Bitter battle behind development dream
Official’s death, allegations of dirty deals cloud Concord plans
“The prospect of 12,000 housing units, 6 million feet of commercial, a campus for a potential college — there’s just a lot of ‘ there’ there.” Guy Bjerke, Concord’s director of community reuse planning
The city of Concord is about to choose a developer to build a sprawling, 2,200- acre community at a former naval weapons base that will be one of the largest mixed- use projects in Northern California.
But the moment is clouded by scandal involving allegations of backroom dealings and improper lobbying, plus the death of the former city attorney.
The focus is the inland section of the Concord Naval Weapons Station, a swath of land that stretches from the south side of Highway 4 to just south of Bailey Road. Once a bustling storage depot, it’s been empty since the Navy decommissioned the base in 1997. In the intervening years, the Navy worked to clean arsenic and other contaminants out of the soil, which was scarred by decades’ worth of heavy explosives. The area became a ghostly patch of wilderness, with cattle grazing among the ruins of boxcars and dilapidated bunkers.
Now the city wants to transform that land into a chic, transit- oriented township, lined with parks, greenways, bike paths, a vibrant shopping district, a golf course, hotels, several schools and about 12,000 homes, abutting 2,500 acres of land that will go to the East Bay Regional Park District to create one of the largest parks in the region.
The project, which has been
gestating since 2002, may take decades to complete. Yet it’s the kind of development that could change the face of Concord. And it’s expected to generate $ 6 billion for the master developer.
Two well- known firms — Lennar Urban and Catellus Development Corp. — are engaged in a bitter battle to win that contract. On April 5, the City Council will choose one of them to start the first phase, by developing a 500- acre section between the North Concord BART Station and Willow Pass Road.
“It’s just a tremendous opportunity,” said Guy Bjerke, Concord’s director of community reuse planning, describing the entire 2,200- acre project area. “The prospect of 12,000 housing units, 6 million feet of commercial, a campus for a potential college — there’s just a lot of ‘ there’ there.”
Differences between plans
Both plans call for a mix of affordable and market- rate housing, parks, shops and community centers. The most obvious difference, according to Bjerke, is that Catellus wants to start its development at the North Concord BART Station, weaving the new housing and retail into a commuter hub. Lennar, in contrast, wants to start building along Willow Pass Road.
Although there is no clear indication which way the council will lean, questions have been building for months about the selection process and about tactics that Lennar used in an effort to gain an edge over its competitor.
On Sept. 24, Catellus sent a letter to the city manager with a slew of explosive allegations: It said associates of Lennar had helped bankroll former Mayor Tim Grayson’s current run for state Assembly and that such an action amounted to a breach of a “no- lobbying” agreement that both companies signed with the city. It also said that former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, a principal at an investment firm connected to Lennar, lobbied the council on Lennar’s behalf. Brown is also a San Francisco Chronicle columnist.
Developer feels left out
Additionally, Catellus said city officials decided in an illegal closed- door meeting to ignore a city staff report that endorsed Catellus for the job.
Then- City Attorney Mark Coon declined to investigate these allegations when Catellus approached him in August, the letter said. He began probing the allegations as soon as the letter arrived, Bjerke said.
“At first we accepted the fact that he didn’t want to push the issue,” Catellus CEO Ted Antenucci said in an interview with The Chronicle. “But then we found out the staff recommendation for us was removed. Anyone in our shoes would have started asking questions.”
On Oct. 6, Coon jumped to his death from the the third floor of a Walnut Creek parking garage, according to Walnut Creek Police Lt. Lanny Edwards, who said that several witnesses saw him jump.
Coon left a note, said Edwards, who wouldn’t elaborate on what it said.
City officials have largely kept mum about the suicide, and Coon’s widow, June Bashant, declined to comment.
Coon’s unfinished investigation will never be released, Bjerke said. The selection process stalled for months as the city turned to an outside investigator for a probe into Catellus’ allegations.
In February, that investigator, lawyer Michael Jenkins of Los Angeles, concluded in his report that Lennar’s associates had inappropriately lobbied Grayson by funneling nearly $ 17,000 into his Assembly campaign. Jenkins also ruled that city officials had violated the Brown Act when they decided to suppress the city staff recommendation of Catellus. The council has since reinstated the staff recommendation.
Jenkins said that a series of private meetings between Grayson and Brown did not amount to lobbying. Grayson told the investigator he set up the meetings to seek advice for his Assembly bid, and that the two men never discussed the naval station development.
Giving public a say
Grayson returned the contributions, saying they were made without his knowledge, and the councilman recused himself from the April 5 vote to restore the public’s trust. Councilman Ron Leone also recused himself from the vote because he lives within 500 feet of the project and could potentially benefit from its raising his home value.
Kofi Bonner, president of Lennar Urban, took issue with Jenkins’ findings in a Feb. 20 letter to Concord city officials. “Lennar did not violate its agreement with the city,” he wrote, insisting that campaign contributions don’t count as lobbying.
The council voted on Feb. 23 to keep both developers in the running.
“Having two, you have a competition,” said Concord Mayor Laura Hoffmeister. “You have an opportunity to get the best reuse plan, higher innovation, higher ideas.”
Hoffmeister stressed that she also wants to ensure that members of the public get to see the companies’ term sheets and weigh in on April 5.
Lennar and Catellus have long vied for redevelopment projects in the Bay Area, but over the past two decades Lennar has emerged as the dominant firm, clinching deals for San Francisco’s Treasure Island, Vallejo’s decommissioned Mare Island Naval Station, Candlestick Point and the Hunters Point Shipyard — a project it got while Brown was mayor of San Francisco.
“I wouldn’t say we’re longtime rivals,” Lennar spokesman David Satterfield said in an email to The Chronicle. “But we have competed on some deals, and are certainly competing in Concord.”
Given the scale and importance of the naval base project, Concord took pains to set up an impartial selection process, Bjerke said. Both Lennar and Catellus were required to deposit $ 250,000 with the city and sign the agreement that barred them from lobbying any council members.
In February, the council amended that agreement to include campaign contributions within its definition of lobbying.
With two council members now recusing themselves from the vote, only three people will decide the fate of a project that could reshape the region.