Construction expected to conclude in mid-April 2021
When construction began on a 4.7-acre parcel on South Cloverdale Boulevard about a month ago, it was another step in the multi-year process of establishing another home-base for the Sonoma County Vintners Co-op, which currently has warehouse operations in Windsor and Healdsburg. Construction on the roughly 97,000 square foot warehouse is expected to be complete in mid-April.
The cooperative operates space for winemakers to store, ship and distribute their product. Right now, it owns a large warehouse in Windsor, leases smaller spaces near its Windsor warehouse and some smaller warehouses in Healdsburg. Once the Cloverdale warehouse is up and running, the wine stored in the Healdsburg locations will make its way to Cloverdale and the co-op will move out of its Healdsburg locations.
“I live in Cloverdale and that’s part of the reason I wanted to put the warehouse up there,” Sonoma County Vintners Co-op General Manager Nicklas Wilson said. “I know it will draw a lot of winery folks up there and I think once they get to enjoy our town a little bit, they’ll enjoy their time up there.”
The construction of the warehouse is the first in a series of developments planned for the south end of town, many of which began the annexation process around the same time. Also in the works, but looking farther into the future, is a housing development on the 28.5-acre Baumgardner Ranch property and housing for tribe elders on a 26.5-acre parcel at 235 Kelly Road and a 19.5-acre parcel with no assigned address owned by the Dry Creek Band of Pomo Indians. The Cloverdale Unified School District also owns property in the area, but does not currently have development plans for it.
“It’s been quite a process,” he said. “We’ve been at it for about two years now. Just trying to kind of help how all of it was going to come together with the city was kind of a process.”
While it’s been a process, annexing the parcels into the city will make it so the utilities utilized by the warehouse and adjoining yet-to-be-developed properties will be undergrounded in a new utility assessment district.
Wilson said that just because they’re building a warehouse, doesn’t mean the property will be an eyesore. Rather, extensive planning has been put into the aesthetics of the development.
“It’s not going to be an ugly warehouse — there will be a lot of ins and outs and ups and downs,” Wilson said.
He said that they plan on planting over 100 trees and will be putting in a sidewalk and adding in a bike lane.
“It’s going to a really nice-looking building for the entrance of Cloverdale,” he said.
