April 07, 2011

U.S. Army agrees to land swap deal in Dublin

By Robert Jordan
Contra Costa Times

DUBLIN — After nearly a decade of discussions, the Army announced a land transfer agreement Thursday that will turn over about 7.5 percent of Camp Parks to a Southern California development company in exchange for a face-lift for the aging reserve base.

The Army agreed to transfer 180 acres off Dublin Boulevard in fives phases. In return, SunCal will build $80 million in new facilities and upgrade infrastructure at the base that dates back to the 1940s.

SunCal, one of 150 companies interested in developing the land, and the Army reached the deal in March about the same time SunCal submitted its proposal to land a second campus that Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is planning to open by December 2015.

“The two happened coincidentally close in time,” said Frank Faye, chief operating officer for SunCal. “This process took time because of the nature and needs of the base.”

Talks for the land transfer date back to 2002 with the Army looking for ways to upgrade its facilities without the use of taxpayer dollars. Federal law prohibits the Army from selling its land to raise money for improvements.

SunCal agreed to construct a new main gate, base police administrative building, maintenance support building, medical training facility, Army Reserve training facility and a public works/logistics warehouse, and to make various road and utility improvements.

In exchange for building the facilities, portions of the land will be turned over to SunCal for it to develop a residential, commercial and retail community.

The land exchange is the largest in Army Reserve history, said Tad Davis, chief executive officer for the U.S. Army Reserve Command.

Each phase is expected to take up to two years to complete and the upgrades to the base are expected to help the Army house and train thousands of military personnel, including the relocation of the Non Commissioned Officers Academy that is relocating from Fort Lewis in Washington to Camp Parks in October.

“Everyone has been talking about the private portion of the this deal and the economic impact,” said Dublin Mayor Tim Sbranti. “But what is often overlooked is the thousands of people the base will bring to the area.”

The planning process for the land, including a master plan and environmental impact report, could take 12 to 18 months. Sbranti also said the deal strengthens SunCal’s bid to woo Lawrence Berkeley Lab’s second campus. The lab received 21 proposals from cities throughout the East Bay looking to land the 2-million-square-foot campus.

“This certainly helps us in our pursuit of the campus,” Sbranti said. “Originally it was more of an idea that we were getting the land, and now that we have the land it makes us more compelling.”

A list of finalists for the lab’s second campus is expected to be announced later this month.

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