Colleen interviews Rick Holliday of Holliday Development
December 7-11, 2009 (5 part series)

Click on the articles below for summary and podcasts

December 11, 2009 – A new focus in housing is to repurpose underutilized buildings.

December 10, 2009 – What makes lofts so popular?

December 9, 2009 – Building community means creating places for people to gather.

December 8, 2009 – Central Station in West Oakland uses flexible zoning to animate ground floor spaces.

December 7, 2009 – After many years of planning, West Oakland is getting hundreds of new lofts, rentals and row homes

“An odd thing happened Wednesday night at the Truckee town hall;  the audience that made it through four hours of meeting applauded at the unanimous approval of a development project (the Truckee Railyard Project)”  This is a quote from the Sierra Sun June 19th, 2009 following the City Council meeting held the previous Wednesday evening. Attended and supported by over 100 residents and officials including all previous Truckee mayors, the support to approve the railyard masterplan and EIR was overwhelming, emotional, passionate and straight forward. In addition there was support from a variety of groups including the Mountain Area Preservation Foundation, Truckee Donner Historical Society, Sierra Business Council, Truckee River Watershed Council and the list goes on.

The only challenge to the project was by a group who calls themselves the Friends of Truckee who’s spokesperson is Siobhan Smart, a local business owner. The opposition group was challenged by many including former Mayor Ted Owens who stated, “To the so called and self proclaimed Friends of Truckee..it is my belief you are few in your view and I’ll ask for your support as well”.  Mike Dunsford, a long time Truckee resident said, “Friends of Truckee has a nice ring to if but is sort of a misnomer.”  Lisa Wallace, executive director of the Truckee Watershed Council expressed concern that the threatened lawsuit by Friends of Truckee, which Rick Holliday referred to as them trying to play a game of “gotcha,” could actually hurt the Trout Creek restoration effort by upsetting time sensitive funding that is now in place.

All in all it was a great night for the Town of Truckee and for Holliday Development.  As Mark Tanner correctly stated…..this is not Mr. Hollidays project but it belongs to the people of Truckee.  He is so right!
Background: The Truckee Railyard Master Plan is the culmination of over a decade of planning efforts by the Town, which 5 years ago turned into the Truckee Railyard Partnership between the Town of Truckee and Holliday Development.  This plan was a community wide effort involving innumerable public workshops, community meetings, open office hours, and formal and informal dialogue with stakeholders.  The plan, including 25 developable acres on former Union Pacific property, proposes to extend downtown with a boutique hotel and movie theater, offer more downtown housing at mixed-incomes, commercial, retail, and work-live space.

You can read more about the Truckee Railyard approval at the links below:

Sierra Sun, Railyard Approval Draws Public Support

Sierra Sun Editorial, All Aboard

Tahoe Ticker Blog, Overwhelming Enthusiasm Behind Truckee Railyard Project Passage

For the past couple of years Holliday Development and Cannon Constructors have paired up to sponsor and work on a house in need for Rebuilding Together Oakland. RTO is nonprofit and primarily works with elderly and disabled people in Oakland who can’t afford to fix their homes. This year we worked on a “Heavy House” meaning it needed lots of skilled work to bring it up to snuff.  With months of preparation, planning and dedication, the house was completed in two days, April 18th and 25th.  Here is what we did:

A handicapped ramp was erected in the the back of the house so the thirteen year old paraplegic boy who lives there could come and go without assistance.  When the ramp was completed and the young man first descended down the ramp there were tears in everyone’s eyes.

The team completed the lath and then plastered and painted the house inside and out.  Some light electrical and carpentry work was also performed, in addition to sloping and tiling a bathroom floor making it wheelchair accessible.

No one knew at the time that the homeowner had worked with an unscrupulous contractor who was picked up by KGO – 7 On Your Side.  They went after the contractor, but the homeowner, Gracie Madden, still did not get her issued addressed.  KGO followed up with her to see how see was doing, and she told them that “RTO is fixing my house”.  KGO plans to cover this event as a “happy ending”.  Regardless if the TV crew shows up or not…it IS a happy ending.  Check out the picture of Gracie and her daughter.  I must say that it was a pleasure working with them.  The sweet potato pie these ladies baked for us was “to die for”!

Pacific Cannery Loft was chosen as a finalist in the Residential Category Awards by the San Francisco Business Times.  The building was chosen for its location and impact on the community of West Oakland in addition to the incorporation of its industrial features with modern elements.  Also noted were the three large beautifully landscaped courtyards, dog washing station and bicycle lounge.  Developer Rick Holliday  stated that the target market is people who are tired of paying rent and who want to be closer to San Francisco than San Francisco(referring to the 6 minute BART ride from near by West Oakland Bart and the easy access to  freeways in all directions). Come by and take a look at these well designed and well received new lofts.  More information and directions can be viewed on their pclofts.com website.

A grant in the sum of $1,585,724.00 has been awarded for the environmental cleanup of the Truckee Railyard.  Holliday Development secured the funds from CCLR (Center for Creative Land Reuse), a non profit organization focused on creating sustainable communities by identifying and implementing responsible patterns of land uses and development.  At this time the funding has been put on hold due to the State of California’s financial crisis but is expected to be released in the near future.  We will keep you posted.  Once released the environmental cleanup of the railyard will begin.