Concord to consider proposals from 2 developers for Naval Weapons Station site
CONCORD – Concord will again try hiring a developer to develop the former Concord Naval Weapons Station.
The city council will hold a special meeting at 9 a.m. Saturday to interview, evaluate and select one of two developers who answered the city's request for new developers, sent out in May.
Brookfield Partners and Housing America Partners responded with statements of qualifications and will present their cases to the council Saturday.
If the council makes a selection—and it doesn't have to—it would be the third time it has hired a master developer for the 5,046-acre site. About half of the total site will become a new East Bay Regional Park, Thurgood Marshall Regional Park, Home of the Port Chicago 50.
The city's deal with Lennar Five Point 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 in January when the council rejected CFP's term sheet, after community criticism over CFP's requests to amend the agreement to give them early property rights and reimbursement of costs should the deal fall through.
The latest request for proposal included an executed project labor agreement with Contra Costa County's Construction and Building Trades union, with the developer and be willing to make it available to the public.
Another question the council said it needed answers from potential developers was about its familiarity with the process of cleaning up contamination.
The council also asked respondents to provide comments regarding terms and community benefits on the previous draft term sheet the city gave CFP.
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 Concord City Council meets at 9 a.m. Saturday in the council chambers at city hall, 1950 Parkside Drive in Concord. The meeting can be soon on Zoom at https://bit.ly/3P32MEv.
