Construction: Cloverdale set for $40 million project

<p>MLB Homes of Sebastopol and Urban Housing Communities of San Diego are aiming to break ground in spring 2009 on a $40 million retail, hotel, office and housing project in central Cloverdale, according to MLB President Mike Bianucci.</p><p>If construction gets under way as planned after design review, the retail and apartments could open by mid-2010.</p><p>Called Thyme Square, the 6.75-acre project is approved for a 37,000-square-foot G&G Supermarket store – the Sonoma County chain’s third – and 31,000 square feet of commercial space, including 5,000 square feet of retail space.</p><p>The retail component could accommodate a sizable tenant to complement G&G, but retailer interest has been for smaller stores, according to Mr. Bianucci.</p><p>“We have strong interest from a variety of retailers such as coffee, restaurants, pizza take-and-bake places, dry cleaners and bike shops,” he said.</p><p>The lodging will be a boutique hotel with 14 to 16 two-bedroom suites of about 900 square feet, each above the retail and office space.</p><p>MLB will undertake a feasibility study for the lodging before settling on decor, but the target is the wine country tourist looking to stay three to seven days at $300 or more a night. The site, located just south of the Citrus Fairgrounds, is close to a swim center and the downtown commercial area, which has been undergoing a transformation. “There is a growing need for this type of extended-stay lodging,” Mr. Bianucci said.</p><p>Urban Communities will be building the $15 million, 45-unit apartment component of the project.</p><p>***</p><p>The state budget has been stalled and home sales are slow, but at least homebuilders statewide won’t have to fork out development fees up front and risk buyer cancellations, thanks to the governor’s signing of Assembly Bill 2604 on Aug. 1. Effective Jan. 1, 2009, local agencies will be able to defer collection of impact fees until homes are sold. Development fees for schools are exempt.</p><p>More than 50 cities and counties statewide have deferred fee collection until the final inspection or certificate of occupancy, according to the legislative analyst.</p><p>***</p><p>The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has committed another $900,000 toward the flood control project through central Napa, according to Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena.</p><p>Local officials are pushing for at least $15 million a year to keep the project flowing to control Napa River and Napa Creek. A major flood in downtown Napa as 2006 was dawning caused $115 million in damage to 1,200 homes and 250 businesses.</p><p>This new money would be combined with $11 million in a House energy and water appropriations bill awaiting a vote by the full body to start an estimated $45 million in work on containing Napa Creek. Initial bids on that project are set to be awarded later this month.</p><p>***</p><p>Kelseyville Lumber and Supply Co. Inc. in Lake County obtained $9.5 million in 25-year construction financing to build a regional lumber yard and commercial service center on 17 acres.</p><p>Phase 1 of the project includes an 80,000-square-foot main building, and zoning allows for two more buildings.</p><p>“We firmly believe it is prudent to expand our services during the tough times to be well-positioned to help our customers when our state’s economy returns to a healthy, growing cycle again,” said owner Mark Borghesani.</p><p>Gregg Financial Services of San Anselmo helped Kelseyville Lumber secure the financing.</p><p>***</p><p>Thompson Dorfman Talbott Ventures LLC, a 9-year-old Mill Valley-based real estate development and investment company, acquired a 46-year-old, 68-unit apartment complex in Hayward for $7.1 million, financed by Mesa West Capital of Los Angeles. This is Dorfman’s second East Bay acquisition.</p><p>***</p><p>Brokaw Consulting Electrical Engineers Inc. principals Fred Brokaw of Rohnert Park and Mike Burke of Santa Rosa brought on Courtney Beavers, P.E., as a partner and electrical engineer. A U.C. Santa Barbara graduate, she has engineering, design and project management experience in commercial, school, civic and industrial projects.</p><p>***</p><p>Construction manager Greystone West Co., which has offices in Sonoma and San Mateo, hired 30-year industry veteran Jack Lee as a project manager. Greystone specializes in education, public works and large commercial and institutional projects.</p><p>***</p><p>The pilot Sonoma Green Business Program certified Stevenson Supply of Santa Rosa among about a dozen businesses that have had their business practices scrutinized under the new version of the program. The 100-year-old company committed to 73 business practices on the checklist for the program, which is being modeled after the Bay Area Green Business Program.</p><p>These practices included working with vendors on reducing the amount and type of packaging, recycling more as a company and doing more business with other green firms. Stevenson now acquires more used forklifts and delivery trucks to reduce the amount of carbon emitted in the production of new vehicles.</p><p>***</p><p>San Rafael-based Autodesk, a publicly traded developer of design and media software, is following the lead of large software companies such as Microsoft, Symantec and Intuit, as well as most software makers in the age of broadband, by automating the delivery of new features or fixes to users of the 2009 version of Autodesk’s flagship AutoCAD suite of design applications.</p><p>The company is calling this flexible software delivery, by which users can get certain desired or needed software tweaks soon after they are ready and ignore other releases.</p><p>Subscription bonus packs offer requested or anticipated features to subscribers, which make up three-quarters of AutoCAD users, according to the company.</p><p>•••</p><p>Submit items for this column to Jeff Quackenbush at 707-521-4256, jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or fax 707-521-5292.</p>