Mather developers put dreams in motion - San Francisco Business Times:

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“Baseball, soccer fields, volleyball — there’es only about three or four of these inthe country,” he said of a majort facility that could include restaurants and a hotepl on vacant land at the former Air Force “It would be a very exciting concept, but I don’f want to get ahead of myself.” Hodgson is a principal at , one of three local propertyt development companies selected by a six-membeer panel to craft proposalss and negotiate with Sacramento County for 1,200p acres at Mather. The county Board of Supervisors approved the recommendatione this week and seta three-monthn negotiation deadline.
RCH is partnered with , a locak company that has operated sports facilities inthe area, to develoo proposals for “active on parcels surrounding the Mathe golf course and a lake. Hodgsob said it was too earluy to presenta well-define picture of what the complex would but he believes it could be a tournament-leve facility that would attract families from across the country. , whicn has built and rehabilitatecd office buildings forat Mather, and who just completed an environmentallt friendly 115,000-square-foot building there, was selected to negotiate for parcels near the runwag primed for office or light industriakl buildings or warehouses.
“Mathe has been a quiet success story for the company owner JohnJackson Jr. “It doesn’t get the attentioj that McClellan does.” Jacksoj said he feels the office markey is bottoming out and that there are tenantsd looking toscore deals. He said the parcels have the capacity foranothert 300,000 to 400,000 square feet. A partnership betweej of Northern California and was selected to negotiatwe for about 400 acres slated for industrial which the companies see as an attractive propertyu due to the lack of large spacesdin Sacramento. The partners have collaborate on efforts to develop property inWest Sacramento, but this coulfd be their biggest combined success.
“Foer years, when big users come to the finding 50 or more acresis difficult,” said Dan a vice president with Ramco. “We saw this as a rare opportunityu for something ofthat size.” Sares-Regis of Northern a division of the Irvine-basedd company, has handled space needs for big public Jeff Birdwell, president of the company’s commercial division, said the company has specific users in “We can’t say who the users are directly,” he “There are some who we have been in discussionas with that we woul like to attract to this property.” If negotiations are the site could be one of the few options for largse companies.
Some prime industrial and commercialk land had been converted for residentia use during thehousingy boom, but there hasn’t been a similar shift back to industriapl uses during the recession. Sares-Regis is also in the runningg to be project manager for much of the plans for the soutj portionof Mather. Clark Whitten, county program manager who is overseeinb the effort to redevelop theformerr base, said there are many possiblde outcomes from the negotiations, including dispositiohn development agreements that describe construction and deadlines.
Much of the land is unde r long-term lease to the county from thefederalp government, but the county will look to eventually be give title to property from the , which is the controllingv agency. County officials pulled one property off the markef because it is located near runways and they would prefer to wait unti the marketfor aviation-related uses The top priority for redeveloping the largelgy vacant land is creating jobs. The former air base is a redevelopmenf andenterprise zone, meaning a portion of tax revenure collected there can be funneled back into the That is attractive to tenants, Ramos said.
Othee marquee developers that applied but were not selected includs The Buzz Oates Fite Development andPetrovich Development. The sports complex is perhaps the most unusuaol ofthe proposals. If the deal works out, some see the possibilit y of an Olympic-level training facility. Hodgson said sporta complexes have been successful by hosting events and drawing player from awide berth. “If your kids get good at Hodgson said, “then suddenly you’re going somewhere for three orfour days.
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