Search is on for new master developer

Council staged a study session after cutting ties with team developing Naval Weapons Station

The largest development project in the Bay Area needs a new master developer — again.

Concord City Council members this week discussed next steps in finding a new team to develop the Naval Weapons Station, a massive project 20 years in the making and that is expected to take four decades to complete.

The new suitor will be Concord's third in less than three years. In late January, the council voted 3-2 to cut ties with Concord First Partners following revelations of internal strife and legal battles within the Seeno family, troubles first reported by this news organization.

Council members said they had lost faith and trust in the Seenos, a powerful family that operates an East Bay building empire. The family's Discovery Builders Inc. led the Concord First Partners consortium, along with Lewis Management and Oakland developer Phil Tagami's California Capital & Investment Group.

Abandoned by the Navy in the late 1990s, the 5,200-acre weapons station officially closed in 2005. Development plans for a 2,300-acre portion of the land have called for building thousands of homes, millions of square feet of commercial space and retail centers, parks and open space. and schools to accommodate what is essentially a miniature city on Concord's north side.

Concord officials have returned to the drawing board and, after the last deal went sour, are taking more precautions. A council study session this week began drafting a questionnaire to help narrow down the field of prospective developers. The City Council is expected to approve recommended questions by the end of April.

After reviewing submitted questionnaires, the city's next step would be to invite chosen developers to submit proposals.

During the last search, there was a focus on whether developers had a willingness to negotiate with local labor groups. This time around, one key item all council members agreed on was requiring its next master developer to disclose litigation against it on a rolling basis.

Guy Bjerke, director of economic development and base reuse for Concord, told councilmembers that a handful of developers already have expressed interest, including Irvine-based City Ventures, New York-based Brookefield Properties and Australia-based Lendlease.