In a rush to get a 55-year lease signed before a deadline this week awarding property on the Oakland Army Base to Oakland Maritime Support Services (OMSS), the Oakland City Council met in a special session Tuesday.

The council unanimously approved two options going forward: a one-year extension on the lease agreement and a 6-month extension, pending a decision from developers CCIG and Prologis.

As city staff waited for the final signature from Prologis, the extension prevents CCIG owner Phil Tagami from taking over the OMSS property. Under Tagami’s contact with the city, he had the right to acquire the 17-acre property to if a deal was not signed by the Wednesday, Dec. 4 deadline.

“It was Councilmember Desley Brooks that called for the special session to beat the deadline,” said Dexter Vizinau, a consultant for OMSS.

However, the extension also draws out the process of getting the OMSS development started, a project that has been 10 years in the making.

The expected development will hire more than 50 percent local residents and has partnered with minority, local, and union businesses, led by Turner Group Construction, to get the job done.

“I look forward to getting the OMSS center up and getting trucks off the street,” said Councilmember Lynette McElhaney expressed her approval of the project Tuesday.

Anticipating the schedule for the Army Base development project, Vizinau asked that truck parking become a priority for the city. OMSS hopes to begin construction as soon as possible to get the big rigs off the streets.

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