County reveals strategy for breathing life into Castle

BY BRIANNA CALIX

AUGUST 29, 2016 4:44 PM

County staff on Tuesday will unveil their strategic development plan for the Castle Commerce Center, the former air base that officials still hope can be brought back to life as an economic driver for the area.

The plan is to be presented to the Merced County Board of Supervisors during their meeting at the county administration building on M Street.

“The goal is to facilitate the full development of Castle,” Mark Hendrickson, the county’s community and economic development director, said in an interview with the Sun-Star.

Once home to a vibrant Air Force base with thousands of personnel, Castle was among a slate of facilities shut down by the government in the 1990s. In 2006, Merced County took ownership of the 1,912-acre site and began to pursue plans for its redevelopment. Several concepts, such as drawing a Tesla Motors battery plant, failed to pan out.

On Tuesday, the board is scheduled to take up a to-do list that analysts say should be completed in order to boost the functionality of the former base, such as working with the Merced County Association of Governments to complete the Atwater-Merced Expressway; working with the federal government to update the layout of the property; and updating zoning regulations to maximize development space.

Hendrickson will give a presentation along with representatives from GLD Partners, a consulting firm hired by the county that helps develop assets at and around airports, seaports and inland ports. The firm will help the county market Castle for a private investor to create a “public-private partnership.”

The new plan, which looks forward to the next 15 to 20 years of Castle’s future, could turn the site into a manufacturing hub that would employ thousands of workers, Hendrickson said.

The primary focus of the plan is developing Castle in a way that will create new jobs for county residents, he said. The plan also includes pumping out more tax revenue, increasing the asset value of Castle and minimizing any risk to the county.

The full development won’t be possible, though, without the full extension and completion of the Atwater-Merced Expressway, Hendrickson said. The first item for the board to discuss is working with MCAG to make that a priority.

“Connectivity is a big thing,” Hendrickson said. “If you rise above the earth a bit, this is a great location. The Atwater-Merced Expressway is huge.”

Read more here: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/article98718917.html#storylink=cpy