Concord City Council Meeting Saturday To Select New Naval Weapons Station Master Developer

CONCORD (BCN) -- The Concord City Council is holding a special meeting Saturday morning to consider the selection of a new master developer for the former Concord Naval Weapons Station, a redevelopment project that has been mired in delays and controversies for years.

The base that began during World War II closed in 2005, and the project would include thousands of new housing units, millions of square feet of commercial space and a new regional park.

The city in 2016 selected Lennar Five Point as the developer in a process delayed in part by accusations of improper lobbying that led former Mayor and now state Assemblyman Tim Grayson to recuse himself from the vote.

However, the company pulled out of the project in March 2020 when its exclusive negotiating agreement expired and negotiations with local labor unions failed.

The three applicants now vying to be selected for the project are Brookfield Properties, City Ventures, and Discovery/Seeno Companies/Lewis Group of Companies/California Capital & Investment Group.

At Saturday's 9 a.m. meeting, each applicant will make a presentation to the City Council and answer questions from councilmembers, who are then expected to select the new master developer.

City officials say the new master developer will then work with the city to negotiate the terms of the transfer of the property from the Navy and to prepare a specific plan and environmental impact report for the project by early 2022.

The meeting will take place virtually and will be streamed on Comcast channel 28, Wave channel 29, U-verse channel 99 and on Zoom at https://cityofconcord.zoom.us/j/96518953519?pwd=NmU4Z3hpby9BTGlINExQbThnK2o1QT09.

More information about the project can be found at http://www.concordreuseproject.org/.

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