The new owners of the former U.S. Coast Guard property in Concord, California are forging ahead with their renovation plans for the site. Despite requests from the city for a master plan for the entire 58-acre development, the developers, Las Vegas-based Eddie Haddad and Georges Maalouf, plan to submit a formal application this month for renovations to the existing housing. Haddad and Maalouf have indicated that they have been encouraged by recent discussions with the city and believe they have found a way to move forward with a streamlined environmental review process.
The 286 units at two different sites at Concord Villages, 3295 Haleakala St., which have been vacant for a long time, will be renovated first. The units, which include 206 units at Victory Village and 80 at Quinault Village, were previously used as military housing. The cost of the renovations is estimated to be between $1 million and $3 million.
The developers paid $58.4 million for the property in a federal auction in 2021 and submitted a preliminary application to the city in May of the same year. The city had expected a formal submission from the developers last fall but the team has indicated that they have been doing market research and preparing their plans and applications.
Haddad believes that it makes more sense to complete the renovations now as they will provide much-needed housing immediately. He stated that the team will focus on redevelopment in the next decade, once market conditions improve. However, he did not comment on the number of units that would be built on the site. A priority project on the site will be a 100% affordable housing building, providing between 200 and 250 homes.
The city wants the former Coast Guard property, located about a mile from the North Concord BART station, to feature thousands of new units. Meanwhile, the redevelopment of the 2,300-acre Concord Naval Weapons Station, a former U.S. naval base next door to the Coast Guard site, which was slated for over 12,000 new homes, has been delayed indefinitely. The city council voted to end negotiations with the selected developers last month, but the city plans to issue a memo in March outlining the next steps for the project. The goal remains to keep the project moving forward.
