The City of Fremont and the Centerville Business Association will co-host a workshop on successful marketing strategies:

Wednesday, June 23
7:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
City of Fremont
Development Services Center, Niles Conference Room
39550 Liberty Street

Cost:
$10.00 for non-business association/organization members or $5.00 for members of the following business associations/organizations:
- Centerville Business Association
- Fremont Chamber of Commerce
- Irvington Business Association
- Mission San Jose Chamber
- Niles Main Street Association
- Niles Merchants Association
- Warm Springs Business and Community Association

Light breakfast refreshments will be provided and space is limited to 30 participants.

Please bring:
- Examples of various forms of successful media marketing tools.
- Thirty business cards.
- Thirty business brochures to share.

Contact Centerville Business Association's Bob Silva via email or at 510-468-1738 to register for the workshop.

The City of Fremont and the Fremont Chamber of Commerce will co-host a workshop presented by the Alameda County General Services Agency (GSA) on "How to do Business with Alameda County":

Wednesday, June 30
7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Fremont City Hall, City Council Chambers
3300 Capitol Avenue, Building A

Alameda County GSA purchases more than $500 million annually on a wide variety of goods and services. Fremont business owners will learn how to become certified to sell their services and commodities to GSA. In addition, GSA representatives will be available to assist with questions on bonding, financing, insurance, bidding and estimating.

This workshop is free and there is no cost to become certified.

For more information, contact GSA's Bernard Ashcraft via email or at 510-444-6441, or the City's Kim Marshall via email or at 510-284-4020.

The City of Fremont and Pacific Gas and Electric Company invite you to a "Business Customer Energy Efficiency Rebate Workshop":

Wednesday, July 14
8:30 a.m. - 11 a.m.
Fremont City Hall, City Council Chambers
3300 Capitol Avenue, Building A

Learn about:
- PG&E rebate programs.
- No-cost & low-cost energy saving measures.
- Energy efficiency investments.
- Customer energy success stories.

Please RSVP via email by Wednesday, June 30.

Hot off the press: Fremont's Taking Care of Business brochure is now available! This brochure offers information about Fremont's business retention and expansion programs and services, including:

- Welcome and Appreciation Programs
- Corporate Site Visits
- Business Workshops and Seminars
- City-wide Business Marketing and Promotion
- Business Resources and Publications
- Business Websites
- One-Stop Development Center
- Environmental Services

To obtain a free copy, please contact the Office of Economic Development via email or at 510-284-4020.

Interest in the City's Corporate Site Visit program is growing. Since January, the City team, consisting of Fremont's Mayor or a Councilmember, an Economic Development Advisory Commissioner, and top City staff, has visited the following Fremont businesses:

- Acorn Product Development
- Hurricane Electric
- Sootheze
- Synnex
- Top Dawg Modular Furniture

Making the connection with local companies helps the City better understand business needs and industry trends, while providing businesses with a connection to the City should they ever have questions or need assistance. If you're interested in participating in the Corporate Site Visit program, contact Economic Development Assistant Kim Marshall via email or at 510-284-4020.

Fremont's retail landscape is beginning to change as new retailers and restaurants express their interest in coming to Fremont to open shop.

Our newest and largest retail center, Pacific Commons, is located at the corner of I-880 and Auto Mall Parkway. This regional power center will be opening this fall with something for everyone!

Notable retail anchors will include:
- Circuit City
- Costco
- Kohl's
- Linens N Things
- Lowe's
- Office Depot
- Old Navy
- Party America

All of these retailers, with the exception of Costco, are new to Fremont.

Pacific Commons' restaurants, offering a wide array of dining experiences and choices, will include:
- Claim Jumper's
- In N Out Burger
- Jamba Juice
- Pick Up Stix
- Starbuck's

The Downtown is also getting a retail boost. The new Washington West retail center (home to Walgreen's) is currently adding new retail with the following openings by the end of the year:
- Peet's Coffee
- Robek's Juice
- The Flower Shop

The Fremont Hub is under re-construction to build a new store for Marshall's and a newly expanded Michael's store.

Retailer interest continues to be very strong in Fremont from both local and national firms that view Fremont as a wonderful market opportunity. New locations for retail and restaurants are also being created in the City's Downtown and historic districts. Stay tuned for additional announcements.

Fremont's Walnut Plaza was highlighted last month in the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine (circulated in its Sunday edition) for its ethnically diverse restaurant grouping and grocery stores. Next time you're looking for a place to eat or shop, check out one of the highlighted "ethnic treasures":

- Banana City Café (Malaysian)
- Chili Garden (Chinese from Mainland China)
- Il Porcino (Italian)
- Los Cabos Mexican Food (Mexican)
- Namaste Plaza (Indo-Pakistani supermarket)
- Shalimar (Indo-Pakistani)
- Sushiya (Asian)

Map to Walnut Plaza>>

On June 15, Charter Development will present their latest development proposal to the Redevelopment Agency Board for the Centerville Unified Site (a 6.58 acre property located on Fremont Boulevard, between Bonde Way and Thornton Avenue). The mixed-use project proposes 48,000 square feet of first floor commercial space coupled with 85 residential for-sale housing units located along a new curved commercial street connecting Fremont Boulevard to Post Street.

The project would anchor four or five large restaurants. The remainder of the center is expected to house a variety of smaller retail and food oriented shops. For more information on this project, please contact the developer, Charter Properties' James Tong at 925-463-1666, or Redevelopment Project Manager Jennifer Andersen via email or at 510-494-4518.

The Redevelopment Agency is reactivating its effort to master plan the future redevelopment of the former Union Pacific property, located in the Niles area. The master plan, which includes a two-acre town square as the focal point as well as additional public parking, is anticipated to proceed in conjunction with the environmental clean-up of the property. Redevelopment of this property will be a key stimulus to the economic vitality of the Niles business district. Additionally, the Redevelopment Agency will be looking at ways to improve the pedestrian connection (anticipated completion by late 2004) from the Niles Historic Train to Niles Boulevard and the commercial district.

For more information, please contact Redevelopment Project Manager Luke Connolly via email or at 510-494-4513.

The City's Office of Housing and Redevelopment offers a Commercial Rehabilitation Loan Program to businesses within the three Redevelopment project areas of Centerville, Irvington, and Niles. It provides no-interest loans to assist property owners interested in reconstructing or rehabilitating their property to address seismic retrofitting, code compliance, and new use improvements.

Currently underway is the design of a new feature, called the Façade Improvement Program. The program aims to encourage the rehabilitation of storefronts in an effort to create a more attractive retail-shopping environment while reducing blight and improving the city's image.

The program consists of a match whereby the Redevelopment Agency contributes 80% of total costs up to $20,000 and the tenant/property owners provide a 20% match. Eligible improvements to commercial and residential buildings will include, in order of priority: exterior painting, signage, awnings, exterior lighting, cleaning of masonry, re-caulking, landscaping, repair/replacement of doors or windows visible from public view. The Redevelopment Agency Board approved the Façade Improvement Program at its May 25 meeting.

For more information about these programs, please contact Special Assistant Eva M. Terrazas via email or at 510-494-4502.

Your one-stop solution to finding spaces for your clients and clients for your spaces is www.FocusOnFremont.com.

Using Internet-based GIS technology for business attraction and site selection, this website serves as an invaluable resource tool. Some recent improvements to the website include:

- Ability to search for a specific business.
- Ability to search for a comprehensive list of all business in Fremont. Currently you may only search by category (i.e. retail, manufacturing, etc.).
- Additional zoning information available on the maps.

Property and demographic information on available sites for businesses is available 24 hours/day, seven days a week. Revisit the new and improved www.FocusOnFremont.com for your real estate needs!

Congratulations to the following Fremont-based companies that made the Chronicle 200, the San Francisco Chronicle's ranking of the 200 largest Bay Area companies based on revenue for the year ending March 31, 2004:

- Synnex Corp. (#21)
- Lam Research Corp. #80)
- ChipPac Inc. (#103)
- Lexar Media Inc. (#107)
- Asyst Technologies (#147)
- ESS Technology Inc. (#159)
- Mattson Technology Inc. (#163)
- Network Equipment Technologies Inc. (#184)
- Centillium Communications Inc. (#191)