Faction Brewing LLC, located on Monarch Street at Alameda Point, is behind on its rent. The company owes the City of Alameda over $210,000 in rent, and an additional $11,000 in late fees.
On Tuesday, September 1, City Council will decide whether to continue the company’s lease and allow them to pay its overdue rent over the next five years on top of regular rent. In addition, the late fee penalty would be waived if the company puts up an awning over the outdoor seating area.
This agenda item offers a window into the City’s economic philosophy for Alameda Point that, at times, appears divorced from the real world of business and unmotivated to get property off City books. Only two of the 11 aircraft hangars have been sold.
Down the street from Faction Brewing sits another valuable hangar, Building 11. Instead of putting it on the market to sell, the City has been satisfied with leasing it. A startup company called Poseidon Aerospace started moving into the building last week. It currently has only a restricted six-month license agreement, Base Reuse and Economic Development Director Abby Thorne-Lyman told the Alameda Post. “Staff issued the license as we work through a potential lease.”
The previous tenant of that building was Google, which left when its experiment with its energy kite did not pan out. After Google moved out, the City received a proposal [see paragraph 4] from a successful Alameda Point developer to purchase this same building for $24 million. But the deal was not pursued.
Also at its Tuesday, September 1 meeting, City Council will discuss in closed session whether to lease or sell another large commercial building, which currently houses a bus repair shop and was the former home of Rock Wall Wine Company, to various potential businesses. It is unknown what purchase offers the City would receive if the building were to be placed on the market.
And then there is the auction house, in another valuable hangar on Monarch Street, paying rent. Michaan’s Auctions renewed its 10-year lease in 2023 for another 10 years. Whether that building was ever offered for sale is unknown at this point.
Sales of land and buildings at Alameda Point have been the driver of new street utility infrastructure. The sale of Site A funded not only new streets in the neighborhood, but also the first phase of Promenade Park and underlying levee, as well as a new passenger ferry terminal. The West Midway residential project will soon be constructing new streets in that neighborhood.
Leasing, on the other hand, which the City has been pursuing for decades, only patches up the old, mows the grass, and pays staff salaries.
This November’s City ballot measures L and N also come into play.
The City Council majority appears to want to make it even easier to continue leasing by asking voters to approve Measure N—a change to the City Charter that would mean only three city council votes, instead of four, would be required to approve leases of 10 years or less. For the record, only in a few rare cases has there ever been a lease of Alameda Point property for an initial term longer than 10 years. They become forever leases by including renewal options, which usually get approved.
The economic strategy since the Navy started conveying land to the City in 2013 is nowhere close to being on track to deliver the infrastructure detailed in the Master Infrastructure Plan for Alameda Point. The total cost for new infrastructure–streets, utilities, parks, levees, stormwater basins—for all of Alameda Point has jumped from $700 million in 2020 to $840 million in 2025, according to a City Council workshop staff report in January 2026.
If Measure L passes, revenue from the bonds could be used at Alameda Point. The Point had been expected to be paying its own way through property sales.
City staff, with City Council approval, have routinely recommended leasing City-owned property, placing less priority on selling valuable buildings that would generate revenue for new infrastructure. But that may be changing.
At the above-mentioned January 2026 workshop, staff said it was considering offering the complex of buildings that includes Building 11 for sale after receiving positive interest from developers.
“Staff still stand behind this concept, and we do not believe that a lease of the Building 11 hangar [to Poseidon Aerospace] would preclude us from selling the building,” Thorne-Lyman told the Alameda Post. “We are also working on possible parcel maps for this area in anticipation of future land sales.”
Contributing writer Richard Bangert posts stories and photos about environmental issues on his blog Alameda Point Environmental Report. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Richard-Bangert.
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