FREMONT — It’s not often you get the chance to decide the future of a half-empty swath of land the size of downtown San Francisco.
For Fremont officials, that opportunity comes as they plot a development strategy for an 850-acre industrial area in the south of the city that includes the Tesla factory and the future Warm Springs BART Station, which is scheduled to open in 2015.
“I have always believed (the area) is one of the most exciting strategic economic development opportunities, I think, in the state,” Councilman Dominic Dutra said.
City and business leaders are hoping to take advantage of Tesla’s presence and the proximity to BART to attract other high-tech firms to the area, which has more than 450 acres of vacant and underused land.
They’re also hoping to create a unique “21st century community” with a variety of amenities not yet found in the city, balancing their vision with what’s economically feasible. Precisely what shape that community will take, however, remains to be seen.
“There’s an opportunity here to create not just a destination for jobs but a real destination venue,” said Nina Moore, director of government and community affairs for the Fremont Chamber of Commerce. “Some use that will bring people to Fremont for entertainment or sports or conferences, something that makes it unique.”
City staff and a team of consultants delivered a presentation about the project last week based on four reports: an economic and market analysis; a land-use alternatives study; an infrastructure and cost analysis; and a financial assessment.
The studies, completed during the past six months, were paid for mostly through a $333,000 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration.
Based on the studies and council members’ feedback, staff members now will prepare a community plan addressing parks, schools and other facilities.
The project is in its early days, but consultants presented three land-use alternatives for council members to ponder. One would retain the area for industrial and commercial uses. Another would develop a large “innovation campus,” with a mix of commercial and research and development uses, west of the BART station and a high-density residential neighborhood to the east. A third option would involve building two residential neighborhoods east and west of BART.
Council and community members were more receptive to the last two.
“I would encourage some sort of night life, some bars, some restaurants, something that the rest of us that live there now can really take advantage of and improve our lives,” said resident Mark Murray, who lives nearby in the Irvington District.
Local developers said the project should include a mixture — housing, employment, commercial and retail — to create the live-work environment demanded by high-tech firms.
“We’ve participated in numerous transit-oriented developments and recommend a mix of uses — including jobs, retail, residential and community amenities — to create that dynamic area and district that is an attraction to corporate users,” said Eric Morley of Warm Springs Station LLC, which is developing a 36-area site across the street from the future station.
Vice Mayor Anu Natarajan agreed. “It’s going to be looking at a mix of uses … creating that sense of community, that sense of place, that sense of specialness that we all want,” she said.
Councilwoman Suzanne Chan said the city should seek to attract a vibrant mix of housing and businesses, including entertainment venues, without attempting to compete with the barhopping culture of cities such as San Francisco or San Jose.
“I don’t think that’s the vibe here,” she said.
Mayor Gus Morrison, though, said the housing component could make it more difficult to secure the necessary infrastructure funding.
The project would require an estimated $159.7 million in transportation and utility improvements, 83 percent of which would be financed by federal, state and regional money.
“I think if we walk in their office and say we want to build 2,500 residential units, they’re going to throw us out,” Morrison said. “Everybody in the world can build residential, but there aren’t very many places where you have the ability to do a really creative, attractive, high-level project that people could point to and say, ‘Fremont did it, why can’t we?’ “
Still, Dutra and Councilman Bill Harrison said the residential development likely will need to happen first to kick-start the area.
“The BART station is going to open in a few years, and they (BART passengers) are going to get off and they’re going to see an underutilized commercial building, some empty warehouses and empty fields,” Harrison said. “I don’t think that exactly says, ‘Welcome to Silicon Valley.’ “
