The Crescent housing project takes shape in Napa

It's been about seven years since Napa County's Health and Human Services Agency officially vacated its 8.6-acre campus at 2344 Old Sonoma Road.

The site has sat mostly untouched since then, with looming redwoods and historic buildings standing silently beyond a chain link fence. But the site will likely come alive with activity again in the near future, as efforts to build the recently approved housing project there known as The Crescent rumble forward.

The plan, put forward by affordable housing developer Heritage Housing Partners, is to build over 160 for-sale housing units at the site while retaining and reusing three historic buildings and the distinctive crescent-shaped driveway, once part of a county infirmary that was built there in 1869. And much to the delight of local housing advocates, the project will potentially bring over 100 affordable homes to Napa.

Affordable housing has long been a focus for the site. Soon after vacating it, Napa County officials identified the area as a good spot to build such housing. But the county soon had to contend with a number of community concerns about how that development would proceed. That included calls to preserve the three historic Mission-style buildings located along the crescent-shaped driveway, which a preliminary county plan had considered demolishing along with the rest of the buildings there.

Now, on the other side of that early controversy, everybody involved seemed to be happy with The Crescent project during a recent series of city approval meetings, with no commissioner, council member or even public commenter saying that they didn't like the proposal.

Instead they praised the plans, with some referring to The Crescent project as a possible model for future housing projects in Napa.

Historic buildings saved from potential demolition

Napa native Dan Cutright, a former board member of the preservationist nonprofit Napa County Landmarks, was among those who spoke in support of The Crescent project at each recent city meeting. But he'd been involved in pushing for the historic buildings to be integrated into the final project throughout the entire process.

Cutright noted that when he joined the landmarks organization board back in late 2015, he was trying to find a niche to focus on. The possible transformation of the HHS site into housing soon came up, and "it was like, right in my backyard, literally," Cutright said.

"Every day in my three years of junior high school, which was then Ridgeview Junior High, I literally walked by every day, so it's sort of ingrained in my consciousness," Cutright said. "I knew it was the Health and Human Services campus, and I fortunately had no need to access it for services, but I always felt like that setback with the three buildings and the crescent driveway was aesthetically pleasing."

He recalled attending a series of three public meetings the county held, starting in late 2016, to gather input on early plans to build housing at the site. The meetings, he said, were mostly held in the cafeteria of the now-closed Harvest Middle School — also now a site of interest for potential affordable housing development — over a few months. Register reporting from the time indicates that the county was trying to figure out how to fit 190 to 220 apartments and townhouses onto the site.

"The final meeting was on a Saturday at the site itself, a lot of people turned out," Cutright said. "It became clear the county was, I think, trying to see if they could gain public support for completely razing the site in its entirety, and maximizing the housing potential."

Cutright said that, at the meetings, there were people who supported that idea of getting rid of all the buildings to build housing and those who were against it — or who were worried about it — for various reasons.

Many representatives from the wine and hospitality industries were at the meetings as well, Cutright said, and they had interest in the possibility of building housing for their workforce.

But there was a hitch in any plans to demolish the historic buildings: then-Napa City Councilmember Juliana Inman pointed out at the first of the meetings that the three buildings could be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, and that proposing to demolish them could lead to a lawsuit under the California Environmental Quality Act, according to Cutright.

The Napa County Landmarks board eventually made a move to try and secure the National Registry Designation — an effort they hired consultant and now-landmarks board member Kara Brunzell for — which Cutright said they were ultimately successful in receiving.

Cutright noted that the historic designation, in contrast to what people might think, can actually benefit a developer by leading to significant federal tax credits. But at the time, there was significant opposition to the idea of pursuing the designation. That included an early 2018 unanimous opposition vote from the Napa County Board of Supervisors, who feared the status could complicate efforts to develop the site into affordable housing, according to prior Register reporting.

"There were some people, I think including some of the members of the Board of Supervisors, who were a little miffed about that," Cutright said. "Because there was a perception that the preservationists, we're going to show up and strap ourselves to the buildings when the bulldozers show up. I think some saw it as kind of a brazen attempt to take extraordinary measures to save the historic part."

To receive advice on the preservation efforts, the landmarks organization reached out to Cindy Heitzman, executive director of the California Preservation Foundation, a statewide nonprofit that advocates for preservation. Heitzman gave them two Names, according to Cutright: Charles Loveman, executive director of Heritage Housing Partners, and Michael Malinowski, president of Applied Architecture, Inc.

Cutright added that, throughout the process, he and other members of the Landmarks organization — including Ernie Schlobohm and Shari Kamimori — had been talking to neighbors about the project, advocating for the historical preservation but noting that housing would definitely be coming to the site. They played something of a facilitator role, he said, by meeting with developer Heritage Housing Partners, councilmembers, supervisors and city staff, as the county attempted to sell the site and once Heritage Housing Partners eventually took over development in 2021.

"We consistently advocated for the fact that there's going to be housing, get your heads around it, but if we can keep the historic resources we can get a better outcome on all levels," Cutright said. "It's more aesthetically pleasing, public access to the lawn area and the crescent, just a more balanced potential development."

Heritage Housing Partners takes over

Loveman said that he trekked up to Napa from Pasadena — where Heritage Housing Partners is based — for the first time in 2017. During that visit, he was shown around and introduced to various people by Cutright and the other members of the Landmarks organization. But even when he visited again a year later, Loveman said he didn't consider the possibility of taking over development of the property because he felt it was too far from Pasadena, around which the developer has built almost all of its housing projects.

"My role was to just kind of bear witness to the fact that you don't have to tear down the historic buildings in order to create affordable housing," Loveman said.

But Loveman was eventually persuaded, in part, he said, because of the continued efforts from Landmarks and because the longtime Heritage Housing Partners contractor agreed to make it up to Napa for work on the project.

"I kept telling Dan Cutright, no we're not developing this, no we're not developing this," Loveman said. "And I'm thrilled that they changed our mind, or our contractor's willingness to come up changed our mind."

After several years and multiple failed attempts to sell the site property, Napa County successfully sold it to Gregory Brun, of SN Management Corp., for $7.5 million in May 2021. Brun reached out to Heritage Housing Partners to see if they were interested in developing only the historic buildings, Loveman said.

"I said we're interested, but we want to do the whole project," Loveman said. "And it took off from there."

Since starting work on the project, Loveman said, there's been a "huge level of support of what our vision is for the site."

He noted that Heritage Housing Partners has spent significant time trying to make sure the development respects neighbors by putting density in the middle of the site, away from the edges that are neat where people currently live.

Loveman added that he thought the project was ultimately successful — with both the community and the city of Napa — because Napa County Landmarks and the Housing Coalition took Heritage Housing Partners around and introduced them to Napans for roughly a year and a half.

"I just am so grateful that so many people took us under their wing and introduced us around," Loveman said. "That's why it was so successful, we got a lot of input."

How affordable housing at The Crescent will work

Heritage Housing Partners, Loveman said, primarily focuses on creating developments under a mixed-income, first-time ownership model.

That means much of the public funding that will go into the project will be used for downpayment assistance for homebuyers, Loveman said.

"The amount of funding available for ownership programs at the state level is minuscule compared to the amount of funding for rental programs," Loveman said. "But we strongly believe the sort of social and financial outcomes for our homebuyers are better because they're building equity like any other homebuyer."

The Crescent project, at a baseline, will include 23 low-income and 23 moderate-income units. But should the project be approved for a $50 million state grant — jointly submitted by the city and Heritage Housing Partners in March — that total number of affordable units would more than double. Grant funds would also be used for cycling and walking improvements in the area, along with other transportation upgrades.

Chuck Shinnamon, a member of the Napa Housing Coalition — a group of local leaders and residents that focus on housing issues — noted that the group has been involved in conversations around the development for years, and took part in conversations with Heritage Housing Partners.

Shinnamon noted that members of the Housing Coalition have spoken in support of The Crescent project in part because it addresses a broad range of affordability options amid California's severe crisis and could allow Napa's workers and families the financial room to stick around.

"One thing that is clearly missing around here is housing that young families can buy," Shinnamon said.

Shinnamon said the coalition is hopeful to see more projects like The Crescent.

Particularly with The Crescent project, the housing coalition has also been advocating for the city of Napa to pass a local preference ordinance, which would in some way give preference for a portion of the units to local residents and workers. Such an ordinance would, in theory, reduce displacement and allow more of Napa's workforce to actually live in the area, according to Shinnamon.

"We all read articles about employers everywhere in Napa and Sonoma trying to find employees," Shinnamon said. "Because the folks who don't want to commute an hour each way can get a job that pays perhaps a little bit less where they're living."

Loveman noted The Crescent development, now that the City Council approval process has wrapped up, will proceed in two parts. There's the site itself and all the necessary infrastructure that needs to go in — he's hoping that process can start in the first quarter of the next year. At the same time, Heritage Housing Partners will be working to bring the plans forward for the development's specific buildings.

Heritage Housing Partners also needs to look for financing, Loveman noted — they previously had a commitment from First Republic Bank, which recently collapsed.

"We're hoping to break ground in the first quarter of next year, at least the first phase plus the infrastructure component, and be able to move forward to the other phases as fast as the funding will allow," Loveman said.