DEMOLITION THREATENS RICHMOND'S OLDEST RAILROAD BUILDING - Tom Butt
Restore
the Trainmaster’s Historic Building and Provide Additional Parking
for Point Richmond
September 1, 2004
As you may have heard, on June 10, 2004, various members of the Point Richmond Business Association submitted to the City of Richmond (City) a response to their Request for Proposals. The City stated that the final plan was to incorporate parking and the restoration of the Santa Fe Historic Trainmaster’s Building into a project located on “adjoining land” composed of a portion of West Cutting Boulevard to be vacated by the City and a 0.85-acre BNSF parcel. This combined land parcel is located across from the “Plunge.” Now that the City has accepted our response to their Request, we have formed a limited liability company titled the “Point Richmond Parking, LLC.”
Our
goal is to protect this land from development as a Fast Food Franchise
or similar project (as proposed in the mid-1990s), save the Trainmaster’s
Building and provide additional needed parking for the Business District.
As required by the City’s Request for Proposals and as stated in our response to the City, “The Objectives of this project are to:
- Relocate, redevelop and preserve the historical significance of the building to add ambiance and interest to the Point Richmond Historic District
- Grade, pave and attractively landscape the site to create much needed additional parking adjacent to the Point Richmond Business District … and for Plunge patrons
- Fully restore the building which could function as a Visitor’s Center, Bay Area Trail “Richmond Headquarters,” host private parties and community events or meetings, exhibit historical Richmond materials and/or related commercial activities
- Improve the appearance of the “entrance” to the Point Richmond Business District by creating a welcoming “gateway” to visitors, employees and residents of the District”
Our concept for parking is to provide for customer and client parking on Railroad Avenue and add approximately 95 reserved parking spaces for the all-day or long-term use of commuters, employees, fleet vehicles and others. The City will change all of Railroad Avenue to a 2 hour short-term parking zone and distribute residential parking stickers for streets adjacent to the business district.
In order to recover the cost of preserving the building, constructing the parking area and landscaping the parcel, we will need to charge a monthly fee for the reserved parking. This fee should be less then $5 per day.
Since the intent of the project is to benefit the community, we would like your input and comments. If you have ideas for the design of the project, ideas of possible tenants for the restored Trainmasters Building, or an idea for a “catchy” name for this “gateway” to The Point please call me at (510) 234-4219 or email me at Margaret123MM@msn.com.
Thanks,
 |
The building might serve as the headquarters of the Visitors and Convention Bureau, as well as other uses such a bicycle rentals for the Bay Trail. Persons or organizations interested in investing should contact Mark Howe at (510) 932-4435. For
more information, meeting times or to be on the group email list,
please contact: |
Thursday,
May 27, 2004, 5:30 PM - Meet at Vertigo
(503A Canal Blvd) for interested investors - Public Welcome
The results will be presented at the Tuesday, June 9, 2004 City Council
meeting.
May 6, 2004 - At the May 4 City Council meeting, the City Council reaffirmed its previous direction for staff to prepare and distribute and RFP for a developer for the parcel of property across West Richmond Avenue and West Cutting Boulevard from the Plunge. The proposal presumably would require the developer to move the Santa Fe Reading Room/Trainmaster Office to the parcel and rehabilitate it.
This action resolved, for the time being, the intent of the original agenda item posted by Council Member Nat Bates to authorize demolition of the building.
The Acting City Attorney, Everett Jenkins also opined that the City Council could not act on anything that would result in demolition without filing of an application by some party and an evaluation under CEQA. He also opined that moving the building would be subject to a CEQA evaluation.
The Board of Directors of the Point Richmond Business Association, in conjunction with the newly chartered Richmond Visitors and Convention Bureau, is collaborating to facilitate a proposal by local business and commercial property owners to submit a proposal that would result in not only moving and rehabilitating the Santa Fe Reading Room/Trainmaster Office but also creating additional parking to serve Point Richmond businesses.
Our
hope is that the land and the building are used for the benefit of the
entire community, not just one or two private investors.
The Santa Fe Reading Room was Richmond's first library, as it was "free to railroader and non-railroader, alike." It is the only building remaining of the original Santa Fe rail yards in Richmond.
The Santa Fe Reading Room may be shortly torn down if Richmonders do not unite to protect our heritage. At least one developer has stepped forward with an offer to relocate and rehabilitate the building at no cost to the City. Other proposals are awaiting issuance of an RFP.
In August 2005, Richmond will celebrate the centennial of its incorporation
at the Richmond City Council Meeting on Tuesday, May 4, 2004
"The
Point Richmond Business Association has proposed an alliance with the
Richmond Convention and Visitors Bureau to address the opportunity presented
by the availability of the old reading room (or Trainmaster’s building).
The PRBA sees this parcel as the last remaining opportunity to address
the parking problem that has plagued the Point for years. The PRBA has
already been working for several weeks to establish a Business Improvement
District for just such a need - to increase tourism and trade in our area.
"In a perfect world, we see an 85-car parking lot with a restored Reading Room building located within the site. The building could be occupied and managed by the newly established Visitors bureau. Moreover there could be an ordinance established that forces fleet vehicles and possibly employee cars, as well, to park in this lot. The fleet vehicles would be charged a market rate monthly fee that would offset the debt service costs of the project. We believe there is broad support among the merchants in the Point for the extra parking and the tourism the project would encourage.
"However, we are not in a perfect world. The BID will take many months to get established and the BNSF wants the building removed ASAP. So as an interim measure, we propose initially a private sector solution that can happen quickly. Our plan is to market the parking spaces for $12,000 each, 30% down payment with a payment of $54 per month. In fact, we already have pledges from potential buyers for approximately 25% of the spaces. Assuming we sell all the spaces, Mechanics bank can provide a 70% loan on the project which is estimated to cost $1M in total. Next week we plan to return to you with a non binding “letter of intent” from Mechanics Bank.
"The PRBA wants this private solution to be a stepping-stone to eventual BID ownership. We fell that it is not prudent to allow several individuals to monopolize the Point’s parking resources.
"So please do not authorize the demolition of this building. We see it as part of an overall solution. You have two months to remove it and in that time we can implement our bridge plan and get the building moved off the BNSF site. Allow us to come together as business men and women to work toward the improvement of a small part of our city."
View
the Trainmaster Building Resolution which was on the City Council Agenda
for May 20, 2003
