On October 10 Community Development staff presented a Real Estate Development Update to the City Council, providing an overview of projects under construction, proposed new projects, and development opportunity sites in San Leandro. The update highlighted many of the exciting projects underway or planned, representing hundreds of millions of dollars of investment. These projects will not only improve the built environment, but also create opportunities for hundreds of quality jobs and over 1,000 new housing units.

Some of the largest projects are in the industrial area, where the City is experiencing record low vacancy rates. As a safe community located near the Oakland Airport, Port of Oakland, Interstates 880 and 580, with access to Lit San Leandro high speed internet, San Leandro is a great place to locate a business, particularly in the growing field of advanced manufacturing.

Several key industrial sites are proposed for redevelopment, representing the first Class A industrial development in the community in several decades. The 161,000 square foot Comstock Industrial Center is already under construction at 2388 Williams Street (@ Doolittle Dr), with several strong tenants being considered. The existing location of the Sears outlet store at 1980 West Avenue 140th (@ Wicks Blvd) is being prepared for a full remodel to prepare for a new tenant, Friant, a custom office furniture manufacturer, which will employ over 100 people. New industrial buildings geared towards manufacturing are also being proposed to replace existing, outdated buildings at 2756 Alvarado St. (@ Aladdin Ave.) and 2000 Marina Blvd. (west of Merced St.). The largest redevelopment site is the location of the former Kraft / Yuban coffee plant, where the developer is considering several industrial scenarios at the 30 acre site. In addition to the millions of dollars of investment, these projects will also bring public improvements, including utility undergrounding, street widening, and new landscaping.

Anyone who has visited Downtown San Leandro recently can see that there is significant construction activity underway, including the San Leandro Tech Campus and Marea Alta housing development on either side of the BART station. A number of exciting new housing and commercial developments are also in the works. A fourth office building is planned for the Creekside Plaza complex at San Leandro Blvd. and Davis St., as well as the second and third office buildings and a potential housing project at the Tech Campus along Alvarado St. Planning is also underway for a top-tier mixed-use development at East 14th St. and Callan Ave., with potential for over 100 housing units and ground floor retail, potentially including a specialty grocer. Several new infill housing developments are also on the way, including 60 units at Washington Ave. and Thornton St.

The City will also be selling three sites previously owned by the Redevelopment Agency. Two of the sites are located in Downtown, including the Town Hall Square site at Davis, East 14th St., and Dan Niemi Way. This long-planned development site offers the opportunity for a mixed-use retail, office, and residential, as well as the opportunity to open the development up to San Leandro Creek. The second site is at Washington Ave. and Parrott St., where there is potential for a smaller-scale residential and retail development. The third site is the former Fire Station #11 at 2101 Marina, which is zoned for neighborhood serving commercial uses. These properties will be offered for sale in the coming month through a public Request for Proposals (RFP) process and more detail on the development plans should be available in 2017.

You can view the full presentation HERE.