Berkeley City Council endorsed a development plan for the expansion of the Bayer HealthCare West Berkeley campus at its regular meeting Tuesday.
The 30-year plan with the German pharmaceutical company was approved unanimously. Under the deal, which had been months in the making, the city will allow Bayer to build more than 1 million square feet of new structures. The agreement streamlines the review process for constructions, including a parking structure, green spaces and the expansion of two warehouses.
“According to the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, Berkeley could see a sizable increase in economic activity stemming from Bayer operations,” said Berkeley mayor Jesse Arreguín on Twitter.
Bayer, which arrived in Berkeley in 1992, has served to establish the city as a center for biomedical research, according to a company memo. Under this new deal, its projected economic impact will rise from $15 million to $29 million by 2052.
As part of the deal, Bayer agreed to pay the city of Berkeley more than $33 million, beginning with $800,000 in 2022 and increasing by 2% over the rest of the 30 years.
The payments proposed at the meeting are roughly 10% greater than those cited in the first offer to the city.
“We want to invest in the communities that we invest in and thrive together,” said Drew Johnston, Bayer vice president of engineering, at the meeting. “Another thing we heard is consistency. These investments happen year after year whether we’re building or not.”
The funds would be distributed among several services; education programs stand to receive nearly half of the funds, followed by 20% to the Berkeley Housing Trust Fund and 20% to the West Berkeley Community Resilience Fund.
The rest of the money will be allocated to various other programs.
“By exceeding requirements, we are confident that this development agreement is a great opportunity to provide much-needed funding for affordable housing,” said Jake Price on behalf of the Housing Action Coalition during the public comment section.
Price added the Housing Action Coalition fully supports this project and urges the council to approve this development agreement.
As Berkeley’s largest private employer, more than 60% of the employees have just a high school diploma, some college or an associate degree. This project is expected to add another 1,000 jobs, and alongside the company’s commitment to hire locally, the deal includes internships.
“This process and these community benefits — especially the community resilience dollars — is the type of injection that West Berkeley needs so that we can have healthy opportunities for our young people, for our families that are in the neighborhood and then also address the issues of housing,” said Berkeley community member Denisha DeLane during the public comment section.
