0820_AUG Comstock's Magazine 0820 August | Page 74

Construction & development
NEW BUILDINGS, BRIGHT FUTURE
Metro Air Park, when built out, could host
about 36,000 permanent on-site jobs and
about 30,000 indirect and induced jobs
and generate $4.3 billion in aggregate
income, according to a 2004 economic
benefit analysis performed by Economic
& Planning Systems. “It’s a significant
revenue generator for the county, as well
Metro Air Park is unique and significant in many ways. It stands alone as a masterplanned,
fully entitled business park of not only vast size at nearly 1,900 acres,
but of vast potential and unparalleled advantages. “The scope and geographic
positioning of this park and the incredible large-scale development opportunities it offers
stand out in the entire Western U.S.,” says Troy Givans, economic development director for
Sacramento County.
Metro Air Park is already making a substantial economic impact with its first tenant, and at
buildout, that impact will be enormous with 22 million square feet of development, assessed
value of $5 billion, 32,000 direct jobs, 20,000 indirect jobs and $3.3 billion in annual wages.
Land use will be a mix of manufacturing, high-tech research, office and retail, and lots
range from 3 acres to 166 acres. The park’s location, adjacent to Sacramento International
Airport with direct access to Interstate 5 and only a mile from Highway 99 and 4 miles
from Interstate 80, is an enormous advantage to manufacturing and distribution tenants
needing buildings as large as 1 million or more square feet and immediate north-south and
east-west freeway access.
“The County has made a concerted effort along with Metro Air Park property owners to
make the park competitive across the Western U.S.,” Givans says. “This is now the ultimate
business-park destination.”
— there are costs of servicing a park that
big, but they’re minimal compared to the
revenues derived from property, sales,
hotel occupancy and utility taxes,” says
Tom Ramos.
The location also makes it desirable.
“We have parcels around Northern California
slated for various industrial projects,
but we’ve dedicated a majority of our
Sacramento County Economic Development
THE ULTIMATE BUSINESS PARK
resources to Metro Air Park,” says Drew
Bocook, asset manager for Buzz Oates.
Developer Seefried Industrial Properties
brought on Amazon to become Metro
Air Park’s first tenant in 2016 with an
855,000-square-foot fulfillment center,
and though Amazon is the park’s only user
currently open and operating, it’ll be joined
by others with deals in the works slated to
open later this year. “Many e-commerce
and large distribution companies want
Northern California locations, and having
entitled land ready for building, improving
our finance plan and the new interchange
make Metro Air Park attractive and competitive
with other potential sites in the Bay
Area, San Joaquin and Solano counties,
and even Northern Nevada,” says Tom
Ramos.
Throughout the park’s evolution, he
says more than 20 property ownership
groups have condensed to a handful of
major property owners and a few smaller
owners with individual parcels. NorthPoint
Development owns approximately 280
acres, with a building of more than 1.2
million square feet under construction and
several more buildings planned. According
to Ramos of Buzz Oates, the largest Metro
Air Park property owner, the company has
810 developable acres, a 500,000-squarefoot
building nearing completion, a
600,000-square-foot building ready for
construction and three more buildings totaling
another 600,000 square feet slated
to begin being built later this year.
“We have multiple buildings planned
for construction aimed at the distribution
and logistics industry, e-commerce, building
supply distribution, and advanced and
light manufacturing,” says Kevin Ramos.
“Those are the drivers in the economy
right now, and this park, with the space
they need and overimproved from an infrastructure
standpoint, is ideal for them.”
Jennifer von Geldern is a freelance writer who
covers regional businesses, charities, events
and the people who enrich our communities.
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74 comstocksmag.com | August 2020