Pittsburg to buy $1.4 million prime property near BART

In a move to secure gain control of prominent land near its transit center, the city of Pittsburg will borrow $1.65 million to purchase the former site of the Winter Chevrolet dealership.

The City Council unanimously approved the deal Monday to buy the property, which is at the northeast corner of Railroad and Bliss Avenue adjacent to Highway 4. The 1.59-acre site property, valued at $1.4 million, is just south — within .2 miles — of the Pittsburg Center BART Station.

“This has been an item that the staff and property owner have been working on for quite a while,” City Manager Garrett Evans said. “We thank (owner) Rose (Clarke) Winter for her commitment to the city of Pittsburg and all that she has done in this process.”

The city will borrow $1.65 million from its Housing Authority to fund the project, including the purchase and related closing costs and expenses, according to the staff report. It will also pay Winter $8,000 a month — up to $176,000 total — for the remaining months of a nearly two-year lease that the seller had with Approved Auto Center’s Corporate Fleet Sales, a used car dealer currently operating on site.

Maria M. Aliotti, director of Community Services, said the city must borrow the money because it does not have sufficient funds to complete the purchase of the property as negotiated due to current demands on its general fund. The requested loan is expected to cover all costs, including an environmental review, which will be necessary before any project could be considered, she said.

The city wants to acquire the property “so that it will have an improved advantage in determining the type of development on these properties,” Aliotti said, noting it’s a key parcel for the city’s long-planned transit-oriented development.

The site is adjacent to another city-owned property on Bliss Avenue and down the block from yet another site the city owns at the corner of Harbor Street and Bliss Avenue. Collectively, the three comprise 4.43 acres — all no more than .6 miles from the Pittsburg Center BART, local eateries, City and Small World parks and a future hotel, she said.

“Because of these nearby community amenities, development of these properties is highly desirable,” Aliotti explained.

Such transit-oriented development promotes a lifestyle where people live within walking distance to public transportation that links them to employment, entertainment and recreational opportunities, according to the staff report.

“The city may never have another opportunity to exercise local control over this most prominent property,” Aliotti said.

Winter, whose late husband Jim founded his car business more than 50 years ago on 10th Street — later moving to Railroad Avenue — now operates an expanded dealership on Century Court.

Once the property sale and environmental reviews are completed, the city could then seek a developer for the new acquisition and the two other city-owned properties, Aliotti added.

Though the city has not committed to any project, it is eyeing the area to provide mixed-income housing — market rate and affordable — and commercial opportunities as part of future transit-oriented development,  according to the staff report.

“This really is about local control,” Mayor Jelani Killings said. “…(It’s) about a prominent piece of property, a significant place within our city as far as where people enter our city and what future development potentially will look like.”