Many Rails Converge

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
By Wendy Butler October 29th 2006

The collective opinion at Thursday’s “Next Stop: Rail Yard Revitalization” workshop, held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas, was that people are less interested in suburbia than they were 30 years ago, and some of the most coveted land in which they want to construct offices, entertainment and even residences is that formerly occupied by freight and passenger railroads.

The workshop was presented by nonprofit organization Center For Creative Land Recycling.

Union Pacific Railroad was a lively topic among developers and various city officials, who would like to transform the railroad’s vacant, largely contaminated parcels into central city hubs.

Mike Casey, UP’s general director of real estate, was in attendance, but did not make a presentation. He did, however, respond to comments about contamination made by developers. More on that in Tuesday’s The Eureka Reporter.

Security National Properties has begun the legal process of converting the former Union Pacific Railroad parcel or “Balloon Track,” located off Eureka’s Waterfront Drive, into mixed-use Marina Center. It purchased the parcel from Union Pacific on Sept. 28.

What SN envisions will be done at the behest of whatever composition will make up the Eureka City Council following the Nov. 7 elections. In order to stock the Balloon Track with retail facilities, industry and offices, the city’s zoning designation for that parcel can no longer be “public.”

As Eureka Community Development Department Director Kevin Hamblin previously told The Eureka Reporter, the city does not exist in a “vacuum” when it comes to converting old rail yards into new urban centers. Therefore, what a developer is planning or has realized as far away as Truckee or in Yuma, Ariz., can have the same challenges, from toxic contamination to community ambivalence, and that was asserted during and following Thursday’s workshop.

What distinguished Eureka from the other cities was that Eureka has no working railroad. The other proposals discussed Thursday are for developments that will be constructed, while UP rail operation continues adjacent to them.

Among the Thursday workshop panelists was Security National Senior Vice President Brian Morrissey, who gave an overview of the proposed Marina Center.

The Thursday panelists also included officials/developers involved with Union Park, proposed for Downtown Las Vegas, on the site of a former Union Pacific parcel.

Union Park is proposed for 61 acres, part of 220 acres originally owned by Union Pacific. During the 1990s, UP divided the acreage into 10 parcels; the 61-acre parcel is one of them and the city of Las Vegas has owned it for five years. Newland Communities is the development consultant.

The plan is to construct retail, office and residences, making the parcel an “urban core,” Newland Communities’ Mountain Region Vice President and Development Director Rita Brandin said.

The Sacramento Rail Yards project and Oakland Central Station also had panelists. Both involve Union Pacific parcels.

The Sacramento project proposes a 240-acre mixed-use development in Downtown. Thomas Enterprises Inc. is in final negotiations with UP for the purchase of the parcel, which requires extensive cleanup.

Although UP has completed some environmental remediation, the parcel’s remaining contamination is a “sticking point” with sale negotiations, Sacramento Director of Planning Carol Shearly said, during a workshop break.

This area was the western terminus of the 1869 Transcontinental Railroad, according to www.sacramentorailyards.com.

The Rail Yards is proposed to include entertainment, retail and mixed-use high-density housing and offices, as well as open space and riverfront amenities.

Holliday Development purchased the Oakland Central Station parcel in 2000.

Holliday Principal Rick Holliday said he plans to primarily put housing on the parcel.

Among the smaller cities presented were Eureka, Truckee and Yuma, all three working to realize developments on property currently or once owned by Union Pacific.

After Morrissey had presented Marina Center, Holliday discussed the Truckee parcel, which his company purchased.

Holliday said what inspired him to want to purchase the property was a poster — “Truckee Town Portrait,” taken in 2000 in UP railroad property inside of its Balloon Track.

He said there are 24 developable acres, which he will build in phases, with retail, theaters and housing. The total site is 37 acres, the active Balloon Track being 13 to 14 of them, and Holliday is negotiating with UP for him to be able to pay to move the balloon portion east to make for more connectivity for his parcel.

Finally, Charles Flynn, executive director, Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area Corp., spoke about a 13-acre “open gash” site. The city owns 2 acres and he’d like to see the city purchase the remainder from owner UP.

He envisions a heritage area incorporated into the site. UP has donated an 1888 Southern Pacific freight depot to the city.

The Thursday workshop also included panel discussions on managing “brownfields,” environmental insurance and turning rail right-of-ways into greenways and trails. Zoning issues, a key Marina Center factor, was only vaguely referenced during Thursday’s event.


(Security National owns The Eureka Reporter.)

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