4A Public Hearing 2014 0721 - Laserfiche WebLink

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File Number: 14-285 north and Thornton Street to the south and are primarily used for parking by BART patrons. In addition, the developer will improve the easterly half of Martinez Street into a bicycle and pedestrian paseo which will ultimately become a portion of the East Bay Greenway. The improvements will include a twenty-foot paved pedestrian and bicycle path, streetlights and storm water treatment facilities. The project will also include undergrounding of all overhead utilities. The Development Agreement between the City and Westlake requires that Westlake maintain the improvements on both the vacated and retained portions of the public right-of-way. The City’s involvement with Westlake and the entitlement of Westlake Development Partner’s property began in 2008 with the original resident-focused San Leandro Crossings Master Plan. The original plan included multi-family housing units and office spaces. With the economic downturn, Westlake refocused on developing 1333 Martinez Street into an office complex, while a non-profit developer partner, Bridge Housing Corporation, assumed the efforts to develop housing units at 1400 San Leandro Boulevard. The result of the substantial amount of time and work over the past six years will be the creation of a viable and innovative Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) project, which is expected to become a catalyst for economic growth in Downtown San Leandro. Analysis The City supports the Downtown Tech Campus project (Project), and finds it to be vital for implementing the City’s Downtown Transit-Oriented Development Strategy (TOD Strategy) goals. The project is in line with the City’s vision to tap into economic opportunities generated from the growth of the Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area high tech industry. As the first privately funded project in the TOD Strategy area, the project has strong potential to attract similar developments. The proposed project will create an opportunity for a unique workplace district in Downtown San Leandro for more than 1,800 new employees. It will provide an opportunity to attract and retain businesses that can benefit from the high-speed broadband capacity created by Lit San Leandro. The project will transform a site, which has been vacant for a substantial amount of time, into a high density office campus and potentially an important municipal revenue driver for years to come. The project has made provisions to absorb some of the BART patrons’ overflow parking spaces on Martinez Street onto the proposed project’s parking facilities. Westlake submitted a preliminary plan and estimate of work within the public right-of-way. The City drafted an agreement for the work shown on the plans, setting forth the responsibilities of each party with respect to the work, such as the requirement that Chang obtain an improvement surety bond for the value of the work to ensure its completion. The proposed public improvements align with the City’s TOD Strategy and its vision for the East Bay Greenway, a partial segment of which will be fully funded by the developer. The street vacations are conditioned such that the City Clerk can accept an irrevocable offer of dedication for the vacated streets for public right-of-way if the improvements related to the street vacations are not initiated within twenty-four (24) months of this action. To implement the aforementioned condition, Chang has recorded with the Alameda County Recorder an Page 2 City of San Leandro Printed on 7/15/2014