SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Union Pacific railroad has picked a potential buyer for its Curtis Park yard, the Sacramento Bee reported.
The rail giant has also chosen four finalists to submit proposals to buy the front 40 acres of its downtown rail yard, which city officials envision as a major extension of downtown anchored by an expanded train station and possibly a basketball arena.
Mike Casey, UP’s director of special properties, would not identify the developer selected to buy the Curtis Park yard, but said he hopes to have a signed deal by Oct. 1.
Sandwiched between Curtis Park and Land Park, two of the city’s more affluent neighborhoods, the former yard has long seemed an obvious place to build housing. It sits next to Sacramento City College, and two light rail stops will soon open nearby.
But the yard is also a Superfund site laced with lead, arsenic, cancer-causing coal waste and other toxic materials. UP has repeatedly uncovered new, unexpected toxins.
Casey said the prospective buyer was chosen out of five companies that responded to a document circulated by UP this summer offering to sell the 65-acre property for $5 million. Casey said the purchaser would have to assume responsibility for the remaining toxic cleanup in the yard. In its written request for purchase proposals, UP estimated that it would cost an additional $5 million to remove remaining toxins.
Unlike the Curtis Park yard, the front 40 acres of the downtown yard have been certified by the state as clean and ready for development. UP’s Casey said it’s important for the railroad to recruit a developer who can turn all the talk of a new residential neighborhood, shops, offices and an expanded train station into reality.
He said the purchase won’t actually close until the developer receives city approval for a land use plan.