The City of Vacaville was seeking to redevelop the historic Nut Tree site, a popular Northern California retail landmark. The 76-acre site, located along the heavily traveled Interstate 80 midway between San Francisco and Sacramento, offered a number of desirable attributes from a development perspective, including positive name recognition, adjacency to the local baseball stadium, a well-utilized private airport, and a popular factory outlet center. The City sought to promote a unique, high-density project that would include land uses not yet established in this growing suburban environment.
Working with the developer selected by the City, EPS evaluated the market potential and financial feasibility of a variety of mixed-use development concepts for the Nut Tree site including specialty retail, combined with several destination restaurants and a farmers market. EPS also evaluated the potential success of high-density office and residential uses to be integrated with other potential project components: a conference center hotel, golf course, parks, a museum, and other public amenities.