Join Our Mailing List
Advocacy | Committee on Government Affairs
June 6, 2011

Committee on Government Affairs

Berkeley Chamber of Commerce

Monday, June 6, 2011

 

Sam Chapman, Manager for State and Community Relations of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) will be the featured guest.  He will be discussing with the Committee the Lab’s process for selecting a second campus site for LBNL, a choice that will likely have significant economic development implications for Berkeley.  Joining Sam in this discussion will be the two Berkeley City Council members whose West Berkeley districts include potential sites for the second campus – Linda Maio and Darryl Moore.

 

Though few of Berkeley’s business owners and residents have had the opportunity to tour it, LBNL, with its 4,200 employees, is one of the largest, most creative, and most consequential employers in the Bay Area. LBNL describes itself as being focused on “advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe.”  Founded in 1931, LBNL’s scientific expertise has been recognized with eleven Nobel prizes.

 

Among LBNL’s desirable attributes for a second campus are the following:

 

·       Location within 20 to 25 minutes of the original campus

·       Initial land capacity to accommodate about 500,000 square feet with potential future growth up to two million square feet

·       Easy access to public transportation and other amenities

 

When a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) was released in early 2011, over twenty responses were submitted.  On May 9, the University of California, which manages the LBNL, released a list of the six sites that are top candidates for the second campus.  They include:

 

·       Alameda Point (city of Alameda)

·       Berkeley Aquatic Park West (West Berkeley)

·       Brooklyn Basin (Oakland)

·       Emeryville/Berkeley (includes properties currently occupied by LBNL in Emeryville and West Berkeley)

·       Golden Gate Fields (spanning Berkeley and Albany)

·       Richmond Field Station (a site currently owned by the University of California.)

 

The Lab hopes to identify a preferred site by late November, 2011, and occupy the new campus by mid-2016.  Whatever site is chosen will enjoy a significant economic development opportunity.  If Berkeley is chosen to accommodate the second campus, it will likely significantly advance the efforts of the Office of Economic Development, the Haas School of Business at UCB, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Berkeley BIDs to make Berkeley one of the country’s top tech incubators.

 

Location: Chamber Conference Room, 1834 University Ave., Berkeley 94703

 

Date and time:  Monday, June 6, 12:00 to 1:15 p.m.

 

 

[back]