ONE OF TWO DEVELOPERS that answered the Concord City Council’s call for a master developer for the former Concord Naval Weapons Station project has dropped out of the running.
Housing America Partners contacted the city last week to say, “Respecting the time and energy needed to go over applications by the City Council of Concord, Housing America Partners respectfully withdraws and retracts our Request for Qualifications application for the Concord Naval Base project, submitted on July 14, 2023.”
The city said in a staff report that Housing America Partners didn’t return a complete state of qualifications, which “makes it extremely difficult to determine their ability to serve as Master Developer.” The city then revoked its invitation for Housing America Partners to participate in the process.
That leaves Brookfield Partners as the only candidate for the council to consider at a special meeting at 9 a.m. Saturday at the City Council chambers at City Hall, at which the developer will present its cases.
Third attempt
The council, which doesn’t have to make a selection Saturday, is trying for the third time to hire a master developer for the 5,046-acre site. About half of the total site will become a new park in the East Bay Regional Park District named Thurgood Marshall Regional Park – Home of the Port Chicago 50.
The city’s deal with Lennar FivePoint collapsed in March 2020 when Lennar couldn’t reach agreements with local labor unions, which was one of the city’s conditions.
The city’s agreement with Seeno-owned Concord First Partners was scuttled this January when the City Council rejected CFP’s term sheet after community members widely criticized CFP’s requests to amend the agreement, giving them early property rights and reimbursement of costs should the deal fall through.
The city is requiring its developer to have an executed project labor agreement with Contra Costa County’s Construction and Building Trades Council and be willing to make it available to the public.
The City Council also wants the developer to be familiar with the process of cleaning up contamination and wants respondents to adequately address terms and community benefits.
Development of the site has been the city’s biggest issue since the Navy abandoned it in 1999. The city wants to develop the available 2,300 acres into 13,000 units of housing and millions of square feet of commercial space.
The council meets at 9 a.m. Saturday in the council chambers at City Hall, 1950 Parkside Drive in Concord. The meeting can be seen on Zoom at https://bit.ly/3P32MEv.