Client: City of National City

Working with Stepner Design Group, Seifel provided economic advisory services for the Specific Plan and General Plan Amendment of National City’s Downtown Area.Seifel advised the City and the former National City Redevelopment Agency regarding the economic feasibility of potential modifications to land use designations and parking requirements. Based on prior experience analyzing potential development options in other downtown areas throughout California, we reviewed relevant technical studies provided by the City, including market studies, financial analyses, pro formas of similar developments, engineering studies and appraisals.

Seifel performed financial analyses of alternative development scenarios, utilizing market pricing data, absorption rates, land values and development costs. Our work included recommendation of potential land use and parking requirement modifications that would be economically feasible (for both near and long term), particularly for new medium- to high-density residential development.

The amended Downtown Specific Plan was adopted June 2011 and readopted January 2012. 

Client: Chico Redevelopment Agency, CA

Since 1991, Seifel Consulting has provided economic and redevelopment consulting services to the City of Chico and the Chico Redevelopment Agency. Most recently, services included the amendment of time and fiscal limits of projects within the Chico Merged Redevelopment Project (CMRPA), as well as the fiscal merger of the CMRPA with the Agency's joint Butte County project (the Greater Chico Urban Area Redevelopment Project).

We advised on all aspects of the plan amendment process, including formulation of the plan amendment and blight analysis approach. In the field, we conducted reconnaissance surveys and documented existing conditions, supplemented with interviews and literature review. We helped staff refine the redevelopment program through review of the City's capital improvement needs, identifying public facilities, park and open space, economic development, property development and clean-up needs.

We evaluated potential redevelopment funding resources at the City, State and Federal level, and projected tax increment revenues available to the Agency from the project areas. To assist in Agency consultations with affected taxing entities and community workshops, we developed informative presentations and handouts. Seifel Consulting prepared the legally required Preliminary Report and Report to Council for the Agency. In conjunction with the plan amendments, we prepared the non-housing component of the implementation plan.

Client: Bay Area Council

The Community Capital Investment Initiative (CCII) of the Bay Area Family of Funds is a regional effort to attract private investment into struggling neighborhoods in the Bay Area, while simultaneously promoting smart growth and supporting local business. The objective is to mobilize Bay Area business leaders, in partnership with community, environmental and governmental leaders, to facilitate large-scale investments in keystone developments in targeted neighborhoods.

Seifel collaborated with Sustainable Systems to identify keystone investment opportunities and to develop and implement a marketing plan to reach Bay Area institutions and corporations. Through research of recent and proposed developments in Bay Area cities while initiating outreach to potential developers, Seifel identified keystone developments as well as other potential smart growth investment opportunities. We developed a list of 46 target neighborhoods from five Bay Area cities (East Palo Alto, Oakland, Richmond, San Francisco and San Jose) and developed a synopsis of the CCII Family of Funds for distribution.

More information on the Bay Area Family of Funds is available at Bay Area Council’s website.

Client: City of San Francisco

In 1985, San Francisco established its Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program to encourage historic building preservation and allow new development to occur in the Downtown. It allows unused development potential from an historic preservation property to be transferred to another property in order to increase the allowable gross floor area of development above what would otherwise be allowed. The Planning Department retained Seifel to evaluate the TDR program, conduct a market analysis to evaluate the impact on the TDR market from the potential sale of TDR from publicly owned properties, and recommend how the TDR program might be improved and implemented in the future.

Seifel completed a comprehensive review and evaluation of the TDR program, which was the first time this program had been evaluated in detail since its inception. We assessed the historical pace of TDR activity, finding that TDR usage fluctuated, with peaks in 2001, 2005 and 2008. Historical data indicated that TDR pricing does not correlate with TDR supply, demand or use, but rather with the overall real estate market and various, individual circumstances related to specific TDR transactions. Seifel determined that the City has the opportunity to meet market demand for larger blocks of TDR, and based on historical demand, 1.2 million in public TDR would take 6-12 years to absorb. Seifel presented its analysis, findings and recommendations to the Capital Planning Committee and the Historic Preservation Commission.

In January 2014, the Board of Supervisors approved a resolution authorizing the City’s Director of Property to sell up to 1.1 million TDR from the City-owned War Memorial Complex at fair market value, and take additional actions as needed to accomplish TDR transfers.

Click here for a copy of the Seifel team's TDR Study, included in the July 2013 San Francisco Planning staff report.