County Completes Sale of McClellan AFB

SACRAMENTO, CA-the County of Sacramento has officially completed the sale of McClellan Air Force Base. Pillsbury Winthrop LLP finalized negotiations on behalf of the County of Sacramento to convert more than 2,000 acres of the McClellan Air Force Base site to private use.

With the closing, more than 6,000 jobs had already been created at Sacramento’s third closed military installation. The federal property was transferred to the County at “no cost” upon the contingency that it develops a viable reuse and economic recovery plan for the site.

In 1998, the County issued a Request for Qualifications seeking a development consultant for McClellan Air Force Base. Of the more than 90 regional, national and international firms who were contacted, the Board decided upon the Stanford Ranch/Morgan Stanley Real Estate Team, later known as McClellan Business Park, LLC, for development and equity participation in the reuse of the base.

“Our public/private partnership worked exceptionally well given McClellan Park’s diverse properties. It took an innovative collaboration to ensure the success of aviation-related, high tech and manufacturing businesses as well as continued public uses,” says Paul Hahn, Director of Economic Development for the County of Sacramento.

The sale and lease to McClellan Business Park meets the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors’ goals for the site, which is to stimulate economic recovery and build a tax base by attracting jobs and commercial tenants to the base; to create a viable reuse of the base airport and aviation- related properties; and to promote a public/private partnership that will generate private investment for commercialization of the base, and reduce risk or obligation to county taxpayer resources on the project.

“This was a very rewarding transaction to be involved in, thanks to the cooperative efforts of the U.S. Air Force, the County of Sacramento, and its development partner, McClellan Business Park,” says Kvarme. “Together we were able to secure the future of McClellan as a viable economic engine for the Sacramento region and that will benefit the community for generations to come,” he added.