Planned West Sacramento advanced manufacturing facility could create thousands of jobs

West Sacramento officials say a plan to build an advanced manufacturing facility in the city’s port district could be the linchpin to create thousands of high paying biotech jobs.

The city’s Port Commission approved a plan in October 2022 giving Mark Friedman and his development group the exclusive rights to develop the facility on 30 acres of vacant land near Southport Parkway and Lake Washington.

“It’s a very unique opportunity to bring a high quality facility and high quality jobs to West Sacramento,” said Port of West Sacramento Chief Executive Officer Aaron Laurel.

But Friedman, who helped remake West Sacramento with the construction of hundreds of apartments and condos in The Bridge District, has yet to exercise his option to buy the land from the port.

He said that could happen in the coming months.

“We’re considering pulling the trigger later this year,” he said.

The Port Commission gave Friedman’s partnership, Smart Growth Investors II, five years to buy the land. Critics have complained at city public meetings that the deal locks the land in to one developer for an extended period of time, even if Friedman fails to deliver.

A closer look at West Sacramento land deal

Among those who have raised questions about the deal is West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero. The exclusive contract to Friedman was approved by the Port Commission in closed session in October 2022 at the urging of Laurel.

“I question whether we made too much of a sacrifice in the sale of the land,” said Guerrero, noting the $50,000 deposit required of Friedman seemed very small.

She said the normal bidding process did not happen. Therefore, the deal was struck without “a competitive process,” that could have resulted in the port receiving more money for the land.

The deal calls for Friedman to buy the land from the port for $6.7 million dollars, but the port would pay up to $8 million to build the infrastructure for the project, such as roads and sidewalks.

West Sacramento housing developer Rick Hart, a critic of the deal, said the economics don’t make sense. He said the port could end up spending $1.3 million more to prepare the land for the project than it is getting from Friedman for buying the land.

“They are not receiving a dime,” he said.

Laurel said the port could have sold the land to the highest bidder but an exclusive deal to Friedman and partners gives the project to developers who have the expertise and experience to actually complete the project and create high paying jobs.

“These opportunities don’t happen every day and we are uniquely situated with the partners we have in the property,” he said. “We have to be able to potentially make it happen.”

Laurel said Friedman is also planning to build a biotech office and lab complex called Biospace in the Bridge District of West Sacramento. Laurel said biotech companies that lease there could then use the manufacturing facilities at the advanced manufacturing complex at the port.

He said Friedman’s Smart Growth II partnership includes both his Fulcrum Properties, which has built hundreds of units of housing in The Bridge District and his partner Blue Rise Ventures, which has already built a biotech office and research park called Marina Village in Alameda.

Laurel said West Sacramento has been trying to get developers to build a complex in the Bridge District that would produce quality jobs for decades and now it has a group in the name of Friedman and his development group partners that share the same vision.

Ultimately, the success of the advanced manufacturing port project and later the biotech research park will depend on the ability of Friedman and his partner Blue Rise Ventures to line up a tenant or tenants for the advanced manufacturing facility.

Initial plans call for the construction of an approximate 250,000-square-foot building for advanced manufacturing.

Friedman also has options to buy up to an additional 30 acres at the site. The facility could ultimately be as large as 1 million square feet.

Lower Costs

Friedman said the advanced manufacturing facility at the port and the second Biospace project that he and Blue Rise want to build in West Sacramento’s Bridge District would work well because costs to build and operate facilities are lower than in the Bay Area, home to thousands of biotech jobs.

The Biospace office project in the Bridge District would consist of eight buildings, a total of 1.3 million square feet for biotech companies on 13 acres of vacant land already owned by Friedman.

Friedman said he has always envisioned that final plans for the Bridge District would not include just housing and retail and restaurant space but facilities for jobs that residents could walk to.

But while the Bridge District project has the approval of the West Sacramento Planning Board, no construction has started and no tenants have been announced.

“It’s highly aspirational,” Friedman said. He said a major capital partner would be needed to help fund the project that would cost as much as $1 billion dollars and take years to develop.

But as the developer sees it: The cost is too expensive to build manufacturing facilities in the Bay Area for the biotech companies which already have offices there.

“And so we thought, well, what if we use the manufacturing facility at the port as the hook to get companies to come down here to West Sacramento” he said.

Friedman said the biotech companies can have their labs in the Bridge District within a mile or two of the potential port advanced manufacturing facility.

While he hopes to buy the land later this year from the port for the agreed upon price of $6.7 million, he said the five-year option to acquire the land gives him the necessary time if needed for economic conditions to improve.

“This is not the best time for real estate development,” he said. “The fed is out there raising interest rates and people are giving buildings back to the banks. We’re on the verge of a recession. So, yes, we argued for enough time to make this successful, which I think is absolutely reasonable from both parties’ perspectives.”

Moving this year to buy the land for the advanced manufacturing facility, however, Friedman said, would jump start both the advanced manufacturing facility and the Biospace biotech office and research park project in the Bridge District.

Friedman said the sooner the advanced manufacturing facility is built and tenants are announced, the sooner he can get tenants for the biotech office complex and start construction on that project.

“We want this thing to happen,” he said.

It’s not just West Sacramento that is trying to create biotech jobs.

In Sacramento, Aggie Square is rising. Two mid-rise buildings by University of California, Davis medical campus in Oak Park are under construction. They are the first construction phase of a complex funded by private investors and the university. They are slated to house biotech company labs and offices.

Tenants for Aggie Square have yet to be announced. Friedman said he doesn’t view Aggie Square as competition but as an initial project that can help attract biotech companies to the region and fuel his West Sacramento biotech projects.

“If Aggie Square could land a few big companies, it could be a game changer,” he said.