California Forever Plans First Phase: 2,100 Acres Of Advanced Manufacturing

The first phase of Solano County’s massive California Forever project is expected to take the form of a 2,100-acre advanced manufacturing park, plus homes for up to 400,000 people.

The announcement marks the first formal rollout from the highly scrutinized Silicon Valley-backed venture, which aims to create a new city in Solano County. The organization spent $1B through a limited liability company, acquiring 68,000 acres of mostly grassland.

Now, California Forever is teaming up with JLL to establish a manufacturing hub called Solano Foundry to kick off the project, although groundbreaking is still three years out.

“We have a very strong original manufacturing base here, but it has just not been a focus,” said Andreas Lieber, California Forever industry and technology zone general manager.

In addition to the manufacturing facilities, the first phase will include residential and entertainment capabilities in tandem with the industrial build-out.​​ The plan is to put up 150,000 homes for 400,000 people directly adjacent to the Solano Foundry, according to Lieber. 

The California Forever endeavor has been the target of scrutiny for the way the land was acquired and the nationality of some of the buyers, given the land's proximity to a U.S. Air Force base. 

Locals pushed back on a 2024 ballot measure that would have rezoned 17,000 acres at once, causing the project's sponsors to withdraw the measure.

Lieber, who comes from the tech world, with stints at Pinterest, Postmates and Uber, said the first phase will have a big focus on innovation. The park will house labs, tinker spaces, incubators, event venues and university partnerships to help accelerate research and development. 

The first phase will also focus on attracting companies with anchor tenant capabilities, as well as smaller companies that can be a key part of establishing an ecosystem.

“For example, someone who provides parts for a number of very critical industries that can be colocated around them,” Lieber said.

The developer hopes to address multiple challenges facing the Bay Area, including long commute times, housing affordability and the grindingly slow pace of development and construction. The organization is working on getting full entitlements for the entire project at once.  

“That means we can do over-the-counter permitting once a company wants to come here,” Lieber said.

Planners are thinking about different modes of transportation within and outside of the park, Lieber said. The site has rail connectivity to the wider Bay Area, Southern California and beyond. 

JLL is marketing the site and fielding early tenant interest. A white paper co-produced by JLL and California Forever includes endorsements from companies like Joby Aviation, Hadrian and Netgear. 

The footprint includes several miles of contiguous waterfront where Lieber sees an opportunity to build a new shipbuilding hub on the West Coast. 

California Forever was founded by the Czech entrepreneur Jan Sramek and is funded by several billionaire tech entrepreneurs, including the founders of Andreessen Horowitz, and venture capitalists and philanthropists like John Doerr and Laurene Powell Jobs.

“This is about reimagining what industry looks like — and keeping it in California,” Lieber said.