The city’s RFEI (Request for Expressions of Interest) process yielded three proposals in documents released by the city late Monday evening. There were two proposals that were expected – the Ramos, Oates, Bruner group at Mace 200 and the Hines-SKK Developments north of Sutter Davis Hospital.
There was a third from David Morris of Capital Corridor Ventures, who approached the owner of the Davis Ranch property, the Tsakopoulos family, about a donation of 200 acres of the Davis Ranch.
This is the third of three proposals – Davis Ranch.
In a letter to Rob White, David Morris of Capitol Corridor Ventures wrote, “To help advance the City’s ongoing efforts to create an Innovation Center, Capitol Corridor Ventures (CCV) has approached the owner of the Davis Ranch property, the Tsakopoulos family, regarding whether or not they would entertain a donation of 200 acres to the City of Davis for the purposes of helping the City develop an Innovation Center on the property.”
In response, “The Tsakopoulos family has expressed an interest and willingness to donate 200 acres of the Davis Ranch as shall be mutually agreed to the City and evidenced by the attached letter. The proceeds from the donation shall be placed in an endowment for the benefit of the city.”
As Mr. Morris notes, Angelo Tsakopoulos and his family have been prominent land developers and philanthropists in the Sacramento region for decades.
Mr. Morris adds, “To augment this generous offer from the Tsakopoulos family, CCV reached out to Panattoni Development Company (Panattoni) to request that they collaborate with CCV and the City in making the Innovation Center a reality. In response to CCV’s inquiry, Panattoni has responded favorably and is very interested in working with the City as the master developer/builder of an Innovation Center on Davis Ranch.”
Panattoni is one of the largest developers/builders of office, industrial and business park projects in the United States.
Mr. Morris adds, “Also interested in assisting with the land use entitlements necessary for the Innovation Center is George Phillips. You know of his most recent successful entitlement effort with The Cannery in the City of Davis, but he has also entitled numerous major retail, residential and mixed use master planned projects in the greater Sacramento region over the last 30 years.”
He writes, “Combined, this game-changing land offer by the Tsakopoulos family, the developer/builder experience of Panattoni, the land use entitlement expertise of George Phillips, and the background, knowledge, and connections of CCV within the tech community, this group of real estate, construction, land use, and technology professionals represent a powerful team that is ready, willing, and able to turn the City’s vision for a vibrant and world-class Innovation Center into a reality.”
A letter from Kyriakos Tsakopoulos, President & CEO of AKT Investments, confirmed the “willingness of the Tsakopoulos family to donate 200 acres of our Davis Ranch property to the City of Davis… for the purpose of development of an Innovation Center.”
“The acreage we would propose to donate shall be mutually agreed upon and shall be placed in an endowment for the benefit of the City,” Mr. Tsakopoulos writes.
He notes that such a donation would occur upon satisfaction of the condition that within 24 months, “the city would annex the property into the City of Davis and rezone the property with all requisite entitlements necessary to develop and construct an Innovation Center on the property.”
The City and CCV “should work together to select a qualified master developer for the property and should explore the opportunity to place a measure on the November 2014 ballot that advances and/or streamline the entitlement process for the Innovation Center on Davis Ranch.”
Timothy Schaedler, a Local Partner with the Panattoni Development Company, added, “We are writing in regard to the offer of the Tsakopoulos family to donate 200 acres to the City of Davis for purposes of developing an Innovation Center on Davis Ranch and your ongoing efforts to advance growth of the technology sector in Davis.”
He writes, “The proposed donation is a dramatic development in the effort to accelerate the retention and recruitment of tech business in and to the City.”
“By this letter, we wish to extend our offer to CCV to collaborate with your organization and the City of Davis in the role of master developer/builder of an Innovation Center on the Tsakopoulos property,” he adds. Noting their experience around the nation, he concludes, “With this experience, Panattoni is amply qualified to assist in successfully implementing the City’s vision of an Innovation Center.”
—David M. Greenwald
woah – this one really blows out the barn. so we have atk donating land to davis to build a business park. does that also mean we have to build housing?
Since “Davis Ranch” is in Sloughhouse, I assume they’re referring to some part of Conaway Ranch. Clearly we need a map.
I just found out it is south of I-80 about mid-way between the Mace and the causeway… next to the soccer field. A very exciting gift to the city. Let’s hope we get this one right.
Where’s the mitigation?
Since all three proposals lack anything close to adequate mitigation, it suggests to me that staff have not clued them in to local criteria for good planning and “what works” politically.
And, these are all developer driven fantasy plans for hugely adding to the city footprint, traffic, smog, housing sprawl.
Mike Webb and the CC: what are you doing with this process??
“these are all developer driven fantasy plans”
Of course they are, that is what you get when you are asking developers to do all the work and put up all the land and money. If only the City had land of its own that could be used for a community driven fantasy plan instead.
How do these add to housing sprawl if there is no residential in the proposals?
Naive question: what I’ll he want in place of 200 donated acres?
“He” already donated the soccer field.