The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an amended development agreement that gives developers additional time to move forward with a mixed-use student housing project on the former Downtown Terminal property near Downtown.
The amendment updates the project's schedule of performance and transfers the development agreement from Pelican Communities LLC to Overland Pelican Riverside LLC, a joint venture formed by Pelican Communities and Overland Development to carry out the project.
The item was approved as part of the council's consent calendar without discussion.
The project will be built on approximately 2.7 acres of city-owned land at 3911 University Ave. and 3775 Fairmount Blvd., the site of the former Downtown Terminal.
The development plan, originally approved by the council in June 2024, calls for mixed-use student housing, ground-floor commercial space and structured parking. The agreement also requires the developer to provide 60 parking spaces for the city's Main Library.
According to a staff report, the revised timeline reflects the need for additional time to complete entitlement processing, due diligence, design refinements and other predevelopment work common to large mixed-use projects.
Under the revised schedule, the due diligence period and entitlement application deadline are both extended to Feb. 28, 2027. The entitlement deadline moves to Sept. 29, 2027, while escrow is now scheduled to close by Feb. 28, 2028. Construction is expected to begin by March 29, 2028, with completion and issuance of a certificate of occupancy anticipated by Oct. 29, 2029.
City staff said in the report that the amendment does not change any substantive terms of the original agreement, including the project's scope, the $200 purchase price for the city-owned property, parking obligations or land-use assumptions. The city will retain ownership of the property until the close of escrow.
Staff also said assigning the agreement to Overland Pelican Riverside LLC is permitted under the original contract and is consistent with the developers' planned joint-venture structure, ensuring that all rights and obligations remain in place.
The staff report concluded that the revised schedule provides "a realistic and achievable timeline" to keep the redevelopment effort moving while preserving the city's objectives for transforming the long-vacant site.
