Sunday, October 23, 2016

Former Alameda NAS--A Challenging Site

Much of the former airfield runway area will be dedicated to a wildlife refuge, to a VA clinic with a columbarium/cemetary and a possible sports complex. Many of the hangars and other buildings on the airfield have been designated as national historic structures and are being repurposed once cleared of any environmental problems. This includes a large hangar (Bldg. 41) directly behind the Naval Air Museum (Bldg. 77). Bldg. 41 is approximately 110,000 sq. ft. and is now occupied by Wrightspeed, a venture headed by a co-founder of Tesla to convert commercial vehicles to operate on electric power provided by batteries that can be recharged from an on-board turbine generator. As the city gave Wrightspeed a long-term lease, this hangar is no longer available for the Naval Air Museum to house aircraft in the future. Other hangars have also been leased to energy companies, including Makani, a recent Google purchase, developing a tethered flying wing with on-board generators to capitalize on the greater wind speeds available above the surface. Google has leased 65,000 sq. ft. and has an option to lease considerably more space when it becomes available. The largest building on the field, Bldg. 5, includes 263,000 sq. ft. of hangar space, but is still undergoing environmental remediation. This would be a good minimum size for a large, new museum, although additional space would still be required for restoration work and parking.

Site 'A' (68 acres) directly East of the Naval Air Museum is outside the Historic District and plans for its development have recently been approved by the city. Plans include a new ferry terminal, new residential housing, restaurants, retail shops, and road improvements. A new operations and maintenance facility for the emergency transportation ferry system also recently broke ground. This will be located just East of the Hornet. There is no mention in the Site 'A' plans about expanding the Naval Air Museum, only that the museum will lose part of its parking to support the new ferry terminal. The remaining area Northeast of the Hornet is designated as Site 'B' (82 acres). This area is slated for commercial use and plans are not yet finalized.

Since the base closure, the city has focused on developing the property, generating lease income and creating jobs. Expanding the existing Naval Air Museum doesn't appear to be a priority for the city. Even if the city did rally behind the concept of a large, new museum, significant issues, such as the response of this area (much of which is on man-made land fill) to a major earth quake and to potentially rising sea levels, could impact the long term (think 100 plus years) viability of the site. Near term problems caused by the additional traffic from a major museum due to the lack of ready access to BART (although, Alameda could eventually be the terminus for a new transbay tube) would have to be resolved. For now, at least the Hornet may benefit from the new ferry service and if visitors have any energy left, they may visit the Naval Air Museum--a nice little museum--low tech, but with interesting photos and other artifacts telling the story of the NAS and China Clipper.