Sonoma County Looks Into Purchasing Old Santa Rosa Sears Property

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether the new County Government Center should be located at the existing county campus or move to one of two potential sites in downtown Santa Rosa, including the vacant Sears and Auto Center property.

The County is considering relocating because its current sprawling complex, which was built in the 1950s, no longer serves the interests and needs of the community and no longer represents the highest and best use of the site itself, County Spokesperson Paul Gullixson said in a news release.

The lack of expansion options within existing buildings at the current site has forced the County to lease commercial office space at a cost of about $10 million a year, adding a significant burden to County operations while reducing the efficiency of serving County residents.

The new government center will consolidate approximately 2,400 county employees in one location. The current County Government Center site also has a deferred maintenance backlog of $266 million, a cost that increases each year, Gullixson said.

The Board directed staff in January to work with the City of Santa Rosa and community partners to evaluate possible site options in downtown Santa Rosa. The Board also designated an ad hoc committee composed of Supervisors Chris Coursey and David Rabbitt to work with city officials.

In addition to staying and rebuilding at its current location, the County has considered two possible sites in the downtown area for relocation. One involves a combined site including the Central Library downtown and a 1.3-acre parking lot that the City of Santa Rosa owns across the street on the corner of E Street and Third Street, site of the former White House Department Store, Gullixson said.

More recently, the County also has explored the potential of acquiring the vacant Sears and Auto Center property at the downtown Santa Rosa Mall. The Sears site is 7.4 acres with 779 available parking spaces onsite. There are also up to 550 restricted-use parking spaces potentially available for lease in the shared Santa Rosa Mall parking lot.

Staff members have explored preliminary terms of a potential purchase agreement with the owners of the Sears buildings for $20.75 million, Gullxson said.

Any purchase is subject to Board approval and completion of an environmental review. If the Board were to select the Sears site, the seller would agree to demolish the existing buildings.

Based upon the direction of the ad hoc committee, Gullixson said, the County is considering an alternative model for parking — one that aligns with the City of Santa Rosa’s proposed model of providing 68 percent of employees with parking spaces.

The working models for the new site also assume that 30 percent of the new County Center employees will work remotely although these employees will still be provided small workspaces for occasional in-office work, Gullixson said. These assumptions reduce the County’s overall building square footage and total parking need. Space needs would be reduced by 15 percent. Parking needs would be reduced from 3,140 parking stalls to 2,324.

The report and analysis the Board will review Tuesday is posted here.