Real Estate & Economic Development

For the Sustainable Development Department’s Five-Year Economic Development Strategic Action Plan (EDSAP), Willdan performed extensive community outreach, including more than 100 individual stakeholder interviews and seven public meetings. Substantial nationwide case study research was conducted on transit-oriented development, business incubation/acceleration, and retail retention/recruitment. Project deliverables included: Economic Profile Report, Economic Development Issues Identification & Prioritization Analysis, and Economic Benchmarking Assessment comparing the City’s key statistical trends to those of nine competitive cities.

With these results, Willdan created 10 Economic Development Strategic Action Plan Initiatives focused on increasing job creation, small business growth, transportation, and parking. Implementation of the EDSAP is guided by an organizational and institutional assessment, a detailed annual funding plan, and an “Annual Economic Development Benchmarking Dashboard” to track progress in achieving the Plan’s targeted outcomes.

Willdan served the City of Alameda during the planning and development of Alameda Point, a former naval air station. Willdan provided advisory services related to land economics, including fiscal impact analysis, infrastructure financing, and a feasibility analysis to estimate whether development could sustain the infrastructure needed to rehabilitate the base. To best help the City move forward, Willdan assisted in developer negotiations and prepared the facilities financing plan and fiscal impact analyses, which examined general fund revenues (property taxes, sales taxes, and a variety of general sources) and expenditures (public safety, maintenance, park services, and other items) that would be generated by the development.

Willdan assisted closely the City and engineering staff to estimate phases of development to create an analysis of the infrastructure’s financing revenue. The project team also prepared the analysis that included estimates of developer equity as well as financing sources, such as assessments and special taxes. To complete the planning, Willdan applied the financing plan to a feasibility analysis that examined the burden of assessments and special taxes.