California Forever offers Suisun City $1.5 million for some downtown properties
The Solano County land acquisition firm California Forever made an unsolicited offer to purchase up to $1.5 million worth of property owned by Suisun City in a formal letter to the city this week.
The offer from California Forever comes about a week ahead of talks between the city and the company on whether the city will annex land owned by the company, which initially planned on building a new city on some of the more than 65,000 acres in the southeast part of the county that it acquired since 2018.
The pitch, made in a letter Tuesday to the mayor, City Council and city manager, also included an offer to give a grant to the city for $55,000 to prevent the cancellation of community celebrations such as Fourth of July fireworks, a Sunday jazz concert series and other events that are at risk of elimination given the city's projected $1.3 million budget shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year.
The letter was sent by California Forever founder and CEO Jan Sramek, who wrote that the company was interested in acquiring the downtown block containing the Lawler House property at 718 Main St., the Suisun Harbor Theatre next to it, and a building at 701 Main St., across the street.
The city in 2023 put out requests for proposals to acquire and develop the Lawler House parcel. The house is a historic ranch house built in 1857 but was moved from its original site to the current site decades ago and has fallen into disrepair. An outside consultant appraised the property as worth $100,000 with the current structure, which needs to be torn down. The parcel was appraised for $150,000 if it was undeveloped.
Suisun City and the city of Rio Vista are both looking to annex land that California Forever has purchased on the borders of both cities. The two cities have signed a memorandum of understanding with each other on long-term planning and have independently engaged California Forever in talks about annexation of property that the company owns.
The company spent years buying up farmland before suddenly announcing a plan to incorporate a new city east of Travis Air Force Base. The company pulled its planned ballot measure in 2024 ahead of November's election that would have asked voters in Solano County to rezone part of the county to allow the city to be built.
The company was criticized by community groups and lawmakers for its secrecy. More recently, the company has pursued a shipbuilding facility in the unincorporated bayfront community of Collinsville.
Prior to annexation talks, California Forever's investors were still planning on developing a new city but agreed to complete an environmental impact report and development agreement with the county before putting a measure before voters.
Suisun City City Manager Bret Prebula said he approached the company in January with a proposal to incorporate much of their planned development area into the city limits of Suisun City. The company indicated it was interested in such a deal, and an agreement for the company to reimburse the city for staff time and other costs associated with the process is being drafted, along with details about the annexation plan.
Prebula said the agreement would likely include the city incorporating roughly 15,000 to 20,000 acres, including the area of the company's proposed East Solano Plan, but said those talks were still in the early stages. The land would be incorporated over 40 years, which Prebula said would lead to measured growth.
"If we grow by 10,000 people in 10 years, I'll be a happy camper," Prebula said.
He said it would take decades for the city to be anywhere near the population of nearby cities such as Fairfield and Vacaville.
Prebula said the properties the company approached the city about had all been up for sale and had long been vacant or in disrepair. He was unsure if the theater, Lawler House, or a brick building at 701 Main St., which previously had iterations as a bank and a restaurant, could be made useable.
Sramek said the company wanted to collaborate with Suisun City and its community to "design something wonderful" to "enhance the vibrancy of the downtown."
But he hedged on whether such development would actually materialize.
"We want to be upfront and clear that we cannot commit to constructing a downtown property on a standalone basis, as we do not yet know whether we can identify a project that meets the city's requirements, that the community is excited about, and that can be commercially built," he wrote.
"As you know, many of the cities in Solano County have been looking to redevelop lands in their downtowns, but generally it has been challenging for any such projects to be commercially viable," Sramek's letter said.
The City Council is scheduled to consider the annexation reimbursement agreement with the company at its next meeting on Tuesday. If finalized, the annexation process would begin in earnest and would probably take between 18-24 months before a plan is finalized for consideration by the county's Local Agency Formation Commission.
The company's offer to purchase the properties downtown will be considered sometime this fall.
