Another take on the land value issue - closed Navy bases

caycifish_IHB

caycifish_IHB

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<a href="http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/speaker-pelosi-has-her-eye-on-treasure-island-2009-07-29.html">http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/speaker-pelosi-has-her-eye-on-treasure-island-2009-07-29.html</a>



House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is eyeing treasure in a massive Pentagon bill that could benefit her district greatly.



Pelosi is among dozens of House lawmakers pressing for a little-known provision in the defense policy bill that would speed up the transfer of military bases to private developers.



One of those shuttered bases has been the subject of years of failed negotiations between San Francisco, the city Pelosi represents, and the Navy.



The two parties have been at a stalemate over Treasure Island, a Navy base that closed in 1993 and sits atop a man-made island in the San Francisco Bay that has city planners seeing dollar signs.



They have squabbled over the price. The Navy estimates it is worth $240 million; the city offered a tenth of that value.
 
This site would be a total housing success. View of SF and Oakland at the same time. Coastal location and everyone knows where it is. No one would ever get lost finding it and plenty of directional signs posted everywhere to the location. Fastpass would be required to live there. Where on earth would we find 18 guards at a gated community working 24/7?
 
As a taxpayer I'm opposed. I think we should get something for the land, especially since we are paying for the environmental cleanup and base closure costs. However, I don't know how big the island is so I'm not sure what a fair value would be. 6 years ago the land value was probably higher. I have faith that government red tape in re-evaluating the market value is part of the problem.
 
Mercer Island in Seattle is the closest comparison but not well known as Treasure Island. Treasure Island was the site of the World Fair during the WPA era for those who is dying to know. There is no pirate ship and flame of fire on this Island.
 
[quote author="caycifish" date=1249002094]However, I don't know how big the island is so I'm not sure what a fair value would be. 6 years ago the land value was probably higher. </blockquote>


The island has 393 acres. The government price ($1-$2 million per acre) seems reasonable, if not low.



<a href="http://www.som.com/content.cfm/treasure_island_master_plan">Here's the plan for the island.</a>



<img src="http://www.som.com/resources/content/5/0/4/3/7/9/8/3/images/007_21569737.jpg" alt="" />
 
That master plan is kind of a joke. Only in SF would they show farms and loads of open space on extremely valuable real estate. If that island gets developed properly, it will look much more like downtown SF than the picture in the master plan.
 
Skidmore Owing and Merrill is not exactly the architectural firm that is an expert in planning a piece of vacant land with land residual and density performance. They are known for infilled jewel project fitting into a existing context. Proposal like that will never fly and makes no economic sense.
 
[quote author="IrvineRenter" date=1249022232]That master plan is kind of a joke. Only in SF would they show farms and loads of open space on extremely valuable real estate. If that island gets developed properly, it will look much more like downtown SF than the picture in the master plan.</blockquote>


Even if they did grow food there who would be crazy enough to eat it? Maybe someone like asianinvasion from VoC?
 
Treasure Island was the site of the 1939 San Francisco World's Fair, a rather decent World's Fair that was overshadowed by the bigger one in New York during 1939.



<img src="http://newdeal.feri.org/images/g48b.gif" alt="" />



Japan held a World's Fair in 2005 that was wildly succesful and broke all attendance projections. Shanghai has the next World's Fair in 2010 that is slated to be a very big deal with over a hundred countries and many major companies hosting lavish pavilions. It might make sense to bring the World's Fair concept back to the USA again and use Treasure Island as an amazingly gorgeous site for such a fair, and then turn the fairgrounds over to developers afterwards with the fair profits going to San Francisco to help with development of the valuable land.



It couldn't turn out any worse than the failed OC Great Park plan, which I thought should have used that property as a World's Fair site to help develop the infrastructure in anticipation of a sprawling park facility within a few years of the fair's closure.
 
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