The Concord City Council’s Saturday decision to reject a term sheet and let an exclusive negotiating agreement expire comprises a major setback to the group of developers involved in the Concord Naval Weapons Station project.
The project has been the biggest issue in Concord since the Navy abandoned the site in 1999. If it comes to fruition, it would likely be the largest housing development in the Bay Area, or at least one of the largest.
Now that the city no longer has an exclusive negotiating agreement with Concord First Partners, a development group, other developers can present proposals to the city, according to Concord City Councilwoman Laura Nakamura.
“Before now other developers could not have submitted term sheets. The city would not have accepted them,” Nakamura said.
Concord First Partners is a consortium of developers that includes The Discovery Companies, which are owned by the prominent Seeno family.
In the continued special meeting Saturday, the council rejected Concord First Partners’ term sheet and directed staff to let the exclusive negotiating agreement with Concord First Partners expire on Jan. 31, 2023.
The action was taken on a 3-2 vote with Councilmembers Laura Hoffmeister, Laura Nakamura and Carlyn Obringer voting in favor and Dominic Aliano and Edi Birsan voting against.
The fate of 5,046 acres on the city’s northeast side has long been a contentious issue.
The Navy officially designated it as surplus and made Concord the local reuse authority for the site, of which 2,300 acres are targeted for 13,000 units of housing and millions of square feet of commercial space.
The site will also be home to a new 2,540-acre East Bay Regional Park, named Thurgood Marshall Regional Park – Home of the Port Chicago 50, commemorating the nearby Port Chicago tragedy during World War II.
The city has been consistent in its demand the development includes more affordable housing than the state requires.
It also wants a guarantee that local labor is used, which was a sticking point with its first master developer, Lennar Five Point.
The company pulled out of the project in March 2020 when its initial exclusive negotiating agreement expired and its negotiations with local labor unions failed.
56 comments
Just look at that picture, only thing missing is caption “Bunker City”.
Lets make Concord world famous.
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Tell city council we’ll put up bronze plaques on each of ’em with their names.
They actually said NO to Seeno?
Well, 2/5 didn’t…
Does the whole thing HAVE TO BE given over to ONE DEVELOPER? Break it down into 5 or 6 Boroughs (Edi will love that word) and let each go to a different builder. Maybe they’ll compete for the best built and best looking instead of back-dooring us and slipping in their China manufactured drywall and porous steel. Maybe, (unlike Seeno) they won’t rip out the already sparse trees or foul-up the natural streams and plow over the rivulets that carry water the way nature designed. IMHO, they should have kept the parkland in the center of the land-mass and built the new town(s) around that… and all could share the park equally. It has appeared to me that the City leaders have, for 20 years, looked at which way would appear to make them look good, and still do the job the easiest way possible.
How about we look at making Concord’s growth look its best… even if that is the hard way to do things.
Make it a park. Nothing else. Some open land for people to enjoy would be nice. If they really want to improve Concord, fix up all the dumpy old stores and strip malls. Most of them were built in the 60s ( I know b/c I’ve been here since then). Same buildings – different tenants but no improvements. Clayton Road looks really crummy.
Very well said. That‘s how I feel, too.
Problem is that there’s land outside of Concord that will be developed instead and the spillover of traffic through Kirker Pass, Willow Pass RD, etc. all tearing up oir streets but not getting us tax revenue is going to drive us deeper into budget deficit. Seems better to do high density development, at least near north concord bart.
Tax money generated from the base property cannot by law be used for anything outside of the base for 7 to 10 years (by state law). So it cannot pay for other streets in Concord for many years to come. We need to make sure the master developer offers to fund with its own money some of upgrade to infrastructure that will be needed to roads outside the base, which was a problem I had with the Seeno term sheet. Otherwise that will be funded by a variety of property taxes.
Or LEAVE IT BE!
Why would you need more housing if we are in a population reduction cycle? Inquiring minds want to know.
…and no new water source or retention facilities and insufficient power sources
CAPTAIN BEBOPS,
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We’ve been told that we have a housing shortage that began in the third-quarter of 2006 and the overall housing market led to the recession towards the end of the G.W. Bush administration. We won’t recover from the lost housing caused by the recession, it isn’t something that we’ll ever build our way out of.
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When you say we’re in a “population reduction cycle” I’m not sure where that “reduction cycle” is at, the city, county, state, country, or world level? While the US has in recent years had a declining birth rate, especially among native born Americans, it still significantly surpasses our death rate. While California has had more people moving to other states than it has people moving from other states, the population difference is more than made up for with births, and legal alien and illegal alien immigration. California’s foreign born population of legal and illegal aliens makes up almost 30% of our population.
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Most Democrats and some Republicans want to import 70 million foreign born aliens into the US, they claim this is how many aliens it will talke to make social security, medicare, and medicaid solvent, but they don’t tell you the vast majority of the alien population that they want to import have little to no education and are most assuredly to use more in government services than they’ll ever pay into social security, medicare, and medicaid.
CAPTAIN BEBOPS,
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Currently, there are estimates that the state population has declined in 2021 and 2022, but other estimates are that the state population will increase to 42 million by 2030. Other estimates are that the foreign born illegal alien population is being undercounted
DOMO,
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The CCWD keeps telling the City of Concord that they have more than enough water available to supply this project. The city seems to believe having a recycled water system and requiring solar on all buildings will supply more than enough water and electricity for the development. The majority of us don’t believe them but they keep on saying it.
AARON,
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Any high density housing on the CNWS property should be built as close to your home as possible.
@The Black Knight
Sure. I live in, walk along, or commute through the densest parts of Concord already. But if you bought property in North Concord next to the BART station anytime after 1995 and didn’t expect high density development I’d be a little surprised.
They made a wise choice but what happens next?
Ricardoh
There has been the possibility of the Navy getting fed up with Concord and selling the land to the highest bidding developer. If that happens you still could wind up with Seeno as the developer.
Too bad the city jersey around with Lennar. They are on phase 2 of a beautiful development in Dayton NV and recently finished a nice development in Carson City
They build crappy homes. Seeno is a CRIMINAL ENTITY. I suggest you do your homework and research their criminal activity, crimes against endangered species.
Birsan- i thought he couldn’t be bought. Oh well.
Anyone who sees all the shady stuff the Seenos have pulled , from loosing a gambling license to threats of violence, to destroying habitat of endangered species , to ignoring a building height in concord … They are simply above the law and they buy some politicians. Glad that three of ours weren’t bought.
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Seeno and its associated companies are the WORST developers/builders. Concord dhould not do ANY business with them. THEY WILL RENEG.
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Want proof? Go ask any engineering or city planner in Pittsburg and they’ll tell you straight up!
What about the traffic that will impact our neighborhood? I think they need to build a bypass before building 13,000 homes and commercial buildings. We already deal with too much traffic in our neighborhoods from Willow Pass, Concord Blvd, Landana, Farm Bureau, etc.
Agreed! If everyone thinks the traffic is bad on 680 and 242 now just wait until thousands more house are added to the area. Treat, Clayton Road and Ygnacio Valley will be stagnant during commute hours.
Great news! I used to like Edi for his Pulse of Concord and seeming concern for the improvement of our community. I was disappointed by his actions in this regard.
I vote for No Excuses to be on the advisory committee.
Still think they should move Buchanan airport out there. Near BART and could even bring in commuter planes like they tried to do with PSA a while back.
Who were te two that were bought off?
How about the council takes care of that part of the city they let go to hell since 1999. They haven’t done projects that have been approved for 10 or 15 years.
JOE,
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Almost 40 years ago my great-grandparents were forced to move from their Grant Street home of 60 years that they themselves had built so that Concord Center Tower II could be built, it was only last year that The Grant South was built where their home once stood. The last years of their lives were filled with constant pressure to move so that an empty lot could sit in downtown Concord for almost 40 years. This story is so typical of Concord.
Kinda glad that Seeno got tossed away. They build crappy houses anyway. Unfortunately, Seeno will figure out how to wiggle his way back in. Why not just turn the whole area into a park? Why does Concord want to keep building?
ROBERT E WARD,
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Seeno was “tossed” as Master Developer, but Seeno will be able to purchase parcels from the future Master Developer and develop them.
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The vast majority of Concord residents don’t want this land developed, but every incarnation of the Concord City Council has wanted this land developed, and is required as part of the reuse process. If this was voted on by Concord voters then nothing would be built. It’s time to pressure Congressman Mark DeSaulnier to get more of the land turned over to the National Park Service or get President Biden to declare the property a National Monument..
There is a way to potentially block Seeno from buying parcels. Concord Communities Alliance pointed out one clause in the term sheet that prevented the master developer from conveying land to vertical developers that have “been suspended, debarred, or prohibited from contracting with the City.” The group asked Council to expand this clause to include any developer that has been suspended, disbarred, or prohibited from contracting with any jurisdiction and to add a section to prevent conveying parcels to vertical developers with repeated history of environmental violations and litigations against municipalities. If done, that pretty much rules out Seeno companies.
Hope Johnson,
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That’s good to know, but I fear the Concord City Council won’t move forward with such a provision out of concern it would limit the number of viable construction companies able to build on the base. Our two pro-Seeno councilmembers would definitely fight such a provision, hopefully the other three councilmembers can be persuaded to adopt such a provision.
Thank you for your letter to the editor in the local newspaper.
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Your post about the conflicts of Councilmember Dominic Aliano in regards to his new job was excellent, it’s a shame it got lost on the “Talk About Politics” page.
I’m not saying what should be done with the site, but the fact is that it is worth way too much money to just leave it alone. The Navy is content to let Concord take the lead on development, but if the City can’t make something work, I’m sure someone in the Federal Government has a brother-in-law who could do a great job of making money there.
Just sayin’
COWELLIAN,
Would you be referring to Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s brother-in-law and his no-bid construction contracts at China Lake NAWS.
Black Knight
Not sure about that but it was made very clear in the beginning that either Concord develops it or the Navy would sell it to a developer and Concord would have ZERO say as to how it’s developed.
So no matter what the land will be developed
I was speaking in generalities, based on decades of observations. I’m sure an inquisitive person could find a whole lot more examples.
WELL FOLKS,
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That’s the information i was given by a congressional staffer, if they’re viable options may be in questionable, but if Washington wants to do something they can and will find a way.
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If the Navy were to sell this land at auction the City of Concord would still have a say as to what is built, maybe not as much of a say as with a Master Developer, but they’d still have a say. Concord is going through this process with the Las Vegas developers that purchased the USCG housing property on East Olivera Road at auction from the USCG/GSA. The City of Concord still has a say and is currently waiting for the LV developers to present a plan for what they want to do with the property.
Regardless of what is built, I think the tracks should remain and should be maintained.
Kids could ride little motorized buggies around the entire place – kind of like Autopia at DisneyLand.
Now that would be fun!
This is what I have in mind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2LHcsi_D5w
Nothing is settled. It just usual business. More wheels need to be greased.Proper payoffs change minds.
Best thing Concord City Council can do now is replace Guy Bjerke as resuse director. He took over for Michael Wright in late 2015 or early 2016, and the project has not proceeded properly since then. He is too entrenched in local politics and too closely aligned with city staff to handle selection of a master developer in an unbiased manner. At the very least, Concord should consider hiring a temp third-party expert to manage the selection process.
As long as Concord demands a large share of the housing on the base be “affordable” (subsidized housing projects) and that the project be built by union labor there is no way for anything to be built on the site. If anything is to be built on the site. If the city doesn’t change its ways two things will happen:
1. The Navy will get tired of waiting and auction off the land as the Coast Guard did
2. Concord will not be able to meet it’s state mandated housing production requirements (the RHNA requirements to be specific) and the city will lose control over its land use, giving developers the right to build essentially whatever they want.
At least no Seeno – for now
This a monster sized development. A long time ago I took a flight out of Mexico City, and there was development and houses stretching from horizon to horizon. Thats what they want here, and the “they” are those with social political agendas and/or bank accounts to fill. This will not reduce homelessness or housing prices in California but will greatly increase freeway and street congestion and richly reward developers.
Sadly I suspect you are mostly correct about the ultimate outcome. There’s no trickle down housing, just profit at the top. At least as far as I’ve seen. And it will be many years before anything is built on the property so talk of this project helping with current issues is ridiculous. Even if Seeno’s (or any developer’s) term sheet had been approved, city staff didn’t expect the final agreement to be signed for at least two years. Then a couple of years to finalize financing and start initial infrastructure.
More affordable housing is created in this country by filtering ( or trickle down as you put it ) than by building affordable housing deliberately. The problem is it takes something like a chain of six tenants moving kicked off by each luxury unit built. Also you dont have any guarantees the affordable units will become available in your municipality. I hope City Council gets some affordable units built in a high density transit oriented development near BART, but better to get something imperfect built than nothing.
https://research.upjohn.org/up_workingpapers/307/
If this is true, then why is there market rate housing sitting empty but no affordable housing being built? This has been going on for years so if the trickle down affordability premise is true, we should have more affordable housing now. After all, lots of market rate housing has been built. Lennar built only market rate housing at Mare Island and then bailed on the project. No affordable housing was built. It’s not a traditional demand/supply situation. When the market is down, developers do not just build less expensive housing – they stop building until the market can support the higher cost housing.
I think the vacancy rate is below 1.6% rental and 1.1% home ownership right now? Pretty sure we’re not building enough, and supply of housing is further affected by airbnb/vrbo conversions, people with unoccupied second homes, etc… What little we build locally is probably making housing more affordable in Pittsburg/Bay Point/Antioch before we see any effect here. I kind of wonder if the upcoming change to zoning will make a big difference.
https://darrellowens.substack.com/p/ca-cities-to-lose-all-zoning-powers
If true, then why is there market rate housing sitting empty but no affordable housing being built? Lots of market rate housing has been built. Lennar built only market rate housing at Mare Island and then bailed on the project. No affordable housing was built. It’s not a traditional demand/supply situation. When the market is down, developers do not just build less expensive housing – they stop building until the market can support the higher cost housing.
It wants to be a park. Like the Presidio.
Once and for all can we clarify what ( affordable housing )actually means is that the other taxpayers will pay for some of the other peoples bills…
I remember the time well. Had to leave California to save marriage. Naval Weapon’s Station had once been an option before closure. Even my Uncle had let him know about it. Think about how long ago that was.
Democrats were shutting down Bases/Alameda no it couldn’t be saved. Government paid to essentially give up your marriage or stay in California.
The City Council better start listening more to the citizens of Concord.It’s our money not the Councils.
Yesterday I heard that Steph Curry sent a letter objecting to high density – low income housing being built near his home in Atherton. He said it would jeopardize the privacy and safety of his family. No one – anywhere – wants this type of thing forced into their community. We do not want this massive project coming in and ruining our community and jeopardizing our safety either.
I cannot be the only one who thinks this, don’t develop it, I want to buy a bunker.
Who else wants a bunker? I can understand that I may not seem an ideal neighbor from my interactions here, but how cool would it be to live in a bunker?
Did they look at the traffic, power grid and water supply impact first before they start building more houses. I’m tired of getting my power shut off because the grid can’t keep up and the main causes are growth. They better. Rich Butler
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