Last night, the city council (fine, ARRA), approved 4-1 an amended Exclusive Negotiating Agreement with SunCal that turns Alameda Point over to a new development entity Cal Land (L.Do has the skinny).
Councilmember deHaan was the lone vote, based (I believe) on his stated belief that approving the new ENA is an endorsment of the RCP (Redevelopment Concept Plan) SunCal submitted last month, which includes 4200 households and 3.5 million sf of commercial/retail. It should be noted that at least three of the four other council members disagreed vehemently with this statement.
With the global markets collapsing around us and credit becoming more and more unavailable for large projects, its hard to look at this as more than a proposal to get to a plan, the development landscape may be very different 18 months from now. That said, the new finance partner, D.E. Shaw, adds a little certainty (as much as could possibly be added) as they are rather new to the development financing game, unlike Lehman Bros. and others, and are not carrying the baggage of having over invested in projects that are now worth a lot less than they were a year or so ago.
Next milestone? A master plan submittal on November 19th.