Sonoma County Indian Health Project has signed a lease for 12,173 square feet across the street from its main Santa Rosa clinic, a stopgap move that comes as the tribal health organization's long-planned 70,000-square-foot medical center on the former Kmart site remains stuck without a formal application filed with the city years after it was first proposed.
The health provider signed the lease for Suites 140-145 at 141 Stony Circle on May 21, according to The Press Democrat. Maternity and other services are expected to relocate to the new space this year, easing pressure at SCIHP's main clinic at 144 Stony Point Road. The building already houses the organization's Women, Infants, and Children nutrition and breastfeeding support program in Suite 140, according to a listing on iCarol, making it a familiar hub even before the newest lease was signed.
Shawn Johnson of Keegan & Coppin Co. Inc. represented SCIHP in the transaction, while Dave Peterson represented landlord STG Group, per the same Press Democrat report. SCIHP also announced in July that its billing and medical records operations had already moved outside the Stony Point Road clinic, another sign of the organization stretching beyond its original footprint as it grows.
A Vacant Lot Where a Kmart Once Stood
The former Kmart site at 3771 Cleveland Ave. contained a Kmart in 2016 before the store was completely destroyed in the October 2017 Tubbs Fire, according to CBS San Francisco. SCIHP acquired the burned-out property in 2020 and announced plans that year for a two-story, 70,000-square-foot medical office building on the site.
The organization requested meetings about the project back in June 2020, but Santa Rosa has not received a formal application in the years since, the Press Democrat reports. The proposed health center is now delayed for a few years, and SCIHP has not responded to multiple requests for comment on the holdup in recent months, according to the same report. The dossier does not identify the cause of the multi-year delay. A City of Santa Rosa report dated 4 May 2020 said its citywide pending-development list covered land-use permits currently in process or approved. According to the City of Santa Rosa's General Plan, the document addresses the city's physical development and growth while representing the community's aspirations for future development.
Even without a building on it, the Cleveland Avenue lot has not sat entirely idle. SCIHP held a farmers market at 3771 Cleveland Avenue this month, with produce available, even as formal construction plans remain unfiled.
From One Dental Chair to a $65 Million Operation
SCIHP's growth mirrors a pattern set decades earlier. The organization was established in 1971 and began with just a single dental chair and exam table before purchasing land in 1999 and using U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grants to build its main Stony Point Road facility, which opened in 2001, according to SCIHP's own organizational history.
Financially, the organization has expanded considerably. SCIHP reported $65 million in revenue and $39.4 million in expenses for fiscal 2025, along with $158.6 million in total assets and $144.3 million in net assets that year, per the Press Democrat's review of financial filings. That marks substantial growth from fiscal 2016, when the organization reported $21 million in revenue, $17.8 million in expenses, $17.6 million in liabilities and $27.6 million in net assets.
That financial expansion followed a major regulatory shift. Law firm Berkey Williams LLP announced in September 2025 that SCIHP had completed a formal transition to Self-Governance status under Title V of the Indian Self-Determination Act, according to the firm's Berkey Williams LLP. The designation grants the tribal health consortium greater administrative autonomy and direct federal contracting power, allowing it to manage federal health care allocations itself rather than through an intermediary agency. The broader discussion also includes Indian Urban Indian Health capacity and infrastructure transition, expansion and development.
A Consortium Serving Six Tribal Nations
SCIHP's board listing identifies six consortium members. Those consortium members include the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians, Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California, Kashia Band of Pomo Indians of Stewarts Point Rancheria, Lytton Rancheria of California, and the Manchester Band of Pomo Indians of the Manchester Rancheria.
The organization is led by Chief Executive Officer Betty Arterberry and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Mark Goodwin. Beyond its main Santa Rosa clinic, SCIHP also operates a satellite clinic in Point Arena.
Sonoma County encompasses ancestral lands of the Pomo, Coast Miwok, and Wappo peoples. SCIHP operates as a state-licensed Community Health Center under a Patient-Centered Medical Home model, and it also extends care to non-Indians with Medi-Cal.
Why the Expansion Matters Countywide
The stakes around expanding tribal health infrastructure go beyond one clinic's growing pains. In March 2024, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution declaring racism a public health crisis, according to the County of Sonoma. That backdrop underscores why SCIHP's capacity to expand, however incrementally, carries weight for the broader community it serves.
For now, the interim lease at Stony Circle offers a practical fix to overcrowding while the bigger question hangs over the Cleveland Avenue site: whether the delayed 70,000-square-foot medical center will ever move from announcement to application, and whether SCIHP intends to keep its newly leased Stony Circle offices for the long term once, or if, that larger facility is eventually built.
