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BUILDING THE NORTH BAY
Major Projects Spread Across North Bay
GREEN MUSIC CENTER, MARIN OFFICES, NAPA HOTEL AMONG LARGEST
Monday, May 19, 2008
BY JEFF QUACKENBUSH
STAFF REPORTER
NORTH BAY – Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of projects are under construction in the North Bay right now.
In Rohnert Park, the first of the four buildings at the Don and Maureen Green Music Center project at Sonoma State University is set to open this summer, and work on the rest of the estimated $110 million project is about 60 percent complete, according to a spokeswoman.
Though it seems like the project has been a long time coming, including stops and starts with construction cost and funding, it’s relatively right on time, said Susan Kashack, associate vice president of communications and marketing.
About $90 million has been raised, half through state bonds and half through donations, including a recent matching grant of up to $2.5 million. From vision to completion, major concert halls take an average of 12 years, Ms. Kashack noted.
“We’re on year 11,” she said.
The exteriors of all four buildings are mostly finished, including doors, windows and paint. However, the interior of the hospitality center won’t be done until fall of next year, and the concert hall and Schroeder Hall won’t be ready until 2010.
Yet the offices and classrooms in the Music Education Hall are on target for faculty to relocate there in early summer and classes to start in August.
Meanwhile, Agilent Technologies is about half done with its $50 million seismic upgrade and renovation of its four-building campus in the Fountaingrove area of northeast Santa Rosa, according to spokesman Jeff Weber. The project also includes the installation of a 1-megawatt solar electricity array that doubles as a carport for part of one of the parking lots.
Work on the first two buildings is nearly complete, and upgrades are starting on the other two. Installation of the photovoltaic array started in February. The whole project, which started in November 2006, is set for completion in April 2009.
Literally across the street from the Agilent project is the newly opened 29-acre Varenna at Fountaingrove community. The 162-unit property was developed by Washington-based AegisLiving and Oakmont Senior Living, a Santa Rosa-based company that built the Oakmont community in east Santa Rosa and 30-plus others.
In addition to the public works projects under way in downtown Napa, three major projects under construction are the Westin Verasa condominium hotel and mixed-use projects The Riverfront and Napa Square.
Near the Copia wine center and the Oxbow Public Market, The Westin Verasa Napa Residences at 1314 McKinstry St. has reached about 85 percent completion since work started in January 2007, according to a spokeswoman for developers Intrawest Napa and Playground Properties.
Forty-eight suites in the four-diamond-rated facility still are available for sale, with prices ranging from nearly $500,000 to almost $1.2 million, according to Nadine Campbell.
The project includes 233 underground parking spaces, a 3,700-square-foot restaurant, 17,000 square feet of meeting space, a pool, bocce courts, courtyards and gardens on the 4.6-acre site.
In March, Ken Frank, chef and owner of the La Toque restaurant in Rutherford, announced plans to relocate his business to the Westin Verasa when it opens, which is slated for this fall.
Along the west bank of the Napa River just south of the Third Street bridge, Channel Properties is about 40 percent done with The Riverfront project, according to Asset Manager Mark Funseth. Estimated to cost $46 million at completion in January, the project will have 44,000 square feet of retail space, 30,000 square feet of office space, 50 residential condos and underground parking for 260.
In the heart of the downtown area, crews are finishing the exterior of Napa Square, and the roof is set to be on by the end of May, according to a member of developer Napa Square Associates. The project, located at 955 Franklin St., will have 69,000 square feet of office space and 15,000 square feet of street-level shops and a restaurant.
Tenant improvements are set to start in the next month or two for US Advisor, MK2 Engineering, CDI Development and Realty and a handful of tenants set to be announced shortly, said Rodger Heggelund, managing partner of CDI. MK2 has been designing the building, also set for completion in January, to qualify for certification under the silver level of the stringent U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy Efficient Design rating system.
Another project under construction aiming for a silver-level LEED rating is the $100 million second phase of San Rafael Corporate Center in central San Rafael. Seagate Properties acquired the property mid last year and is finishing the office complex, which currently has two class A buildings with 155,000 square feet. The addition has three more class A buildings with 244,000 square feet plus two parking garages. It is set to be available for occupancy late next year.
Major North Bay construction projects in the offing are the resort expansion of River Rock Casino near Geyserville, the Saggio Hills golf resort community in Healdsburg, regional shopping malls in Petaluma and Ukiah and 400,000 to 650,000-square-foot wine warehouses in southern Napa Valley.
Winery projects range from boutique facilities to major expansions
NORTH BAY – A number of winery projects ranging from boutique operations to expansive wine warehouses to capacity upgrades are being worked on or planned around the North Coast.
A number of wineries are outgrowing custom-crush facilities and building their own wineries, including DuMol from Copain plus McPhail and Trione from Owl Ridge.
Though Constellation Wines U.S. is completing a winery in Sonoma for Ravenswood with capacity to crush 7,000 tons of grapes a year, the New York-based company mainly is focusing on upgrades to its local wineries that increase winemaking efficiency and allow for crafting small-lot luxury-tier brands, according to Greg Fowler, senior vice president for winery operations in the North Coast.
For example, modernization is under way at the century-old Simi winery in Healdsburg, including installation of a biodigester to convert grape crush waste solids to electricity and gentler crushing equipment to reduce the quantity of wastewater solids that need to be treated.
At Clos Du Bois in Geyserville, the five-year plan to double annual production to 3 million cases is progressing. The wastewater treatment pond expansion is mostly done, and more tanks and presses are planned, allowing for year-round use of the existing biodigester.
Santa Rosa-based general contractor Jim Murphy & Associates, which focuses on commercial and custom-home projects, said that the amount of winery work available, particularly for smaller wineries, has increased.
Koch Construction, a Santa Rosa-based commercial general contractors for which wine work is a majority of its $13 million-plus in revenue, has noticed more storage-related winery projects such as a recently completed barrel warehouse for Rodney Strong Vineyards near Healdsburg. However, steel prices for metal buildings have increased more than 35 percent this year, adding to project cost, according to Dave Koch.
Such costs have vintners considering alternative materials such as lumber, which has decreased in price, according to Craig Nordby of Nordby Construction, which has wine-cave and custom-home divisions. Tasting rooms can be designed to use lumber, although it is less-frequently used in wine storage or production facilities.
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