Another demolition, another step toward the Tierra de Rosas center in Roseland

It’s been nearly a decade since Sonoma County officials took the first big steps toward the long-awaited dream of building an ambitious town center and plaza in Santa Rosa’s historically underserved Roseland neighborhood.

Back in 2014, bulldozers tore down the old Albertsons grocery store and Continental Lanes bowling center at Sebastopol Road and West Avenue, leaving a space of concrete slabs that has remained empty since.

This week, the county took yet another shuffling step toward that vision, with the demolition of some of the last remaining structures at the site. But county officials say this time the project has real momentum.

“I promised I would make this a priority from the day that Roseland became part of my district,” Supervisor Chris Coursey said in an email Tuesday evening. “I’m thrilled to see work get started, and I can’t wait to see new residents moving in to this terrific addition to the neighborhood.”

On Monday, wrecking crews brought down a building that most recently housed Wind Toys Water Sports Center. On Wednesday, crews are scheduled to demolish a building that used to be a Dollar Tree and more recently a Latin American-style market called El Mercadito.

For a time, the structure also housed a public library and then, during the pandemic, a COVID-19 testing and vaccination site that was crucial in helping address the disproportionate impact of the virus on minority and low-income residents.

“Even in its last stages, it’s really served a purpose,” county spokesman Gilbert Martinez said Tuesday morning, as an excavator pushed concrete rubble and twisted rebar into a pile.

On Nov. 7, the Board of Supervisors authorized the county’s Community Development Commission to execute a $315,000 contract with Resource Environmental Inc. for the demolition work. That work will include the installation of infrastructure for the future development project, which includes a 75-unit affordable apartment complex and 100 market-rate apartments.

The vision for Roseland Village — now called Tierra de Rosas — came out of a 2007 urban planning document called the Sebastopol Road Urban Vision Plan, which itself was the product of several bilingual public workshops during a six-month period in 2005.

That vision called for a neighborhood center with “a mix of commercial retail, personal services, offices, residential uses, and pedestrian amenities.“ A decade later, Roseland residents would weigh in on three development proposals for the site during a public forum in summer 2015.

MidPen Housing, one of the largest affordable housing developers in Northern California, was selected to build the project. But the project has been slow to get off the ground due to funding hurdles and other limitations.

One of the biggest hurdles was the state’s elimination of redevelopment agencies in 2011. That resulted in property tax revenues instead being used to pay down existing bonds, other obligations and pass-through payments to local governments. Tax revenues that exceed these obligations are now used to pay core public services of cities, counties, special districts and schools.

Another major hurdle surfaced earlier this year when the project faced an $18.6 million funding gap for the infrastructure work. Coursey, chair of the Board of Supervisors, said the county provided more than $7 million in general fund dollars, while the Legislature contributed $3 million in state money.

The county’s Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District contributed $1 million for a central plaza, while the city of Santa Rosa, “helped ‘value engineer’ a number of required pieces of infrastructure to help bring costs down,” Coursey said.

“This is an all-hands-on-deck project that is a key improvement for the Roseland neighborhood,” he said. “It will note only provide much needed affordable and market-rate housing, it will revitalize the heart of one of our county’s most disadvantaged communities.”

The city of Santa Rosa has since annexed the site but the Tierra de Rosas project continues to be overseen by the county’s Community Development Commission, which purchased the 7-acre property for about $3.5 million in 2010.

Marc Chandler, CDC’s asset and construction services manager, said despite the slow progress, the demolition represents an important move forward. He said demolition of the two buildings will likely be completed by the end of the year.

After that, he said, work on electrical, gas and other underground utilities will likely be done throughout 2024.

“Then you can put the buildings in their places,” he said. “It’s going to be a wonderful project for the community. It’s going to serve that community well.”

The total project cost for Tierra de Rosas is estimated at $40.5 million, with $37.5 million secured from a variety of sources.

According to MidPen’s description of the residential component, the four-story affordable housing building will include 24 one-bedrooms, 30 two-bedrooms, and 20 three-bedrooms. The units will be available to households earning between 30-60% of the area’s median income.

During the initial phases of the project, Mitote Food Park, a popular eatery located in a nearby parking lot, will remain in operation. The CDC and the operator of Mitote are in discussions about potentially relocating Mitote when the final phase of construction begins. That phase includes the construction of a one-acre public plaza.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.