In June 2015, Alameda Point Partners (APP) got the green light from the City Council to proceed with the development of a 68-acre site at Alameda Point. The property, known as Site A, extends from the old East Gate of the Naval Air Station at Main Street and today’s Ralph Appezzato Memorial Parkway to Seaplane Lagoon.

Both APP and the city originally envisioned development at Alameda Point unfolding in three phases over 15 years. The Disposition and Development Agreement (DDA) hammered out between the two parties defines Phase One as improvements on some 30 acres of the 68-acre Site A property.

The agreement contains a milestone schedule for Phase 1: Land conveyance by April 11, 2017; infrastructure completion by June 11, 2019; and vertical — or build-out — completion by Dec. 11, 2019. When APP did not convey the land by the April 11 deadline, the city wasted little time. 

On April 11, City Manager Jill Keimach notified APP that by missing the deadline, it had failed to comply with the DDA. Keimach gave APP 30 days to cure its “breaches and failures.” In an April 12 letter addressed to Keimach and City Attorney Janet Kern, APP cited the lack of competitive subcontractor bids as one reason for not respecting the April 11 deadline. The lack of bids is one factor that increases construction costs, which, in turn, negatively impacts the value of land for investors. 

The DDA gives the developer the right to extend the original milestones at a price. APP is now hoping to execute that right. In the April 12 letter, APP put forth a pair of revised milestones. The first proposal, Phase 1a, would extend the land conveyance out 120 days from the original April 11 milestone to Aug. 9; the infrastructure completion out six months to Dec. 11, 2019; and the vertical completion out almost 18 months to June 30, 2021. 

The second proposal, Phase 1b, would stretch completion of the project even further into the future: the land conveyance milestone would become Oct. 1, 2018, an additional 14 months from Phase 1a; infrastructure completion, April 1, 2021, adding almost two years and three months to Phase 1a and 22 months to the milestones in the DDA. Phase 1b proffers a build-out completion of April 4, 2027, more than eight years past the original milestone’s Dec. 11, 2019 date.  

When finally built out, Phase One would comprise 650 housing units, including 128 very-low and low-income affordable units and 36 moderate-income affordable units. In addition the development would feature eight acres of parks and open space, as well as 93,000 square feet of retail space. 

According to the APP letter, the first reading of the developer’s proposed amendments is scheduled to come before the City Council on Tuesday, July 5.