Agmt 2013 Freedman Tung + Sasaki

Home

City of ro NEXT GENERATION STUDY- Central ral San Leandro Industrial Area Scope of Services June 3,2013;v.1.1 FOCUS AND CONTEXT: Within San Leandro's industrial areas,the Merced Street corridor(roughly from Williams Street to Burroughs Avenue,map attached) is where two transformational developments overlap-the Kaiser Permanente San Leandro Medical Center's first phase at Merced Street and Fairway Drive (slated for Fall 2014 completion),and a segment of the newly activated LIT San Leandro fiber optic loop. The Kaiser facility will infill a major new employment and activity anchor that will bring a stream of new visitors and greater regional visibility to the industrial area west of I-880,while the fiber loop introduces cutting-edge digital infrastructure unavailable even in much of the Silicon Valley. The area is accessed by I-880's Marina Blvd.exit and from BART via the LINKS shuttle. The two projects are potentially the industrial areas'most impactful in years and are drivers in San Leandro's embrace of the innovation-driven economy. But beyond the Kaiser site itself,little change has been evident to date in the industrial areas. They are still characterized by a mid-20th Century"superblock"pattern,aging building stock,auto-oriented access,scarcity of talent- magnet amenities for firms and employees,and low-activity and poorly imageable"look and feel." Older East Bay industrial areas to the north in Emeryville and West Berkeley have undergone use, investment and character transformations to support a dynamic mix of knowledge-oriented, advanced manufacturing and emerging sector businesses as well as talent-magnet activity centers and amenities,while those to the south in Fremont and Union City have become the northeastern reaches of Silicon Valley business parks. But San Leandro's workplace areas have not similarly evolved,due to a variety of real and perceived obstacles to investment and change. STUDY: This study proposes to look at how the City(and potential partners) may leverage these two initiatives with near-term measures to stimulate private investment,place-based activity,firm attraction and incubation,and job creation in their immediate vicinity. While our focus is to respond to imminent opportunities,we will incorporate a perspective toward longer-term workplace district transformation,given emerging trends for 21st Century Workplace Districts, Firms,and Employees. It will include a focused examination of market,policy and urban conditions and identify a set of tactical opportunities and actions for mutually reinforcing public,private,and institutional initiatives in the project area. From a private investment perspective,measures may include adaptive concepts for parcels and/or buildings,desirable mix and positioning of business or institution types and tenants,and harnessing or linkage of available programs-as well as an investment rationale basis. Public sector side actions may include focused enhancements to public right-of-ways or spaces (placemaking),policy and regulatory updating,and local changes to the district pattern-with the awareness that City funding is constrained. Both will incorporate the growing role of institutions (educational,non-profit,etc.) that are increasingly playing roles as anchors and catalysts in workplace districts. The objective will be to identify where and how the City should focus its effort to get something happening today-especially in telling the market where the public commitment will be,and where the private sector should focus in tandem with that.The study will not go as far as an area or Specific Plan,but it may serve as a first step that can Page 1 of 6 III