San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Unique property on block
Christopher and Aria Alpert Adjani spent six years trying to figure out what to do with about 20 acres outside Healdsburg.
They originally planned to build a home, but that never materialized. Instead they put their time, and money, into building elaborate gardens and later, two modern commercial buildings. They dubbed it Noci Sonoma and for a while sold memberships in their “edible garden adventure club.” “We had many incarna
tions,” said Aria, a former actress who, like Chris, a former web designer, was new to the area when they arrived in 2014. They hailed from Los Angeles and New York previously.
Now, after two wildfires and a pandemic, the business is closed and they’re auctioning the Sonoma County property, which comes with approved plans for a 4,500squarefoot home, as Noci Healdsburg.
The owners say they have $8.5 million invested in the property at 2836 Dry Creek Road, but it’s selling with no “reserve” or minimum price. The twoday auction will end at 7 p.m. July 31.
The land was vacant when the Adjanis bought it for $2 million in 2014. They spent the first year cleaning up “trash, metal, old vineyard stuff,” Aria said. “We planted a little garden, started to put trees up.”
The home they envisioned got put on hold — instead, the Adjanis bought a house in Healdsburg — but the gardens grew, and grew. The couple put in irrigation, a pond, lawns, water features, pathways and hundreds of fruit and shade trees. They put up a farm stand and began selling organic produce, herbs and flowers grown on the property.
“We just started developing it. Not knowing what Dry Creek Valley really was when we got it, we saw a business opportunity,” Aria said.
In 2016, they started selling garden club memberships that let guests, mostly locals and people coming up from the city to their vacation homes, access the property to pick fruits and veggies and have picnics or barbecues. “I was making familystyle dinners twice a month as part of the membership,” Aria says.
“We got a lot of press, word of mouth, people were doing stories on us, we were living the farmtotable lifestyle,” she added. WilliamsSonoma featured the fledgling farmstead in a big spread in its fall 2017 catalog.
Noci’s slick, magazinestyle website features photos and missives by Chris about his wife, two kids and life on the farm. One entitled “It Is All Just an Experiment” summed up their approach to business.
“We threw out an idea to see where it landed, I guess,” Aria said.
In 2017 they shut down the garden club to focus on building two glassandsteel commercial buildings at the front of the property. One would sell flowers, jam and other products from the farm. The other would be a lounge.
They planned to begin selling $450amonth memberships in 2018, but never did, partly because of disruptions caused by the 2017 and 2018 wildfires.
“Last summer when we slowly opened our front buildings — they are very modern, black, they definitely stand out in the valley — people walked in assuming it would be fancier,” Aria said. “I was doing tours with people in the summer. They said, ‘Can I have an assistant gardener follow me around and pick things?’ Nobody really wanted to get their hands dirty,” she said of the newcomers.
Noci partnered with H2 Hotel in Sonoma to offer guests a garden tour and boxed lunch and began exploring other hospitality partnerships.
That came to a halt when the county cited them for holding an unpermitted event. They also were cited for an unpermitted greenhouse and signage. All violations have been brought into compliance except for one related to a biocontainment pond, according to the county.
When the pandemic hit this year, and the Adjanis started thinking of ways to run a socially distanced business, they decided to call it quits and sell the place.
Because “it’s such a unique property” with “endless possibilities,” they hired Concierge Auctions, which has highend buyers worldwide, Aria said. They also hired Bay Area Realtors Gregg Lynn and Sheri Morgensen, both of Sotheby’s International Realty, as their listing agent.
“Our process appeals to sellers who own oneofakind properties that are difficult to value and also sellers who … would rather take control of the date the property is going to sell,” said Laura Brady, founder and CEO of the New York City auction house.
Often, properties get auctioned after they’ve been lingering on the market. In those cases, they usually sell for less than the listing price. “Properties that haven’t been previously listed, and new construction, usually generate the most interest and competition,” Brady said.
“If it’s fresh merchandise — never been listed before or new construction,” like the Noci property, it’s harder to predict, Brady said.
Concierge auctions highend properties, with an average price of $5 million. In August, it’s auctioning another Sonoma County spread, 18730 Canyon Road, that was previously listed for $18 million; and Chateau Ridge, an estate in Greenwich, Conn., owned by the widow of shoe designer Vince Camuto of Nine West fame. It was recently priced at $26.5 million.
Buyers can tour and inspect properties before the auction and read disclosures on the Concierge website. To bid, they must register on the website, put up a $100,000 deposit (refunded if they’re not the winning bidder) and provide proof of funds up to the amount they plan to bid. There is no loan or other contingencies.
The Adjanis will pay Sotheby’s the regular sales commission. The buyer will pay Concierge 12% of the winning bid, but buyers can get a discount if they place a “starting bid” when they register, Brady said. In that case, they pay only 6% on the amount of the starting bid and 12% on the remaining amount. The highest of the early bids becomes the opening bid when the auction starts.
As for the Adjanis, they’re not sure what comes next. “I think we need a break,” Aria says.
“I was doing tours with people in the summer. They said, ‘Can I have an assistant gardener follow me around and pick things?’ Nobody really wanted to get their hands dirty.”
Aria Alpert Adjani, on reactions to the “edible garden adventure club”