Sixteen months ago, developers were striving to build two permanent public markets in Santa Rosa showcasing the region's food and wine.
But a developer Monday publicly abandoned plans for a $10 million market at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. Across town, a nonprofit food group is still waiting to see whether Railroad Square developers can build a $200 million mixed-use project that would include a food and wine center.
Boise developer Mark Rivers acknowledged Monday what fair officials had concluded two months ago: his Sonoma County MarketHall project is dead.
In a brief statement, Rivers said "the financing environment and political climate just weren't conducive" to developing the project. He added that "the folks at the Fair and many in the community were terrific to work with."
Rivers' statement represented the latest setback in more than eight years of efforts to bring farmers, artisan food producers and shoppers together under one roof in Santa Rosa.
Nonetheless, the news hasn't changed the minds of leaders who envision a food and wine center in the county's biggest city.
"I think Sonoma County in general and Santa Rosa in particular still need a food and wine center," said John Mackie, chairman for the nonprofit Sonoma County Food and Wine Center.
Even so, Mackie acknowledged such projects aren't easy to develop. Many such markets rely on some sort of public assistance to succeed, he said.
Meanwhile, Fair Board President Ross Liscum continued to call Rivers' proposal an "exciting possibility" that could have provided extra revenue for the fair. Far from giving up, Liscum said, fair board members "will see if there is interest from others in our community that would like to discuss a similar concept."
Rivers created a stir in March 2010 when he proposed to feature local produce and prepared foods in a public market to be built on a fairgrounds parking lot at Brookwood Avenue and Bennett Valley Road. His plan called for nearly 70,000 square feet of space serving about 140 vendors and creating more than 100 permanent jobs.
Rivers told the public he didn't require outside financing because he had a group of investors who were willing to put up the $10 million needed to build the market.
His proposal raised the prospect of two competing efforts to build public markets. At the time, developers of the two projects each expressed hope that their plans would be completed or under construction this year.
But despite Rivers' pronouncements, his project collapsed before it could go through a formal planning review process.
Meanwhile, the Railroad Square proposal has been stalled by contamination on the site, by the implosion of the lending market and by negotiations with the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit district, which owns a portion of the site.
The fate of that project now may depend on whether the City Council seeks $7.1 million in federal grants and loans. Meanwhile, by the end of 2012, the developer is facing the expiration of a state grant worth $11.4 million.
The Railroad Square project at one time was bolstered by the interest of Santa Rosa Junior College, which wanted to place a culinary academy at the development. But as the project dragged on, the college decided to build its $20 million culinary center on Mendocino Avenue across from its Santa Rosa campus. That center is scheduled to open for the spring 2012 semester.
Mackey said his food group now is exploring what other roles it may play "to support our food and wine culture." The group, he said, is interested in having the city's farmers market move to Railroad Square from its current location at the Veterans Memorial Building.
On Monday, Rivers didn't respond to a request to clarify what he meant by a non-conducive political climate. Told of the developer's comments, fair board president Liscum said he also was trying speak to Rivers for an explanation.
Liscum and fair manager Tawny Tesconi said Rivers hasn't responded for months to their requests to talk about the project.
Tesconi released a May 5 letter to Rivers, which said she had tried without success to reach him on several occasions since January.
"If I do not hear from you by May 17, 2011, I will assume you are abandoning the project," Tesconi wrote.
Rivers never responded, she said.
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