Suisun City has completed the first phase of a downtown property sale to California Forever, transferring ownership of 701 Main Street and two downtown parking lots to the group backed by tech billionaire money that is also proposing a new city in Solano County.
The sale marks a step in the city’s plans to revitalize downtown Suisun City.
The two parking lots will remain open for public use, according to the city. Under the agreement, officials say the city will lease the lots from California Forever for $1 per year and continue to maintain and operate them.
City Manager Bret Perbula said the completed sale reinforces California Forever’s commitment to Suisun City.
“Closing of this is really important because it solidifies kind of their commitment to us as a community, and I am excited to see them engage with the community now even more and the businesses downtown on, ultimately what’s going to be built and developed there as we finish out the last two, official sales.,” said Perbula.
Perbula says the properties are expected to be developed as mixed-use sites, with active business and commercial space on the ground floor and market-rate residential units above.
The downtown infill project is separate from California Forever’s larger proposal to build a new city in Solano County, which is currently in the environmental phase.
Perbula said the city wanted California Forever’s commitment to downtown development to remain separate from the expansion proposal.
“They wanted the infill to be the commitment separate and not connected to the expansion so they could show the dedication of the community, regardless of how the timing and play of the expansion happens. And, that’s a commitment we asked them to do. I want to be clear, we wanted them to invest somewhere in our community separate from the process itself of expansion,” said Perbula.
A portion of the larger proposal has faced a recent setback. Solano County supervisors voted 3-2 last week against legislation that would have put a proposed shipyard facility on the fast track. County officials called it a delay and hope to revisit it next year.
Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized that decision again Monday night.
“I didn’t understand that Board of Supervisor’s vote at all. Made no damn sense. What’s their economic plan? What’s their economic strategy?,” said Gov. Newsom.
In Suisun City, the downtown property transaction is moving forward. Perbula said two remaining properties are expected to be sold to California Forever in the coming months.
The city plans to begin negotiating a development agreement after the remaining sales. The agreement would establish what California Forever will build.
“The development agreement is where we solidify, the timeline where they are responsible for as far as redeveloping the parcels. The timeline the city, we are responsible for,” Perbula said. “Those will have penalties if they don’t meet what they are supposed to do,” he said.
Perbula said the development agreement could take six to 12 months to negotiate and could be completed around mid-to-late 2027.
The city manager said California Forever has met the city’s expectations so far.
“The city has been working with them on expansion for over a year and this in-fill conversation for almost the same amount of time to get to this place, they have met every expectations that we as a city have put up to them.”
The city expects to release the environmental impact report for California Forever’s larger expansion proposal later this year. Perbula said he expects the City Council could consider approving or denying that project in early 2027, depending on the environmental review and public comments.
“My guess is early 2027, is when city council will be sitting down to decide approval or denial of the project,” said Perbula.
Perbula characterized the first wave of downtown property sales as being above market rate and said the properties sold for roughly 60% to 65% of their appraised value.
“People sometimes say, how can you sell these properties for a million dollars, million two when they are downtown. The project that is going to go on them is probably anywhere between $40-$60 million. It is a lot of money that has to be poured into these things.”
The city’s news release also identified several other downtown and waterfront projects moving forward, including the Theatre and Lawler House, the Awanta Waterfront Project, the Almond Garden and Lotz Way developments, and projects involving Marina property, Parcel 13 and Lionext Inc. waterfront properties.
The city says it continues to market its 34-acre downtown parcel.
California Forever did not respond to a request for comment.
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