PITTSBURG — A boutique resort, banquet room and two eating places may someday grace Pittsburg’s waterfront, serving to to revitalize an space that for a lot of a long time has been principally dormant.
The Metropolis Council on Tuesday unanimously accredited a lease settlement with Peter Nguyen of International Assets Buying and selling LLC for 2 city-owned vacant waterfront parcels on a one-acre parcel that has been vacant for years. One a part of the land is a tidelands property the state granted to the town, with restrictions on its use, making the settlement the primary of its form within the metropolis.
Metropolis leaders and others hope the Marina Boulevard mission, which nonetheless must be accredited, will assist spur different growth within the marina space.
“We’re very enthusiastic about this mission,” mentioned Pittsburg Chamber CEO Wolfgang Croskey, talking for his pal and fellow businessman, Nguyen.
“In the event you return 150 years in Pittsburg’s historical past, you’ll recall that it was fishermen immigrants coming to America to start out a enterprise and to develop and in a sure approach … He (Nguyen) is principally your American dream. He got here right here to america with a fishing boat and he’s constructed his enterprise and grown and raised his household and now desires to proceed the funding right here in Pittsburg.”
Nguyen has operated a bait store there since 2018 and Fishermen’s Catch market and cafe since 2020 close to the positioning the place he plans to erect the resort. Final 12 months he entered into an unique negotiating settlement with the town for growing the parcels.
Primarily based in Pittsburg, International Assets is a premier wholesaler of seafood, promoting to main chains reminiscent of Complete Meals. Earlier than that, Nguyen owned and operated a business fishing vessel from 1985 to 1995 and the Hong Kong Restaurant in Union Metropolis from 1995 to 2001.
Nguyen proposes to construct a three-story resort with themed upscale two- or three-bedroom suites on the higher ground, with a ten,000-square-foot banquet corridor on the second ground, and two eating places alongside the waterfront on the San Joaquin River’s New York Slough in a spot known as the “berm.”
However earlier than spending tens of millions on the mission in a property he doesn’t personal, Nguyen requested the town to first safe a lease. As a tidelands property, the town shouldn't be allowed to promote it and should observe strict rules in its leasing agreements, together with that or not it's long-term.
“That is the primary tidelands lease and mission that’s taken place in Pittsburg and we wish to be certain that it’s a house run,” Croskey mentioned.
Below the phrases of the the lease settlement, the mission would generate $34,000 yearly, with the hire changes made to retain truthful market worth. After 2027, the town would additionally gather 3% of the enterprise gross receipts and 1.5% of the meals and beverage gross receipts for the rest of the 49-year time period.
Metropolis analyst Sara Bellafronte mentioned the town may understand a minimal of $51,400 yearly as soon as it begins gathering a proportion of the enterprise receipts.
Town would additionally profit from resort revenues within the type of a transient occupancy tax, the workers report famous.
“We really feel that the combination (resort, restaurant and banquet room) goes to permit the mission to achieve success and to be one thing that folks will come to Pittsburg for,” Croskey mentioned. “And now once they go to a present, there’s a spot to remain down the road, once they go to a fishing event, there’s a spot to remain. So we’re offering a really distinctive alternative that can solely be present in Pittsburg.”
Bellafronte added that metropolis shouldn't be locking itself right into a mission with this lease, “so no celebration is caught in a lease if there isn't any mission.”
The analyst added that the proposed use of the property aligns with metropolis’s basic plan objectives of creativing a pedestrian-friendly connection between the marina and the downtown space to the south and will assist lower blight within the space.
With little dialogue, Councilman Jelani Killings motioned for approval.
“I do know we’re seeing lots of life come right down to our downtown hall and our marina and the way we are able to re-envision and actually capitalize on this asset, this jewel that now we have in the neighborhood,” he mentioned.