The City of Hollister will require that any planned
redevelopment of the former Leatherback properties on Hillcrest
Road and McCray Street include at least three acres of land for the
local YMCA, according to a request for proposals to be released to
developers next week.
The City of Hollister will require that any planned redevelopment of the former Leatherback properties on Hillcrest Road and McCray Street include at least three acres of land for the local YMCA, according to a request for proposals to be released to developers next week.
The City Council, in its role as the board of the Hollister Redevelopment Agency, this week authorized staff to seek proposals for developing nearly seven acres on three parcels east of downtown. The RDA purchased the property for $4 million and spent nearly $600,000 to demolish buildings and remove contaminated soil at the site, which formerly housed a roofing materials manufacturing company.
The request for proposals is expected to be sent to more than two dozen developers and be posted on the city’s website early next week, according to Development Services Director William Avera, who said proposals must be returned by July 29. From there, a selection committee will review the submissions, select the top three plans and then bring the top one to the RDA board.
The city could then enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement with a developer, who would work to secure financing and begin the planning process while the city evaluates the project from a redevelopment perspective.
Avera presented a request for proposals to the council last month, but was directed to modify it to include a provision that part of the development set aside acreage for the YMCA.
“The developer will not be required to build anything for the YMCA, just to work with them so the two developments could work in harmony with each other,” he said. “We’re asking them to reserve three acres for the YMCA in the overall site, but it does not say where.”
Avera said the YMCA is waiting for a project developer to be chosen and a particular parcel set aside for the agency before it re-starts a capital campaign to fund a facility there.
“They believe it is difficult to ask for donations if they don’t have a site,” he said.
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