The Diocese of Santa Rosa is quietly testing the real estate market in Yountville, putting roughly 13 acres around St. Joan of Arc parish up for sale and setting off a new round of speculation in a town where every acre counts.
Parish land goes on the market
As reported by the Napa Valley Register, the property surrounds the St. Joan of Arc campus and is being marketed at about 13.04 acres by a commercial brokerage. The listing notes that the site sits within Yountville town limits but lies inside a FEMA-designated flood zone, with any serious development likely needing an access road across Hopper Creek and significant flood-protection work.
Current zoning, according to the listing, could accommodate roughly 130 single-family homes or up to 260 multifamily units. That theoretical capacity comes with a big asterisk: the listing itself underscores the cost, engineering challenges and regulatory scrutiny any large-scale project would face on the site.
Small diocese house also on the market
The church is not just selling dirt in Yountville. The diocese has also put a modest single-family home in nearby Napa on the market, described as surplus to its needs. Local MLS information lists the property through Coldwell Banker and identifies John Garaventa as the listing broker, while Redfin shows a list price in the high-$500,000s for the small one-bedroom bungalow and provides additional property details.
Why the diocese is selling
Both listings are part of a wider financial reordering. The Diocese of Santa Rosa is still working through Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection it filed in March 2023 to address a wave of sexual-abuse claims. Diocesan leaders have said the filing requires them to review their holdings and, where possible, sell off excess properties to help satisfy claims.
Church officials say the bankruptcy process is designed to handle those claims in an orderly way while preserving core ministries and day-to-day parish life. The Press Democrat has detailed the filing and the diocese’s stated goals.
What diocesan officials say
Diocese spokesperson Joe Oberting told the Napa Valley Register that there has been interest in the Yountville acreage from both developers and vineyard owners. He said officials are trying to “find the party that wants to pay the most” as they work toward an agreement with creditors in the bankruptcy case.
Oberting also said he was not sure whether parishioners had been formally notified about the listing, a communication gap that has left some congregants learning about the potential sale from the real estate world rather than the pulpit.
How this intersects with local housing plans
All of this is unfolding as Yountville is already advancing its own separate, town-owned workforce-housing project known as Yountville Commons. That development is being planned for roughly 125 units, highlighting competing visions for growth, open space and local character in a tiny valley town that shoulders big regional expectations. The Yountville Sun has outlined the Commons proposal and the trade-offs town leaders are weighing.
The diocese, meanwhile, has been marketing other properties across the northern counties as part of its broader asset review tied to the bankruptcy, including a historic church property in Hopland. The Anderson Valley Advertiser has covered that sale effort.
Any buyer that steps up for the Yountville land will have to wrestle with the engineering, floodplain and permitting issues flagged in the listing. The sale will also move through oversight in the diocese’s bankruptcy case and the usual rounds of local planning review. For now, the listing has put Yountville’s footprint squarely on the table as the community weighs housing demand, open land and preservation in one of Napa Valley’s most visible small towns.
