FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 15, 2004

Truckee Mayor Josh Susman announced today that Truckee has taken a giant step toward realizing our 9-year-old vision of expanding our downtown onto the railyard located just east of Historic Truckee. According to Susman, "This now vacant site is critical in achieving the Town's planning philosophy of infill development." Last Friday, Holliday Development completed the purchase from Union Pacific Railroad of the 30-acre site which is planned for significant infill development in Truckee's award-winning Downtown Specific Plan. Holliday Development is an Emeryville, California-based real estate development firm which specializes in creative residential and mixed-use developments throughout Northern California.

For the past several years the site has languished as Union Pacific focused on other priorities. Recently a collaborative effort between the Town, the Sierra Business Council, and the California Center for Land Recycling resulted in the receipt of a $350,000 Sustainable Communities Grant for master planning the railyard site through a program overseen by the Office of California State Treasurer Phil Angelides. According to Susman, "The process of pursuing and receiving this grant provided the visibility we needed to push this project forward. Without our partners (SBC, CCLR, and the Treasurers Office) as well as Union Pacific Railroad's renewed interest in working with the Town, we would not be moving forward."

Mr. Holliday began his real estate career in the affordable housing arena, where he started a non-profit company which has now grown to be California's largest affordable housing builder. Fifteen years ago, he moved over to the for-profit development business and, through Holliday Development, has produced numerous residential and mixed-use projects including the first loft-style residential units in San Francisco's South of Market district, the conversion of San Francisco's historic Clocktower building into live/work mixed-use units, the 1000 Van Ness mixed-use development which included an AMC 14-screen multiplex movie theatre along with residential and retail uses, and many other projects. Despite its long history of accomplishments, Holliday Development has chosen to remain a relatively small-scale, non-institutional developer able to move quickly and imaginatively to meet the challenges of interesting development opportunities. Mr. Holliday said that he views the acquisition in Truckee as a chance to "work with the Truckee community and the town officials to create a significant new development which can include a retail/commercial component that will complement the town's historic downtown commercial core, and housing opportunities that will meet the needs of Truckee residents." More information on Holliday Development may be found at www.hollidaydevelopment.com

Susman commented, "The Town is working collaboratively with Holliday to design a process for developing the Master Plan that will address the critical technical issues and engage the community on the project design which is fundamental to its successful integration into our Historic Downtown. We expect to share this process with the Community as it unfolds. We look forward to the Community's active participation.

Key contacts:

Tony Lashbrook, Town of Truckee Community Development Director, 530.582.7820 or tlashbrook@townoftruckee.com
Rick Holliday, Holliday Development, 510.547.2122 or rick@hollidaydevelopment.com