January 10, 2014

SunCal buys State Farm site

By Jud Snyder
The Community Voice

Department heads in city hall are awaiting the next move from SunCal Co. of Irvine, the company that bought the vacant State Farm Insurance Company’s regional headquarters campus in Rohnert Park.

SunCal’s purchase must go through municipal procedures like any other sale of land within city limits. These include rezoning, environmental impact review, planning commission and city council appearances, public hearings, architectural reviews, a General Plan amendment, impact studies on water and sewage systems and traffic analysis. There’s even a possibility of a ballot for voters if anything controversial arises with SunCal’s plans.

SMART train station mentioned

But all this is in the future. As RP City Manager Darrin Jenkins said, “It’ll probably take close to two years to finalize all their plans.”

He’s had talks with SunCal’s Joe Guerra, manager of the company’s Northern California acquisitions. Guerra has intimated his company is in favor of tying into the SMART commute rail station and connections with RP’s planned downtown area north of RP Expressway, but nothing solid on any other plans except to mention “mixed use” for commercial and housing units. The property is already in the city’s Planned Development Area (PDA), which gives it special emphasis on future growth.

Marilyn Ponton, RP’s director of development, said, “We don’t have any plans as yet as what they want to do here. We should be getting some applications in the next few weeks.”

No plans yet on RPX crossing

Added Jenkins, “I’ve no idea on how the city’s going to manage any pedestrian and bicycle traffic across RP Expressway, that’s way into the future. Speaking as an engineer, the best way is an underpass, that’s long been a pipe dream of mine.”

Jenkins was formerly RP City Engineer before being named assistant city manager then city manager when Gabe Gonzalez stepped away from the position to take a similar position in Kansas.

SunCal Co. has long history

SunCal began more than 70 years ago when an emigrant from Europe, Boris Elieff, created a “different kind of real estate company.”

The company grew over the years and now has developments with shopping centers and housing in many cities including Fullerton, Corona, San Marcos, Beaumont, Oxnard, Victorville and Orange. In Northern California, they’ve built in Pt. Richmond, Lincoln (near Sacramento), Dublin and Stockton.

City named street State Farm in 1977

State Farm Insurance built its regional offices in 1977 on a vacant 227-acre parcel in the middle of Rohnert Park. The city named the street State Farm Drive in honor of their move and the many jobs it brought. They closed this office in 2011 and moved its work to their Bakersfield regional office. Some employees moved south with State Farm to continue working with the company, but many others opted to stay in Sonoma County and seek work here.

“It’s definitely a key property exchange for the city,” said Jenkins.

Privacy & Disclaimer

Not an Offer to Sell

This website and the information and material provided at this website are not intended to nor do they constitute an offer or solicitation for sale and should not be construed as such. Offers to buy or sell property may be made only at our Information/Sales Center. Some jurisdictions require prior registration or other advance qualification of real property in order to solicit in that jurisdiction. Responses to inquiries in such jurisdictions may be prohibited or limited. Void where prohibited by law.

SunCal reserves the right to change ANY specifications, materials, terms, features, prices, availability and sales procedures without notice. Please note that variations in floorplans and elevations may exist, and square footages are approximate. Brokers/agents must register their clients in person upon their client's first visit in order to qualify for a Broker Referral Program, if offered. If a Priority Purchase Program has been established, SunCal reserves the right to change the Priority Program at any time without notice and reserves the right to sell homes to individuals not specified on the Priority List. No one may assign, sell or trade their priority position to any other person.

While we endeavor to display current and accurate information, we make no representations or warranties regarding the information set forth in the Website and, without limiting the foregoing, information may be estimated or approximate, out of date or inaccurate, and there may be typographical errors. We may at any time revise this website. We are not responsible for any technical failures or problems that are beyond our control, or any results of any such failures or problems. USE OF THE WEBSITE IS PROVIDED "AS IS WHERE IS," AS AN ACCOMMODATION, AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY WARRANTY OF TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL WE BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WITH REGARD TO THE USE OF THE WEBSITE, FOR ANY DEFICIENCY, ERROR OR INTERRUPTION IN THE OPERATION OF THE WEBSITE, OR SUSPENSION OR TERMINATION OF THE OPERATION OF THE WEBSITE OR THE ABILITY OF YOU TO ACCESS AND USE THE WEBSITE, WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF THE DAMAGES. YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT YOU ACCESS AND USE THE WEBSITE AT YOUR SOLE RISK. BECAUSE SOME STATES OR JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, ONE OR MORE OF THE EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS SET FORTH ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

The term "SunCal" as used in this website is in reference to the SunCal trademark and does not refer to any individual, corporation, partnership, limited liability company or any other entity. Each separate real estate project described, displayed and otherwise referenced herein is owned, operated and managed by one or more distinct, separate entities with unique and distinct ownership, which entities may not be separately identified herein.

Privacy

SunCal will not sell, rent or share your personal information with any third party not associated with SunCal. To ensure our e-mail updates reach your inbox, please enter info@suncal.com into your e-mail address book.

SunCal in the news