Posted on 11/04/2004 9:09:27 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - The state's real estate portfolio includes 38 high-value and underutilized properties scattered throughout California that could fetch nearly $1 billion on the open market, according to an administration analysis released Thursday.
Another 12 higher-profile properties - such as San Quentin State Prison and fair grounds in Del Mar and Napa County - are worth nearly $4 billion and should also be reviewed for possible sale.
The report comes in response to an executive order from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued in May directing state departments and agencies to catalogue property they control, evaluate the need to keep that property and report any property they consider surplus.
The new analysis was conducted as part of Schwarzenegger's landmark plan to reorganize and streamline the state bureaucracy, called the California Performance Review.
While the report's finding suggests each of the identified properties should be sold, the authors said they are really only setting in motion the first step in sorting through the state's portfolio of more than 2,000 parcels, 2.5 million acres of land and nearly 200 million square feet of office and commercial space.
"We're not recommending that any of these properties should be sold," said Bob Martinez, spokesman for the Performance Review. "This is just the first step in understanding what the state owns and evaluating whether those properties are being utilized properly."
Among the list of high-value and underutilized holdings are: the Agnews Developmental Center in San Jose, which could be worth $225 million; a 400-acre portion of the California Institute for Men in Chino, was valued at more than $100 million; and a 165-acre portion of California State University, Pomona could be sold for as much as $86 million.
The list also includes a highway maintenance station in Sacramento that could be worth $222,000; a parks and recreation office on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu that is worth about $11 million; and a golf course in Oakland worth $1.5 million.
The report authors said that most of the 38 properties had been previously declared "surplus" by the state but has not yet been sold.
The second category of properties included in the analysis are properties that are actively in use but because of their high-value should be evaluated as an investment for state taxpayers.
San Quentin, for instance, was put on the list because of its location on the water in pricey Marin County and its aging condition - even though the facility continues to house more than 5,000 inmates. If sold, analysts said, the prison could bring in as much as $750 million.
A number of state-owned fairgrounds were also found to be very valuable - the 400-acre Del Mar Fair could be worth $1.4 billion; the Ventura County Fairgrounds was valued at $110 million; and the Orange County Fair was valued at $250 million.
The report's authors recommend that the governor and Legislature develop an accurate inventory of all state holdings and create a public corporation to better manage them. The Performance Review also calls on the state to divest itself of any high-value property that is not being used.
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On the Net
Gov.'s home page: http://www.governor.ca.gov/state/govsite/gov-homepage.jsp
California Performance Review: http://cpr.ca.gov/
anybody wanna buy a bridge? ;-)
That's almost pocket-change for California. Besides, they'd only spend it on more bloated government.
Well, only in California would a reclaimed piece of ground in a slough fetch 1.4 billion.
If they really want to pump money into the local economy, there is always offshore drilling in Southern California.
What's that huge purple patch of purple "Federal - other" (located in Utah)?
I'm not sure that the map shows all of the National Forest land in the Southeast.
This is an excellent idea. Of course, the Left would rather gouge their eyeballs out with branding irons.
Looking at the many different colors in Alaska and the large expanse of yellow in the continential US, you will cut thru most of the crap by remembering one of Clinton's last several hundred "Executive Orders" only intended to impede future progress.
This explains the East Coast Liberals' sentiment toward the West: They feel as though they own it. And they practically do!!!
What's that huge purple patch of purple "Federal - other" (located in Utah)?
Hmm. Looks like Dugway Proving Grounds to me.
Wendover Air Force Range?
Hundreds of acres of boarded up buildings, weed infested parking lots and bunkers built into the dunes right along a beautiful stretch of Pacific Ocean shoreline.
That property should fetch a couple billion itself.
Arnold isn't going to let them waste the money. He is finally figuring out the Democrats. Besides, we just passed a proposition, supported by Arnold, that the money from the sale must go to pay off the bonds.
Schwarzenegger Calls Calif. Dems 'Losers'
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1271246/posts
I think EO's are of dubious constitutionality as they have legislative content.....I think Bush's Supreme Court appointments will share my views.
What's that huge purple patch of purple "Federal - other" (located in Utah)?
That's Michael Moore.
'..we just passed a proposition, supported by Arnold, that the money from the sale must go to pay off the bonds.'
Let's hope it plays out that way.
Bonds, bonds, bonds will be the end of the Golden Goose that once was the California Republic.. that and overly generous pension plans and social programs spending.
To allow any of the proceeds to just go in the General Fund would be a travesty and a waste, imo.
why is government owning land its not using?
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