additional fuding. Speakers Barbara Baack, Alameda Naval Air Museum , stated that she hopes the museum wil be given a fair hearing and that they have been in contact with State Senator Barbara Lee regarding the availability of grant fuds. They also have a line of credit with Wells Fargo Ban. C. Oral report from the Executive Director (non-discussion items) Executive Director Miler anounced two items of interest. First, Gallagher & Lindsey held their first. open house last weekend for the 31 rallchunits which. resulted in 10 tenants who will be paying rent in the range of $1400-1800. Secondly, filming isjustbeginninginBuilding 24.for new Clint Eastwood movie , which he will be directing and starring in. Also , ChairAppezzato reported that he had received a phone call fromDeputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy Willam Cassidy indicating that the federalgovemmenthasturned down the request from MARAD to acquire the FISC. propert for their ready. reserve ships.. Therefore if the MARAD wants to use any of the FISC property, they wil have to negotiatelease arrangements. Srecycled paper H:\MENSLEY\RR\MlNUTES\1998\4 98.MlN ORAL COMMUNICATIONS, NON-AGENDA (PUBLIC COMMENT) Speakers John Kim , Jin Construction & Electric Company, stated he is a subcontractor working on the Building 39 remodeling and upgrades. His company misinterpreted the drawings for the project and as a result they underbid by $40 000. He asked for the Board's help in recouping some of these losses. Chair Appezzto advised Mr. Kim that he must follow the normal process with City staff to resolve the problem. Douglas Copp, American Rescue Team International , told the Board about his Alameda-based organization s all-volunteer rescue efforts around the world and indicated that they are in need of storage space for vehicles and supplies. They would like to have access to some of the hangar space at Alameda Point. Chair Appezzato told Mr. Copp to submit his request to ARR staff. Gail Greely, Vice President of the Board of Education and ex officio member of the ARR Board representing the Alameda Unified School District, voiced concern about the impending transfer of the FISC property and the resulting impact on the Public Benefit Conveyance applications made by the School District. She stated that in 1994 , the School District requested three pieces of property for a continuation high school , central cafeteria and maintenance yard. Three parcels were identified and agreed to , but they have since been changed due to the private development of the FISC property, and proposed alternative sites have not been acceptable. The School District would like their concerns to be addressed before the propert is transferred to the developer. Bil Smith , interested citizen of Alameda, discussed the availability of T -1 lines in buildings at Alameda Point and how they would be advantageous in attracting the high-tech industry and educators to the site. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE GOVERNING BODY Alternate Sweeney thalled Executive Director Miler and her staff for their assistance in the campus outreach project. ADJOURNMENT Chair Appezzato adjourned the meeting at 7:20 p. Respectfully submitted 7tih Uk Patti Van Mark ARR Secretary $recycled paper H:\MENSLEY\RR\MlNUTES\1998\4-98.MlN