NORTH BAY DESTINATIONS | ROHNERT PARK
credited as the “Father of Rohnert Park.” “I’m happy that we’ll finally have a thriving, transit-oriented development with new restaurants and retail shops in the heart of Rohnert Park,” Callinan says. The newest member of the city council echoes his sentiment. “It’s beyond exciting to participate in the delivery of Rohnert Park’s community hub that is decades overdue,” says Emily Sanborn, who was elected to the council in 2022. The council considered a number of developers for the job, but Sanborn says they settled on CenterCal Properties because of its unique portfolio, among other things. “While most developers have experience building housing, CenterCal also has extensive experience in retail development,” the councilmember told NorthBay biz in an email. CenterCal’s development portfolio matched the shopping list of wants and needs the council received from Rohnert Park residents and Sonoma State University students via community feedback surveys, Sanborn says. The list included food and beverage establishments, retail stores and beautiful gathering spaces, she says. Additionally, the councilmember says that CenterCal sites have what she described as a cohesive and positive vibe with attention paid to details. The team the council worked with was receptive to their ideas and did a good job on projects similar to the proposed Rohnert Park downtown, Sanborn says. Though Sanborn didn’t mention a specific shopping center, CenterCal’s portfolio includes Emeryville’s Bay Street, a three-block stretch of the East Bay city remodeled as a walkable shopping, dining and community gathering place in 2022. City Councilmember Jackie Elward says from what she’s seen of CenterCal's work, she’s “excited to see it replicated here.” Elward envisions the downtown eventually hosting such popular community events as the farmers market, as well as Fourth of July, Halloween and Christmas-lighting celebrations. “[It will be] a place where
The City of Rohnert Park purchased the site formerly occupied by a State Farm building for $12.5 million in 2022.
people can come to create forever memories.” A clean slate
The benefit of building a downtown from the ground up is that it affords the developer greater flexibility in how they apply their creative expertise within the parameters of form-based code, Sanborn says. Another benefit, according to City Manager Marcela Piedra: “We have a clean slate. It’s like an empty canvas we can fill in.” Piedra adds, “We’re in a unique situation in that we can learn what works well from other cities that have established downtowns and put that to use.”
Rohnert Park 2025
NorthBaybiz 13
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