SoCal developer flips 45 acres eyed for mixed-use in Livermore

SunCal gets $74 million two weeks after paying $45M

David Schwartzman, CEO, Harridge Development Group, in front of a rendering of the project site at Portola and Isabel avenues in Livermore (Harridge Development Group, City of Livermore, iStock)
David Schwartzman, CEO, Harridge Development Group, in front of a rendering of the project site at Portola and Isabel avenues in Livermore (Harridge Development Group, City of Livermore, iStock)

The site of a proposed mixed-use project in north Livermore has traded between two Southern California developers for $74 million – nearly $29 million more than the price paid two weeks earlier.

An affiliate of Irvine-based SunCal and its equity partner MSD Capital flipped a 45-acre parcel at the southwest corner of Portola and Isabel avenues to Los Angeles-based Harridge Development Group, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

The March 15 sale came two weeks after SunCal and MSD Capital bought the property from Sacramento-based Sutter Health for $45.25 million. The health care network paid $39.5 million for the site in 2008.

Livermore had been negotiating with SunCal for a development agreement for the 45-acre parcel, slated to be the center of an approved plan to develop 1,138 acres with nearly 4,100 apartments and up to 2.1 million square feet of new office and retail space.

The Isabel Neighborhood Specific Plan, approved by the Tri-Valley city on the east edge of the Bay Area in November 2020, would make up nearly 7 percent of Livermore.

The plan designates the parcel acquired by Harridge north of the I-580 as the densest, most jobs- and housing-rich part of the area, Livermore’s Innovation and Economic Development Director Brandon Cardwell said, with access to a planned Valley Link rail project that would provide a connection to the entire region.

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No development agreement had been made, nor have any entitlements been approved for the site.

SunCal, which did not inform Livermore leaders why it sold the property, declined to respond to a request for comment by Business Times.

A spokesperson for Harridge Development, based in Beverly Grove, said the company was excited to work with Livermore on bringing much needed housing and retail to the area. The company, a major developer in the L.A. region, is now seeking other projects in Northern California.

In February, a judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by environmental groups trying to block SunCal’s plans to bring 1,425 housing units and over 400,000 square feet of commercial space to 193 acres of Richmond’s northern shore.

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