North Bay Business Journal

Railroad Square project boosted by grant

A large mixed-use city-centered development planned at the site of the historic Santa Rosa Cannery has received a $1.5 million federal grant, a major boost to the project even though it has lost a health club as a potential tenant.

Santa Rosa software firm Métier signs deal with Sears

SANTA ROSA – Métier Ltd., the business software provider that’s growing its presence in downtown Santa Rosa, will grow faster in response to acquiring Sears Holdings as an enterprise client.

Private capital, public goods

Predictably, a column like last week’s about a developer’s proposal for a health club and senior housing project in Railroad Square elicited an attack on the potential for profit and a question about what would happen to the “public benefits.”

A chance to jumpstart SMART project at Railroad Square

Imagine this proposal coming to your city’s leaders in today’s awful economic environment: Build a privately financed, state-of-the-art health club near downtown and adjacent to a rising heritage neighborhood with three stories of affordable senior housing on top.

Impossible?

Well, there is such a proposal surrounding Santa Rosa’s long-delayed Railroad Square SMART project. And it should be warmly and emphatically welcomed.

Fairgrounds market developer sees it as an ‘incubator’

SANTA ROSA – The Sonoma County Fair board is holding a public meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 16 on the plans for a permanent year-round public market at the fairgrounds inspired by Pike’s Place Market in Seattle, Wash.

2009 year of economy, energy

It was a year dominated by a struggling economy that touched virtually everyone.

42-unit Railroad Square project OK

SANTA ROSA – West End Village, a ground-breaking attached single-family housing development near Railroad Square and the SMART rail, has been approved by the city’s Design Review Board.

Santa Rosa economic officials spent months wooing software firm

SANTA ROSA – The Santa Rosa Economic Development Division can take a lot of the credit in Washington, D.C.-based Métier’s decision to open its first branch office in the city.

East Coast software firm plans operation in Santa Rosa

SANTA ROSA – A Washington, D.C. area project and portfolio management software company has chosen Santa Rosa for its first off-site branch that could someday employ up to 125 people.

Backers of $200 million development on Railroad Square ‘just ecstatic’

NORTH BAY – Funding, the primary obstacle of the mixed-use Railroad Square project in Santa Rosa, no longer stands in the way.

The project was approved to receive $15 million in state bond and federal stimulus funds.

$15 million in funding for Railroad Square project

SANTA ROSA – The North Bay, and Santa Rosa in particular, has been in need of a singular symbol of hope to counter the pervasive string of bad economic news. Funding just approved to jumpstart the visionary Railroad Square redevelopment project may be it.

Downtown urban village approved

SANTA ROSA – Another phase of a planned “urban village” in the Railroad Square area of downtown Santa Rosa received approval from not only the city Planning Commission but also a group advocating the reworking of streets and land-use priorities to better accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians.

Officials seek Railroad Square funds

SANTA ROSA – Funding was the primary obstacle left in the way of the mixed-use Railroad Square project in Santa Rosa getting under way, and it looked to be closer than ever, but a new wrinkle has appeared: the federal economic stimulus bill.

Fomer Mixx site transformed for wine tasting, new restaurant

SANTA ROSA – A local family of investors is betting that a collective tasting room and new restaurant by a well-known local chef will be a winning combination for their building on a prominent corner of the Railroad Square district.

Hospitality: Restaurateurs get creative in recession

North Bay restaurateurs confirmed last week the definitive arrival of the recession in hospitality, and though some have joined the ever-lengthening list of eateries looking to sell, others are doing what they can do to embrace the change.