North Bay Business Journal

SANTA ROSA — When Luther Burbank Savings approached Santa Rosa’s TLCD Architecture to design a new flagship branch in downtown Santa Rosa, the lender said it wanted more than simply a beautiful building.

“They said they wanted something artistic at one of the main entry points for the city. We, as architects, get really excited when we hear something like that,” said Don Tomasi, senior principal at TLCD.

PETALUMA — Novato-based genetic research components maker Biosearch Technologies Inc. needed to double the size of its headquarters and labs to accommodate growth over the next decade, and they found the perfect fit in a mostly vacant 120,000-square-foot former high-tech manufacturing plant in south Petaluma that could be retrofitted quickly and relatively inexpensively.

HEALDSBURG — E&J Gallo, one of the world’s largest wine companies, wanted to tear down the historic yet inhabitable and graffiti-harried Olivet Winery to construct 15,000 square feet of offices for support employees connected to Gallo’s winery in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley, yet the Madera-based company ultimately opted for a substantial reconstruction to preserve the bricks and beams of the 109-year-old building.

SANTA ROSA — American AgCredit plans to build a new, 50,000-square-foot headquarters in Santa Rosa, with company executives citing the expertise of current staff and a regional talent pool as key drivers to keep its administrative nucleus on the West Coast at a time of rapid national expansion.

SAN RAFAEL — An organization representing neighbors of a proposed 270,000-square-foot Lucasfilm digital movie production studio in Lucas Valley northwest of San Rafael has appealed the recent project approval by the Marin County Planning Commission.

SANTA ROSA — Medtronic Inc.’s decision to consolidate its Santa Rosa operations a couple of years ago led to an opportunity to beautify its Fountaingrove campus and streamline costs by re-engineering the company’s use of work space.

SOLANO – Solano County has a flurry of construction projects under way.

The newly completed renovation of the 29,000-square-foot vacant Albertsons store as a second Whole Foods Market grocery store in Mill Valley represents a testing ground for new concepts for the Texas-based chain, according to regional spokesman Danny Olivas. The company now has four Marin County stores and 25 in the Bay Area.

Also: Auction set for Manchester Ridge vineyards

Editor’s note: The Business Journal features profiles of North Bay construction projects that are complete or nearly so. Send details to jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or fax to 707-521-5292. San Rafael Corporate Center 770 and 790 Lindaro St., San Rafael; parking: 775 Lindaro Owner: SR Corporate Center Phase Two LLC, a joint venture between Seagate Properties Inc. of [...]

Built literally rock-solid – instead of as temporary metal Quonset huts that typified other bygone era airfield installations – the thick, concrete-walled hangars at the old site of the Hamilton Air Force Base were ideal candidates for renovation.

NAPA — Construction is set to begin this week on a $20-million-plus project to renovate the Wells Fargo Bank building in downtown Napa and build two retail-office buildings that will be the new headquarters for a Napa-based national real estate investment firm.