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Tracy Farhad spent her first five years here casting vision and developing a strategic plan for Visit Tri-Valley. Now, she’s hitting the trail to sell the vision of more than a 100,000-square-foot event center.
The strategic plan identified the event center as a missing attraction for the valley in its efforts to fill hotel rooms on weekends. Visit Tri-Valley is funded by a modest per-room nightly charge. The municipalities collect their transit occupancy tax over-and-above this fee.
Farhad told the GraceWay Church retired men Monday that the largest gathering place for meetings locally is the Doubletree Hotel in Pleasanton at about 300 people (the Palm Event Center and Casa Real are near that range, as well). The San Ramon Marriott can hold about twice that many, but San Ramon is not a member of Visit Tri-Valley.
The real opportunity identified in the strategic plan is weekend sporting events such as basketball tournaments or tennis or paddle ball or volleyball. In the case of basketball, organizers want 12 courts—a requirement way beyond any regulation gymnasium. Visit Tri-Valley already has a staff member marketing sports events. Think of how many people come to town and fill hotel rooms for the Good Guys car shows, the swim meets and the youth baseball playoffs and then multiply that.
Meetings and conventions, which can take place both during the week and on weekends fill the gap. Performing arts are penciled in for four dates in each of the first three years so they are not an economic pillar. Farhad described new technology that allows fixed arena seats to be stored under the floor and then raised into place, allowing for a quick change-over.
The location, behind the approved Ikea site at Interstate 580 and Hacienda Drive, is ideal. Easy freeway access, two parking structures at the walkable BART station nearby and no residential neighbors.
Farhad is going full speed ahead on the Dublin site, which is surplus land owned by Alameda County (a remnant of the sprawling old Santa Rita jail site that makes up lots of East Dublin.
In the planning process, the second ranked site was the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton with its ample parking on 267 acres. The fair leadership has looked at trying to draw a hotel to their site in past years, but plans never came to fruition. The change now is the demise of horse racing in Northern California. The state racing board cancelled the county fair meets this year meaning, for the first time in more than 100 years, there will be no live racing in Pleasanton. The satellite wagering building will be open to beam in racing from elsewhere in the country.
The fairgrounds, since the closure of Golden Gate Fields last year, had been the training track and stables for Northern California, but horsemen were told to vacate the premises by March 31 after the cancellation. That leaves minimal use for the grandstands, both during the fair and year-round, to say nothing of the stables.
Just what the fair board (appointed by the county supervisors) and the county decide to do with the stables is an open question. Given the late decision, I suspect management will run the fair without the live raving and then re-evaluate for 2026. There have been offers of financial backing for live racing next year—just how that will play out remains to be seen.
