Napa Creek Village ‘eco-village’ project restarts with new owner

Construction restarted in late May on the Napa Creek Village project after work halted on the 48-unit “eco-village” housing development last year amid lawsuits and foreclosure.

The new owner, Los Angeles-based OSM Investment Company, purchased the 2.5-acre property at 2614 First St., in a trustee’s sale in January, it was announced. The multifamily property investor picks up a project that was several years in the works and lauded for its solar net zero energy, greywater recycling and other environmentally conscious features.

But disputes between former project developers Thriving Communities and Healthy Buildings Companies and construction lender Amalgamated Bank led to the foreclosure to satisfy $11.9 million in claims, the Napa Valley Register reported early this year.

Before work began again, general contractor R.D. Olson Construction spent three weeks taking stock of what had been built and what materials were available to complete the project in the current environment of skyrocketing prices and long delivery times, according to President Bill Wilhelm. In addition to lumber price inflation, the time frame for delivery of vinyl-covered-frame windows has swelled from two to six weeks to 22 to 24 weeks in some cases.

“The project is about two-thirds finished from what we can tell,” he told the Business Journal.

The goal is to complete the project by the end of November, before the rainy season typically begins in earnest.

The construction arm of a hospitality-focused development company, R.D. Olson Construction is also slated to begin a 142-unit affordable housing community in Santa Rosa titled Stony Oaks this August. Other recent multifamily projects in Northern California include the Citrine Apartments in Healdsburg, a 34-unit affordable housing community; Fairway Apartments, an 84-unit affordable housing community in San Jose; and Hopper Lane Apartments, a corporate-housing complex in Santa Rosa.

Jeff Quackenbush covers wine, construction and real estate. Before the Business Journal, he wrote for Bay City News Service in San Francisco. He has a degree from Walla Walla University. Reach him at jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4256.

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