Suisun City has officially closed the first phase of a downtown property sale to California Forever, transferring ownership of the long-vacant 701 Main Street building and two adjacent parking lots to the Bay Area megadeveloper as part of a $1.5 million deal. The building once housed a bank and later a restaurant, and the sale also folds in the neighboring historic Lawler House and the shuttered Suisun Harbor Theatre, both dark since the 2010s.
As reported by CBS News, the city will keep operating the two parking lots for public use, but will now lease them back from California Forever for just $1 per year. Bret Prebula, described in the report as a city official overseeing the project, said the closing is one of the key pieces to revitalizing downtown and called California Forever a committed partner ready to invest in the properties. Per Prebula, California Forever founder Jan Sramek said the downtown acquisitions accelerate the company's investments in Suisun City's core and help bridge a city budget shortfall.
A City Squeezed Before the Sale
That shortfall is not abstract. Suisun City entered the current fiscal year facing a structural budget deficit topping $1 million, a gap that has forced its police and fire departments to operate at staffing levels 30% below standard, according to the City of Suisun City. Emergency reserves and temporary pandemic-era relief funds had already been drawn down, leaving city leaders searching for fast revenue to keep basic services running independently.
California Forever has moved on downtown parcels before through a dedicated corporate entity. The company's own site confirms that in May 2026 it began negotiating for commercial properties spanning 701, 707, 711, 713 and 717 Main Street, plus adjacent parking lots, working through a wholly owned subsidiary called California Forever's CF Suisun 1 LLC. The Lawler House itself, a ranch house built in 1857 and barged to Main Street in 1979, had been appraised by an independent consultant in 2023 at just $100,000 in its deteriorated state, or $150,000 as a vacant lot, per documents cited by SFGATE. The city had tried and failed to find a developer for the Lawler site through a 2023 request for proposals before California Forever's offer emerged.
The Bigger Annexation Fight Behind the Sale
The downtown purchase is a small piece of a far larger ambition. California Forever seeks to build a new community of housing, retail and jobs across thousands of acres of rural Solano County, and is pursuing that goal now by expanding Suisun City itself through annexation of company-owned land, according to the seed reporting from CBS News. The Suisun City Downtown Specific Plan envisions a mix of commercial and residential uses for the newly acquired parcels, while the broader Suisun Expansion Specific Plan would eventually absorb up to 22,873 acres, an expansion that would make the city roughly ten times its current size and add up to 400,000 residents by 2071, according to figures reported by the Vallejo Sun.
Suisun City is currently the smallest municipality by land area in Solano County, with roughly 29,000 residents packed into four square miles. Annexation matters strategically because it lets California Forever, which is backed by Silicon Valley tech billionaires, sidestep the countywide voter-referendum requirement under Solano County's Orderly Growth Initiative, known as Measure T, shifting approval instead to the Suisun City Council and the Solano Local Agency Formation Commission, per CalMatters. The company withdrew its 2024 ballot measure to rezone 17,500 acres of farmland after facing strong political opposition and environmental scrutiny, opting instead for the city-annexation route it is now negotiating with Solano County.
Money on the Table, and a Recall in Motion
Alongside the property purchase, California Forever agreed to a three-year reimbursement deal approved in June 2025 that included a $400,000 upfront deposit for the city's planning expenses and a promise of $10 million in community benefit payments, split between $3.5 million when an environmental impact report is certified and $6.5 million upon final LAFCO approval, according to ABC10. That $10 million package amounts to roughly a third of Suisun City's annual operating budget. The company also handed the city an immediate $55,000 grant last year to keep Fourth of July fireworks and summer jazz concerts from being cut amid the fiscal crunch.
Not everyone in Suisun City is on board. Residents voiced concerns at recent community meetings, and local groups have initiated recall petitions targeting City Council members, per the CBS News report. That resistance took formal shape last year when resident James Berg served intent-to-recall papers against all five council members, citing frustration over staff management, public safety cuts, and the decision to pursue annexation with California Forever, as detailed by CBS News reporting from that period. Recall organizers needed roughly 4,200 signatures, about 20% of registered voters, within 120 days to force a special election.
Opposition has also organized around the ballot box. In April, the coalition Solano Together rallied at Suisun City Hall demanding a non-binding advisory vote on the November ballot, pointing to an FM3 Research poll showing 58% of surveyed city residents opposed the expansion plan, according to the Vallejo Sun. California Forever has countered with its own poll showing 59% support countywide, underscoring how sharply opinion splits depending on who is asked.
Neighboring Cities Watch Closely
Suisun City is not the only municipality weighing in. Neighboring Rio Vista has also engaged in annexation discussions and signed a joint planning memorandum of understanding covering adjacent California Forever land holdings, a move that has stirred inter-city competition over infrastructure control and future tax bases, CalMatters reports. Rio Vista leaders have raised concerns about traffic and environmental impacts tied to California Forever's proposed advanced manufacturing and shipyard hubs nearby.
Hoodline previously reported on the annexation application's environmental review, and the company's broader ambitions were the subject of a February report on statewide debates over greenfield city creation. Whether the annexation ultimately survives pending CEQA environmental review and LAFCO scrutiny, and whether local political pushback reshapes the council's momentum before any final buildout agreements are signed, remain open questions as the downtown sale moves forward.
