Sonoma County selects Village Partners as top bidder for Chanate Road property

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors today voted to select Village Partners, LLC as the high bidder to purchase the 71-acre Chanate Campus property, the former home of Sutter Hospital, for nearly $7.8 million. 

“I’m thrilled that the board is moving forward with this bid by Village Partners,” said Susan Gorin, Chair of the Board of Supervisors. “We believe that we have secured the best deal possible for Sonoma County taxpayers, and while our Board is only approving a land sale and not the development, we do hope to see this property used to address Sonoma County’s housing shortage.”

Village Partners, a Newport Beach-based real estate development company, offered $7,795,000 for the property as-is including all existing buildings and without entitlements, with a closing date of Dec. 31, 2020. The offer includes agreements pertaining to buildings and agencies that are still in use on the Chanate campus. These include:

• A leaseback of the Public Health Lab for two years at a cost of $1 per year
• A leaseback of the County Morgue and Coroner’s Office for three years at a cost of $1 per year
• A lease agreement concerning the Sloan House, a 22-bed shelter, which provides supportive services for women and children and is operated by the Community Action Partnership of Sonoma County. The agreement calls for a short-term lease of $1 per year with a promise to ultimately deed the land to CAP Sonoma for $1.
•  A temporary lease for the Bird Rescue Center of $1 per year for up to two years with the promise of contributing $50,000 toward the relocation of the center. 

The highest-and-best offer accepted today is lower than offers previously negotiated for potential development of the Chanate Campus but exceeds the County’s most recent appraisal value of $4 million. The agreement also involves only a land sale, which allows the County to avoid costs such as the demolition of aged and vacant buildings on the campus. The cost of demolition has been estimated to be as high at $9 million to $10 million. The County also avoids roughly $1.2 million in annual “carrying costs” including expenditures on maintenance of the vacant property and measures to prevent vandalism and potential fires at the former hospital site. This sale of surplus land also allows the County to receive payment this year rather than after development plans for the Chanate Campus are reviewed and approved by the City of Santa Rosa.

After the sale is completed, it will be the responsibility of Village Partners, LLC to work with the City of Santa Rosa to determine the number of houses, residential units, and other buildings or facilities that may be built on the property. 

The Chanate Campus in Santa Rosa has been home to a hospital since 1867. The county-owned facility, formerly known as Community Hospital, became affiliated with Sutter Health in 1996. Sutter moved to its new campus on Mark West Springs Road near Highway 101 in 2014.