NOT FOUND: MCclellan.jpgThe former McClellan Air Force Base continues to look less and less like an air base or a Superfund site, and more and more like a thriving community. That transformation made great strides in 2008 as the Air Force continued its intensive cleanup efforts while several large new tenants moved in and the first privatized cleanup continued to move forward towards occupancy.

“By working closely with regulators, the Local Redevelopment Authority, and the developer, we have been able to conduct an aggressive cleanup program at McClellan that meets the immediate and long-term needs of the future property owners, while they are simultaneously redeveloping parts of the base and moving in tenants,” said Phil Mook, Air Force Real Property Agency western region supervisor.
Established in 1936, McClellan served as an aircraft repair depot and supply base until closing in 2001. In fulfilling its mission, the Air Force used a variety of toxic and hazardous chemicals resulting in soil and groundwater contamination. “McClellan was one of the more contaminated Air Force bases closed in the BRAC program,” Mook said.

The Air Force has had an aggressive cleanup program in place since the 1980s. In 1987, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed McClellan on its National Priorities (Superfund) List. Regulatory oversight comes from the EPA and the State of California. NOT FOUND: mcclellansuccess.jpg
Today, some 14,000 employees and visitors are at the 220 businesses occupying roughly 7 million sq. ft. at McClellan Business Park. Jeanette Musil, Sacramento County Local Redevelopment Authority deputy director, points out that this is more people than were on site when the base closed.

Musil attributes the redevelopment success to the spirit of cooperation between all the players involved in the base cleanup and reuse, including the Air Force, the County of Sacramento, McClellan Business Park, the regulatory agencies and elected officials. “I like to say it’s like a stool with several legs. You need all legs working together to be most effective,” Musil said.

An example of this successful cooperation is what is referred to as Parcel C-6 in the southwest corner of McClellan. This 62-acre parcel was transferred to the County (which transferred it to McClellan Business Park) in August of 2007 under early transfer authority. The Air Force also paid a negotiated cost to the County to fund the remaining cleanup for this parcel. Under this agreement, the EPA took over the Air Force’s role in determining cleanup remedies.

This was the nation’s first early transfer with privatized cleanup at a Department of Defense Superfund site. Building on the remedial investigative work done by the Air Force before the transfer, the EPA quickly launched a cleanup Proposed Plan and is now refining its Record of Decision that will specify the cleanup actions to be undertaken on the site.

In the meantime, Sacramento County and McClellan Business Park have begun attracting a key tenant to the prime location of Parcel C-6. U.S. Foods, the nation’s second largest food distributor has signed a contract to purchase the property, construct a 500,000 square foot building on the site, and bring some 500 jobs to McClellan.

Alan Hersh, vice president for McClellan Business Park, said this is the ideal way for a privatization project to work.
“It is the perfect scenario for privatization. You complete privatization cleanup concurrent with a major user getting ready to move on site,” Hersh stated.

Cleanup is expected to be complete by June 2009, according to the US EPA.

“C-6 was our first early transfer with privatized cleanup. Now we’re on to our second one, which is 600 acres, to be followed by two more transactions resulting in the complete transfer of McClellan from the Air Force to Sacramento County,” Musil said. “It’s huge. There are eight or nine documents being worked up, all in different stages. We are so pleased that all the parties have rolled up their sleeves and are working together. We’ve figured it out at McClellan.”

While cleanup and property transfer is critical to the successful redevelopment of the base, the real test is whether or not businesses are moving in and creating jobs for the region. The answer is a resounding ’yes, they are.’

A much-hailed new tenant is OptiSolar, a Hayward, CA based manufacturer of solar panels that began construction in the spring of 2008 to retrofit a 650,000 square foot facility at McClellan. Once fully built-out, OptiSolar expects to have 1,000 employees in a 1 million square foot facility. Musil notes it will be North America’s largest photovoltaic solar panel manufacturing facility. In addition, OptiSolar is producing solar energy on its McClellan site.

In November, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger visited OptiSolar’s McClellan facility and used it as the backdrop for signing documents encouraging the development of renewable energy resources.

Also in the solar energy business is Sun Edison, which expanded its McClellan operations in 2008 from 10,000 sq ft. to some 70,000 sq. ft. Sun Edison manufactures, installs, and operates residential, commercial, and industrial solar panels and solar energy systems worldwide,
Another new high-tech employer on the scene is Advanced Data Centers which is operating a computer server farm in the former Building 637, which housed a radar repair facility when the Air Force operated the site. Now, the site provides secure, reliable, off-site data storage for a number of Fortune 500 companies, Musil said.

But McClellan hasn’t gone completely high-tech in 2008. In fact, it is also making a return to its roots with the addition of AeroUnion, an aviation maintenance and repair facility. Sound familiar? For more than 60 years, the Air Force operated a repair and supply depot out of McClellan.

Other new tenants include Twin Rivers School District administrative offices and buses; and Details, a startup company that builds prefabricated modular homes.

These successes have made McClellan a model for successful base reuse. In fact, in November 2008, a delegation from Korea visited McClellan first on their tour of four California legacy bases. The Republic of Korea is inheriting 54 bases back from the U.S. government and the delegates were looking for advice on everything from contracting and tenants to timing of utility transfers.

Hersh noted that while 2008 was a great year, given the current global economic crisis he anticipates that 2009 will be one of the most challenging to date. “That makes it even more critical that the privatization continue,” he said.