By Tony Hicks –
The Concord City Council this week accepted a term sheet for the development of the former Naval Weapons Station from Brookfield Properties — a plan the developer would do in five phases spread over 40 years, with extensive community benefits and union involvement that critics said were lacking from the previous two master developers.
The 2,300-acre site will feature 12,200 homes, 6 million square feet of commercial space and 880 acres of green space.
The adjacent 2,600 acres to the east has been gifted to the East Bay Regional Park District for the new Thurgood Marshall Regional Park – Home of the Port Chicago 50.
The developer’s plan calls for 25% of the housing to be designated affordable for the area, a significant amount in the pricey East Bay.
“I like the idea that our good friends at Brookfield are sticking their neck into the business (of affordable housing),” said Concord Mayor Edi Birsan. “I think that’s great.”
The council’s initial exclusive negotiating agreement with Brookfield was also extended, giving the developer up to 48 months to negotiate with the U.S. Navy, which abandoned the base in 1999 and still owns the land, though it designated the city as the land’s reuse authority.
The higher density housing would be near state Highway 4 and most of the commercial development would be at the western end, near the North Concord BART station.
The plan also includes a restoration of Mount Diablo Creek, green buffers and trails between phases and lower density housing on the southern end of the land, where bunkers are now located.
The plan also commits to improvements to current infrastructure, such as a widening of Willow Pass Road.
Brookfield has already entered agreements with Contra Costa Building and Construction Trades Council and the Nor Cal Carpenters Union to do all the construction. This was a requirement of the city and a sticking point with first master builder Lennar FivePoint, with whom the city’s initial deal collapsed in March 2020.
The city’s agreement with Seeno-owned Concord First Partners fell apart in January 2023 when the 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.
Brookfield will also dedicate 4 acres of housing for unsheltered people, 10 acres to expand local food banks, and will contribute land for a future veteran’s hall.
Over the life of the 40-year agreement, Brookfield has also agreed to spend $100 million on local sports parks, $65 million toward a community center/library, and contribute 55 acres for schools. As master developer, Brookfield will receive $6 billion.
Once Brookfield has in deal in the place with the Navy — which still has to clean the site from years of industrial use — the developer has to come up with a specific plan and environmental reports.
25 comments
“…will contribute land for a future veteran’s hall”. Took care of everyone, but veterans, we’ll leave some space in case anyone might actually give a s**t somewhere down the line. 🇺🇸
Nothing would be better.
What exactly do they mean by saying they are dedicating “4 acres of housing for unsheltered people?” Are they building a homeless encampment in the middle of that development? 🤔
This was under Obama and the federal funds that come with it. Can you imagine how this is going to not only affect the new housing, but the surrounding neighborhoods.
I almost bought a home there last year right across the way, for a rental property. Boy did I get lucky…. With Concord’s rent control bs and now this. Phew.
I bought in the state we are moving to next year. Better laws too!
Don’t let the door hitcha on the way out. 😉
At the rate real estate investors are fleeing California, best just remove the door all together.
I can’t help but think that the City Council is singing “We’re in the money”.
Greedy money hungry developers.
Inept personal agenda politicians.
How many times will this same old scenario play out?
As long as the idiots of this city keeps voting in the same group that has destroyed this city. Cause and effect plain and simple
Then do something about it. Run for office. Explain to the people of Concord what they are voting for that you are “sick of” instead of just whining.
There’s still a good chance this will never happen.
Too many cooks,so to speak.
Why, why bring more homeless to the area. Other than that, at least they are going to widen the flipping roads with this one! But, this much housing for this area? This will still be a disaster.
OH, PLEASE,
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So far we only know that the 2-lane section of Willow Pass Road will be widened to 4-lanes, but there will also be several traffic lights and cross streets added to that section of roadway to slow down the traffic on the widened roadway. We’ve been given no information on any plans to widen other roadways in the area, including SR4, Port Chicago Highway, Olivera Road, East Olivera Road, Farm Bureau Road, the 4-lane section of Willow Pass Road (the other end of Willow Pass Road/Sunvalley Boulevard is 6 lanes), West Street, Concord Boulevard, Myrtle Drive, Bailey Road, or Kirker Pass Road/Ygnacio Valley Road, which will be necessary to move an additional population of up to 60,000 – 100,000 people living, working, and attending the college/university in the City of New Concord, depending on which estimates are used.
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Some of our current and past Concord City Councilmembers have claimed that traffic and parking issues won’t be a problem because the residents of the City of New Concord won’t leave the property because everything they’ll need and want in life will be found on the former CNWS property, they won’t own cars for travel because they’ll only be walking, biking, busing, and BARTing for their modes of travel. Current Concord Mayor Edi Birsan has claimed for years that self-driving cars and “smart” traffic lights will solve any and all traffic and parking problems on the former CNWS property. Concord City Councilmember Laura Hoffmeister has said numerous times over the past decade that we won’t need to worry about traffic and parking issues related to the development of the former CNWS property because we won’t be using cars as a mode of transportation, because we’ll instead be flying around in drones.
40 years to complete? What are they only have 10 people on the jobsite?
I’ll be long dead before this disaster gets going🤣
Thank god I will be in Idaho by the time this happens. This is Armageddon for the community here. Traffic, crime, pollution. It’s all coming. Leave it the way it is. The animals that live there now seem to have no voice in this at all.
There will be more cars on Hwy 4, adding to the gridlock that already exists.
12000 more houses = abut 50000 more people to the area, and then add in 4 acres dedicated to homeless (encampments). Great for tax purposes, bad for general public.
STOVE,
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A decade ago, the City of Concord estimated the population for the “City of New Concord” will be 28,000 people, the US Navy estimated the population to be 33,000 people, and Lennar, the first Master Developer, estimated the population to be 40,000 people. The “City of New Concord” was also estimated to have a daily jobs population of 27,000 people, and the college/university was estimated to have a daily population of up to 30,000 people. There is also the planned redevelopment of the former US Coast Guard housing villages on East Olivera Road and the redevelopment of the North Concord/Martinez BART Station, these two projects combined should add up to 1,200 more housing units to the area.
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While several apartment buildings have been built in downtown Concord, the redevelopment plan for downtown Concord includes enough apartment projects to house 22,000 people. This is a result of ABAG and the MTCs regional housing plan known as “Plan Bay Area,” also known as “One Bay Area,” which the Concord City Council signed onto. Downtown Concord will also see several hundred more housing units when the Downtown Concord BART Station is redeveloped.
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The 4 acres set aside for the homeless isn’t for a large homeless encampment, it’s for transitional housing for the homeless or previously homeless.
here we go again…
In the distant future it will be called West Pittsburg.
Not sure why people are getting their panties in a wad as this won’t happen in most of our lifetime
I said that we’ll be dead before anything takes place on this project….that was 10 years ago.
Soon Contra Costa County will build on every inch of land and traffic will become so bad you won’t even be able to move, drive or park! I can’t even imagine the traffic and parking once that preschool is open in The Orchards and those apartments across from CPD, the traffic on Galindo will be insane. Oh and supposedly chic fil a might go in at the old BofA at the corner of Citrus and Oak Grove. Traffic will be AWFUL if that plan goes through.
The Orchards shopping center has completely inadequate parking now. It does have a lot of nice drainage ditches throughout however.
It’s ironic they are installing a preschool right next to a brewery. But then again, it will give parents something to do while waiting to pick up their free range children.
hundreds of miles of rail lines, millions of tons of concrete, hundreds of unsued structures, and there is still a builinding that has a x-ray machine big enough to x-ray rail cars still standing there that all has to be demolished….this is all lip service from city hall
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