Congrats, Union City, For 'Turning Red Tape Into Red Carpet'

News from Union City:

UNION CITY, CA - Union City is the winner of this year’s “TURNING RED TAPE INTO RED CARPET” Award granted by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. Mayor Carol Dutra-Vernaci received this award at a ceremony at Santa Clara University.

The City is being recognized in the “Real Estate Development and Reuse” category for their role in transforming unused, environmentally contaminated land around the Union City BART Station into a pedestrian-friendly, transit-oriented community.

The Station District is one of the City’s flagship communities with a combination of mixed-use development that has pedestrian pathways lined with public art and aesthetic views of the rolling East Bay foothills.

The project was selected due to the resilience and commitment on the part of City leaders to navigate a myriad of challenges in the site’s transformation. This was done through several successful partnerships with BART, state and local agencies, housing developers and federal court. Together and with the leadership of the City, the former Pacific States Steel Corporation and a PG&E pipe yard was renovated into a new urbanist area with new streets, utilities, a community plaza, a children’s playground and a pedestrian promenade. This is all adjacent to a mix of market-rate and affordable high-density housing. The end result is the conversion of 90 acres of negative value land into an environmentally clean and sustainable area that generates $4 million a year in property taxes.

Mayor Carol Dutra-Vernaci expresses “I am honored that Union City has been recognized for what amounts to 20 plus years of collaborative efforts to transform our defunct PSSC site into a vibrant, tax-generating and walkable community. This has been a win-win situation, it is a win for Union City as a whole and a win for the residents that have chosen to live on this site.”

The Station District remains the largest transit hub in Southern Alameda County that accommodates a “workforce-ready community.” And, only four vacant parcels of varying size remain available for commercial development on this site. The City anticipates that the available sites will be desirable to businesses who value the accessibility to transit and a sustainable urban lifestyle.