PATTERSON -- Escrow on the mysterious Project X could close as early as today, and officials are hoping next week they can replace the "X" with a name.
A special City Council meeting that had been postponed earlier this month now probably won't be scheduled at all, City Manager Rod Butler said.
Seefried Properties, on behalf of the prospective tenant, had asked the city for a credit of about $1.7 million for the installation of improvements on Park Center Drive in the industrial park. The current development agreement called for any developer to reimburse the city $1.4 million. But apparently negotiators have worked out the problems.
"There is no longer any need to amend the Westridge Business Park Development Agreement," Butler said in an e-mail.
He noted that "the parties involved have gone very quiet for the past couple of weeks. We know that everything is still moving forward, but we have no specific details about timelines."
The project promises 1,500 to 2,500 jobs in a 1 million-square-foot building on 120 acres in an industrial area at Sperry Avenue and Baldwin Road. Plans call for the facility set to be up and running by September.
Officials can't reveal the name of the prospective employer, but Butler described it in a staff report as "a highly successful company with an international profile." It also has been described an order "fulfillment and distribution center" with an Internet retail aspect. That, and promises from retail giant Amazon to bring jobs to California, have led to speculation that the bookseller is behind Project X.
City Councilwoman Annette Smith said the closure of escrow was imminent. And since negotiations for Project X started, the city has received inquiries from two other employers. Available land and proximity to Interstate 5 are major selling points.
"Our frontage property is a gold mine," Smith said.
Bee staff writer Patty Guerra can be reached at pguerra@modbee.com or (209) 578-2343.
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