Concord axes developers behind Naval Weapons station project

It’s back to the drawing board for the Bay Area’s largest housing development.

The City of Concord has killed a $6 billion plan to build nearly 16,000 homes on the former Concord Naval Weapons Station because of a family dispute involving a major developer, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

After months of deliberation, Concord City Council voted 3-2 to cut ties with Concord First Partners, a team of three developers selected in 2021 to construct the mixed-use project.

The city decided to sever negotiations regarding a term sheet, or draft of a contract, to develop the 2,275-acre site with homes, schools, parks and commercial and retail centers on Concord’s north side over the next 40 years.

Without an approved term sheet, Concord First Partners’ negotiating rights with the city will expire Tuesday, Jan. 31. Further negotiations, said a council majority led by Mayor Laura Hoffmeister, “would be pointless.”

Concord First included Discovery Builders, a Contra Costa County-based developer led by the controversial Seeno family; Upland-based Lewis Group of Companies; and Oakland developer Phil Tagami’s California Capital & Investment Group.

The project to redevelop the former U.S. Navy yard, in the works for 20 years, has faced numerous hurdles. In 2020, Concord ended talks with Lennar over a project labor agreement.

Six months ago, the consortium led by the Contra Costa County-based Seeno family had said a proposal to build 13,000 units in the East Bay city wouldn’t pencil out.

Then Concord and the developers agreed on a plan for 15,595 homes and expected it to pass on Jan. 7.

A few days later, the city hit pause on the project’s term sheet after the East Bay Times outlined a legal feud between Albert Seeno III and his father, Albert Seeno Jr., over control of the family’s building empire.

In multiple lawsuits, Albert Seeno Jr., 78, accused his son of erratic behavior, improper spending and trying to shut his father and uncle out of their own companies. In a letter for public comment, Seeno III denied the allegations.

More than 100 written comments were submitted to the council, many from residents urging the city to drop the Seeno III-led Discovery Builders, which has taken fire for its history of environmental and other legal violations.

Before City Council’s vote on Jan. 28, Seeno III asked the council not to drag out its decision.

“We’ve worked our buns to the grindstone,” Seeno told the council. “And if you don’t want us here, if there’s maybe somebody or another group that’s waiting in the wings, you got to have the respect for us. We love the city, you got to love us and let us go.”

But the council majority were undeterred, expressing concern about how the family litigation would impact the developer’s financial capability. The mayor questioned why the team did not disclose the lawsuits to the city as they were filed.

“Where’s the integrity, where’s the information to let us know? We had to read about it in the newspapers. That’s not what I’m looking for in a partnership arrangement,” Hoffmeister said.

— Dana Bartholomew