Rohnert Park residents got their closest look yet at what could finally become the city's long-promised downtown, as developer CenterCal Properties submitted plans for the 28-acre former State Farm campus featuring 401 residential units, a 129-room hotel, a grocery store and more than 163,000 square feet of retail space built around a public plaza.
The proposal, submitted September 30 according to The Press Democrat, lands on a site at 6400 State Farm Drive that has sat vacant since the city bought it in 2022 for $12.5 million. The commercial core is planned for the north half of the property along Rohnert Park Expressway, with the hotel sited along the SMART rail line on the east side of the parcel, and a plaza designed with a water feature and greenspace anchoring the project, per the same account.
City Councilmember Gerard Giudice called the project a dream decades in the making when the City Council received an informational update on the plans Tuesday, according to thecommunityvoice.com. Councilmember Susan Hollingsworth Adams said reaching this milestone after decades of discussion, and four-and-a-half years since the city purchased the property, was impressive, and she praised CenterCal for meeting the city's benchmarks and timelines, the report notes.
What's in the Plan
The mix includes about 250 market-rate apartments and roughly 50 single-family homes, alongside 100 affordable units reserved for residents earning around 80% of area median income — $93,400 for a one-person household and $133,400 for a family of four, the report states. Those affordable units are planned above first-floor retail space fronting the plaza, and the development agreement requires that a quarter of all units serve households at or below that income threshold, according to a separate report from thecommunityvoice.com.
Beyond housing, the plan calls for a grocery store, restaurants and shops, with the central downtown area designed to be pedestrian-friendly and much of the parking pushed outside that core. CenterCal is required to build a minimum one-acre plaza, and the company is also on the hook for relocating the city's water main near the site, work valued at roughly $2.2 million, per thecommunityvoice.com. A separate 1.5-acre piece in the southeast corner of the property will remain in city ownership for future expansion of public works space.
Residents Push Back on Design
Not everyone at the meeting was sold on the look of the proposal. Resident Paul Carey praised the inclusion of for-sale single-family homes but criticized the overall design, comparing it to an outdoor shopping mall, and said the planned public square had shrunk from what was originally envisioned. Carey told the council the city must get this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity right, according to thecommunityvoice.com.
Other residents echoed the call for a more distinctive look that celebrates the city's history rather than a generic commercial feel. Michael DeSimone questioned whether a grocery store made sense given several nearby stores already in the area, suggesting developers consider a food hall instead, per the same report. City planner Scott Bohrer said the latest proposal closely resembles last year's approved conceptual plan and incorporates public feedback, while Councilmember Samantha Rodriguez said the design reflected much of the input she and other residents had provided.
Timeline Still Uncertain
Rohnert Park selected CenterCal as its preferred developer in August 2024, and the City Council voted in November 2025 to advance conceptual plans along with a sale of the property to the company for $11.2 million, according to norcalpublicmedia.org. CenterCal is the same developer behind Emeryville's Bay Street project, that outlet notes. City officials say project elements are expected to go before the parks and recreation commission, planning commission and city council for approval at public hearings within the next nine to 18 months, giving residents several more chances to weigh in.
Exactly when the project will be finished remains unclear, with conflicting timelines across reports. Thecommunityvoice.com reports construction is anticipated to begin as early as summer 2028 with completion targeted for fall 2030, while norcalpublicmedia.org has reported the downtown could be fully built as soon as September 2029. Separately, the development team told The Press Democrat that project completion could be celebrated by summer 2030 if all goes as planned, and CenterCal has previously said construction would begin in 2027 and wrap up in 2029. The project's final design plans must still be approved by planning commissioners, with any appeal sending the matter back to the City Council, and city planning officials and the Good City Company will assess whether the proposal complies with environmental laws and city and state development standards.
Rohnert Park, the region's third-largest city, was carved from a seed farm more than 60 years ago, and city leaders have cast the downtown project as a defining moment for a city that has long lacked a traditional center. With plans now formally submitted, the coming months of public hearings will determine how much of CenterCal's vision survives largely intact — and how much changes in response to residents still pushing for something less mall-like and more distinctly Rohnert Park.
