SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT
2150 Webster Street, P.O. Box 12688
Oakland, CA 94604-2688
(510) 464-6000
February 23, 2023
RE: Letter of Support - MTC Priority Development Area (PDA) Planning Grants 2022-23 - Letter of Support for Bay Fair TOD Precise Plan and Specific Plan Amendment applications for the City of San Leandro
Dear Mr. Shorett,
On behalf of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART), I am writing to express support for the City of San Leandro’s PDA grant applications to complete a Bay Fair TOD Precise Plan and update the Bay Fair TOD Specific Plan.
Since the adoption of the Bay Fair TOD Specific Plan in 2018, key properties within the Bay Fair TOD Specific Plan have changed ownership. The new owners of the “Bayfair Center” shopping mall have closed the interior of the mall and are preparing for adaptive reuse, which was not anticipated in the Specific Plan. Additionally, several access infrastructure challenges remain, including direct access across the Estudillo Creek Flood Control Channel to the planned East Bay Greenway and BRT, ADA access to the area from the west side of the Bay Fair BART station, and BART parking replacement with future TOD on our property.
Building upon the community vision and environmental clearance established by the Specific Plan, this grant will allow the City of San Leandro to work in partnership with property owners, key stakeholders and the community to develop a detailed site plan to reflect new opportunities, address key infrastructure and access challenges, and provide the additional parameters needed to support and streamline future development. The plan will establish an updated circulation network, developable blocks and develop conceptual designs for the key infrastructure needed.
The Bay Fair TOD Precise Plan would be a strategic investment in the detailed predevelopment work necessary to unlock the full TOD potential in the station area and prepare the BART TOD site for a competitive RFP process. BART supports the City of San Leandro in seeking these funds, and we look forward to continuing our strong partnership focused on implementing BART and regional policies and sustaining BART ridership growth.
Thank you for your consideration,
Val Menotti
Chief Planning and Development Officer
Cc: Abigail Thorne-Lyman, BART Director of Real Estate and Property Development Tim Chan, BART Station Area Planning Group Manager
Tom Liao, City of San Leandro Community Development Director 2023
Janice Li
PRESIDENT
Mark Foley
VICE PRESIDENT
Robert Powers
GENERAL MANAGER
DIRECTORS
Debora Allen
1ST DISTRICT
Mark Foley
2ND DISTRICT
Rebecca Saltzman
3RD DISTRICT
Robert Raburn, Ph.D.
4TH DISTRICT
John McPartland
5TH DISTRICT
Elizabeth Ames
6TH DISTRICT
Lateefah Simon
7TH DISTRICT
Janice Li
8TH DISTRICT
Bevan Dufty
9TH DISTRICT
www.bart.gov
DocuSign Envelope ID: 5B004DA1-1B2A-40F2-AFA4-7013E48531B5 PO Box 260770 | Encino, CA 91426
Land Planning, Finance & Development
Tel. 818-380-2600
February 23, 2023
Mr. Mark Shorett
PDA Program Manager
Association of Bay Area Governments
Metropolitan Transportation Commission
375 Beale Street Suite 800
San Francisco, CA 94105
RE: Letter of Support- MTC Priority Development Area (PDA) Planning Grants 2022-23 Bay Fair TOD Precise Plan and Specific Plan Amendment applications for the City of San Leandro Dear Mr. Shorett,
Kingman Pacific Associates acquired a 3.6-acre site in Sub-Area 1 of the Bay Fair TOD District in 2019. We have successfully entitled 497 units of multi-family housing that is projected to include 50-100% affordability dependent on available funding sources. Our partners, Pacific West Communities, are currently seeking State AHSC funding for the project in partnership with BART and the City of San Leandro.
We’re writing to express strong support for the City of San Leandro’s PDA Planning grant applications to complete a Bay Fair TOD Precise Plan and amend the Bay Fair TOD Specific Plan accordingly. This planning work will address key access challenges, including direct access from our planned highdensity housing site on East 14th Street across the Estudillo Creek Flood Control Channel to the Bay Fair BART station. We look forward to continued stakeholder engagement to realize the vision established through prior TOD planning efforts.
Through our work with BART and the City on the AHSC application, it is clear that detailed site and multi-modal circulation plans are necessary to reflect new opportunities, address key infrastructure and access challenges, and provide the additional parameters needed to support and streamline future development. The plan will establish an updated circulation network, developable blocks and develop conceptual designs for the key infrastructure needed to catalyze full scale development of the TOD. We expect to be able to leverage MTC’s investment in this regionally important work to advance affordable housing production in the plan area.
We look forward to a continued partnership with the City, BART, and other key stakeholders in the Bay Fair TOD district.
Sincerely,
Alexis Gevorgian
Kingman Pacific Associates
February 23, 2023
Mr. Mark Shorett
PDA Program Manager
Association of Bay Area Governments
Metropolitan Transportation Commission
375 Beale Street Suite 800
San Francisco, CA 94105
RE: Letter of Support- MTC Priority Development Area (PDA) Planning Grants 2022-23 Bay Fair TOD Precise Plan and Specific Plan Amendment applications for the City of San Leandro
Dear Mr. Shorett,
B3 Investors purchased the 42-acre Bayfair Center site in Sub-Area 1 of the Bay Fair TOD District in the summer of 2022. Since that time, we’ve worked to assess the mall’s potential for adaptive reuse with an emphasis on establishing a transit-oriented employment center adjacent to BART. In the past nine months, we’ve met with numerous developers, prospective tenants, urban design and architecture firms to better understand the site’s opportunities. This month we closed the interior of the mall and are actively undergoing renovations to suit a new generation of employment tenants seeking proximity to transit. Achieving the vision of the Bay Fair TOD Specific Plan will require overcoming access challenges to connect our development to BART so employees, residents, and visitors can safely walk or bike to transit.
We’re writing to express strong support for the City of San Leandro’s PDA Planning grant applications to complete a Bay Fair TOD Precise Plan and amend the Bay Fair TOD Specific Plan accordingly. This planning work will address key access challenges and advance the redevelopment of the site through comprehensive stakeholder engagement and preparation of detailed development plans and parcelization plans to define future blocks for vertical development. The designs and cost estimates for district-scale infrastructure that the Precise Plan would provide are necessary to catalyze development of the TOD. The Precise Plan process will bring together property owners and key stakeholders to inform necessary infrastructure and multi-modal circulation network plans to unlock the TOD’s development potential.
We look forward to continuing to work with our neighboring property owners and the City on this regionally significant effort to establish the Bay Fair TOD.
Sincerely,
San Leandro JV LLC / B3 Investors
Peter Lennon
A transformation is currently
underway to convert Bayfair Center
from a 1950s era auto-centric mall
Into a 21-st Century
Transit-Oriented
Employment Center
The Bay Fair TOD has been a case study site for
several UC Berkeley graduate program courses.
City staff, BART staff, and property owners have
participated in site tours, briefing sessions, and
final presentation reviews