By David M. Greenwald
Vacaville, CA – In October the Vanguard reported that Vacaville was adding a 300-acre, world class bio manufacturing center that could produce 10,000 jobs. Now the Vanguard has learned that they have landed a major company on 120 acres, the largest component of that site, to Agenus, Inc., a publicly traded biotech company.
Russ Moroz, whose company Marcus & Millichap brokered the deal, believes this will have “absolutely massive implications for the area and the region at large.”
Not only will it be a major step toward changing the entire profile for Vacaville, but Moroz believes “it shows that markets like Davis, Vacaville, Sacramento, and others outside of the Bay Area can in fact attract major biotech companies, which have traditionally only been interested in expanding in South San Francisco, Boston, and other more established regions with heavy biotech presence.”
He also said that he believes, “It shows that if Davis adopts a more flexible and targeted strategy it can also be successful.”
The problem for a long time is that cities like Vacaville have been trying to figure out how they can attract major biotech and life science companies. Vacaville feels they are well suited to this task—close enough to the Bay Area and close to Sacramento as well as UC Davis—but with land and home prices far lower than what it costs in the Bay Area.
Getting involved was developer Alex Spanos.
“Spanos decided to really try to help the city explore this biotech dream that they’ve had,” Moroz said. “They’ve asked us to reach out to some biotech companies. We’ve been trying to get some 
biotech companies interested in the site as well.”
They finally got the attention of Agenus, which is currently selling a campus in Berkeley and looking for alternative locations.
When Agenus reached out to Vacaville, “The city made it very clear that they are very supportive of biotech and that they will do whatever they possibly can to help the companies that are looking to expand their foothold in Vacaville.”
Moroz said since Agenus pulled the trigger they have had interest from other biotech users for the site, and some smaller companies could be following their lead into Vacaville.
Moroz explained that he thinks the market is strong in the valley for this type of company to come here.
But he said that “the difficult aspect has always been in getting these types of biotech users and and life science users to expand beyond their target areas.”
He explained that that is really Boston, South San Francisco, and Seattle.
“It’s been really difficult to get them to pay attention outside of those markets,” he said. But that is changing.
“Now that housing has become so expensive in a lot of those regions, in a lot of those parts of the country, they are looking for alternative locations because their employees simply can’t afford to live in a lot of those places,” he said.
“What we’re finding is that more and more of those companies are exploring alternative locations that have the trained workforce that they need, which I think Davis is pretty well positioned for because, obviously being a major research university with a significant presence in life science, I think that would be a very good source of potential employees,” he added.
However, he added, “I think the city of Davis needs to be very accommodating for these users and make sure that they know that they’re welcome there.”
Some of that will require Davis to be able to fast track these projects because companies looking to move are not going to want to sit around and wait.
Moroz also noted that one of the hang-ups for biotech companies is “nobody wants to be the first. Everyone’s a little hesitant to be the first major company to pull the trigger on something like that.”
But once one jumps in, it will start to build momentum.
What attracted them to Vacaville was largely the relative proximity still to the Bay Area, coupled with affordability of housing as well as the city’s willingness to work for them.
“The reality is getting commitments from companies like this is a lot hard work,” Moroz explained. “It’s not very easy.”
And at the same time, a lot of factors go into it.
“One of those is the willingness of the city and the desire of the city to actually see this, I see this through because frankly, no company wants to be pushing a cart up a hill,” he said. “If they see the city is just putting spokes in their wheels, a lot of them will simply abandon the plans and go elsewhere. Nobody wants to pick a fight.”
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Shocking. I’m sure this happened because of Davis NIMBY types, and Davis’ firing it’s “innovation” officer years ago. Otherwise, this prize would have been ours for the taking 😐
Yeah unfortunately we lost the game here WAY before that. Genentech DID set up in Vacaville because they wanted to be able to hire Davis grads, but we were never going to be able to be a candidate for being the host to that campus unless we were willing to to be a place where land is cheap… and I would define “cheap land” to mean “oversupply of entitled land” Not something I think has ever been possible in this funkly little town
Its the same reason they went to south SF… All the talent of SF… but lower land prices, until they werent.
Interesting that the article talks about people not wanting to move first, and then didnt mention the fact that Genentech has a huge campus there AND another one in Dixon. This is becoming an industry cluster, and it DOES make sense, and we should play into it as well.
Tim K…
Fairly long before Genentech chose Vacaville, they were seriously interested in the Covell Village site… what soured those discussions were the annexation issue and the ‘Luddites’… it was fingertips away…
So close we were thinking that my sister-in-law and family might be able to move out of the Bay Area and live in Davis … although she was more on the research/regulation side… so might not have happened…
Interesting to hear. That just makes it worse…
Never cry over spilt DNA
Agenus closed a $1.2 billion deal with Bristol-Myers three days ago with an immediate $200 million payment and the potential for $1 billion in future milestone payments.
So the sequence of development was land designation for biotech by Vacaville, a development deal between Agenus and BMY followed immediately by a commitment to build a plant.
Compare this to Matt Williams argument that before we commit to annexation through a Measure D vote we need to identify the companies the site would attract.
Explaining the difference with mixed metaphors: Vacaville just proved that if you build it they will come instead of Matt’s insistence on putting the cart before the horse.
Ron, you aren’t understanding what I have said. When it comes to economic development, we need to stop being a rudderless ship being tossed about on the seas. We need a tactical plan.
There is a huge difference between a General Plan and an Economic Development Plan. They are very different levels. The former is all about Vision and a Framework of strategic Goals and Objectives … articulated in Policies. The latter is all about Tactical Initiatives and a game plan of actions that will achieve goals and objectives.
An Economic Development Plan needs to be nimble because the events and decisions of developing a community’s economy are highly dependent on outside forces. A Community’s General Plan needs to be foundational and clear and reliable. A community’s Economic Development Plan is dependent on the community’s General Plan but a community’s General Plan is not dependent on the community’s Economic Development Plan. So your hypothetical scenario would be unlikely to happen.
Davis effectively doesn’t have either plan with an out of date GP, Measure D, vigilant Nimby’s and a City Council full of ambitious but gun shy pols.
Vacaville on the other hand has gone a completely different route. It is executing well, having now landed another whale.
Its just like the water rates Matt where Woodland got it done while Davis dithered trying to reinvent the wheel. Vacaville is executing while Davis argues about having a plan.
Where would you rather live, Vacaville or Davis?
I think that’s an obvious choice for most people.
But…
A lot of people can’t afford Davis.
They can’t move into Davis.
And they can’t get a job in Davis.
So, it’s kind of saying most people would rather live in Beverly Hills rather than the Valley, but that only goes so far.
The point is Davis policies to date have contributed to making Davis in my opinion a much more desirable community to live in than Vacaville, so Davis must be doing something right. If you don’t believe that then I have a piece of Hunter Biden art to sell you for $500,000. Don’t worry, the sale price and your name will stay anonymous.
My point is that those policies are a double-edge sword. And Davis may not be able remain a desirable community without the revenue from business or the like.
Remember when they blew up that rotting whale on the beach, and it just blew whale parts everywhere? Careful what you wish for.
I was in Friends of Lagoon Valley to try to save that beautiful valley between Vacaville and Fairfield, in the sphere of Fairfield. The City Council there, at least when we were fighting them, were pro-development neanderthals with no appreciation of the beauty of Lagoon Valley being worth saving. “Grog hit beast with stick”.
And your point?
Does this mean that Vacaville’s home prices will surge in the future pricing out minorities and lower income people who want to live there?
No, because a robust affordable housing program will allow very low income people to live where low income people would have lived via government subsidies. So it’s the low income people who will be priced out, rather than the very low income people, and everyone has less money due to taxation. But the gov’t, developers and the rich will be fine. Sounds fair 😐
It should. I know you are joking, a little, but yes. These are going to be good paying jobs, and while they are setting up in Vacaville mostly to draw on UC Davis talent, it does make sense for Vacaville to build nice housing for these workers close to these plants.
What do you think the odds are that some of those people with “good paying jobs” end up living in Davis because of the school system, closer proximity to Sacramento and general college town culture….thus further pushing Davis into becoming even more of a bedroom community.
Vacaville doesn’t build houses. Builders do…I think yo know that but I think sometimes the distinction gets confused here. And I think Vacaville has plenty of houses being built (though I don’t know this as a fact…but back when I kept track of this stuff…Vacaville was always open for business).
Why would Vacaville do that unless it was agreed upon with the company as a condition for the deal to happen. I’m going to keep hammering into your head that residential units are a cost to the community. Therefore it makes no economic sense for a community to encourage residential growth unless there’s a tangible economic benefit (and again…piddly property tax revenue doesn’t make up for the costs in infrastructure and services). The ideal financial set up for a city is as much commercial development and business as possible in it and as few residences to support. Residential growth is a concession to support economic growth (the businesses in town).
I’m for anything that stops the spread I’ve watched for the last 30 yrs as Richmond and Oakland spread into Vallejo and then Vallejo into Fairfield. Sincerely hope it stops there and does not spread into Vacaville.
Vacaville has already become way too crowded for me. If the crime and city blight head any farther this way, I’m out!
And regarding Davis being a much more desirable place to live….. desire is in the eye of the beholder I guess. Sure, Davis isn’t a bad place to occasionally spend an afternoon once a year or so.
When this new plant opens up and my husband lands his job there, we will be seriously taking a look at getting out of Vacaville… because of overcrowding and the Bay Area spread. But when that happens Davis will not even make our list of possible communities within commute distance.
You mentioned better schools…ok maybe, I haven’t checked into that, but your other mentions such as the college town life and being close to Sac don’t even make it on my radar.
Why does anyone with a great job in Vacaville need to pay more to live in a college town? Most of that comes with more annoyance than benefit for those no longer working on their degree.
And being closer to Sac? For what? Anything you need you can get in Vacaville after you get off work! What does Sac have? Night life maybe?
I for one have always enjoyed living in college towns. The students keep towns like Davis vibrant and young, not sleepy little hollows But I respect your opinion, to each their own.
Hmm – An article purportedly about a major land sale in Vacaville features the real estate broker who spends most of his print space in the article instead discussing why Davis should build an industrial park. And this on the very next day after the Davis developer announces their new push to get their own project approved by voters. This does seem to be a bit too coincidental to be random.
But in almost the same breath Mr. Greenwald spent most of this am’s “Morning Comments” (entitled “Conspiracy Theories..Part II”) dismissing any possibilitiy that the cluster of “development-supportive” articles in the last few days is in any way related to the DISC announcement yesterday and denigrating those who suggested that they were otherwise just planned promotional articles.
Indeed, Mr. Greenwald also claims in today’s “Morning Comments” that he had no idea the announcement about DISC was coming yesterday. He stated, “Of course, I didn’t know anything about it until I got a call from Dan Ramos, the project manager at 10 am on Thursday to give me a courtesy heads up that a press release would be arriving at noon (it didn’t actually come until after 3 pm).”.
Yea, right…and pigs can fly too!
Thus confirming my thesis from this morning – well played.
For the nonpartisan readers it confirms both thesises. It only confirms only one thesis for those who are already partisan one way or the other.
.
In principle I agree with this statement. Wouldn’t it be nice if the City actually had an Economic Development Plan in place that the citizens/voters could see and understand and get behind … and that actually had a proactive strategy, rather than reactive jerks of the knee.
The City having a plan wouldn’t make a whit of difference to those who oppose development. The complaint will simply change to the plan being out of date (the day after it was published) and in need of revisal before making any long-term commitments…
Mark there is a huge difference between a General Plan and an Economic Development Plan. They are very different levels. The former is all about Vision and a Framework of strategic Goals and Objectives … articulated in Policies. The latter is all about Tactical Initiatives and a game plan of actions that will achieve goals and objectives.
An Economic Development Plan needs to be nimble because the events and decisions of developing a community’s economy are highly dependent on outside forces. A Community’s General Plan needs to be foundational and clear and reliable. A community’s Economic Development Plan is dependent on the community’s General Plan but a community’s General Plan is not dependent on the community’s Economic Development Plan. So your hypothetical scenario would be unlikely to happen.
.
I also agree with this statement, but when all that can be mustered is “that the University does not oppose the project” the challenges are clear.
“Does this mean that Vacaville’s home prices will surge in the future pricing out minorities and lower income people who want to live there?”
Unlikely to happen as Vacaville tends to build what is needed allowing added supply to moderate demand.
If anything, its more likely to help drive up prices in Davis, where additional supply is not added to meet additional demand, thus displacing more of the children who grew up in Davis unless they are the beneficiaries of inter-generational wealth transfers.
If you are unaware. the Vacaville biotech scene recruits heavily from UCD.
Wanna bet? I keep telling people here that builders don’t build enough to alleviate demand….it blows me away that people continue to not believe me. When builders build…prices go up.
You’re not wrong about that. Davis will further drift into becoming a bedroom community. Davis will be tasked continuing to struggle fund it’s way of life/community without the benefits of any new sources of tax revenue.
Prices for new housing go up but prices on existing housing are moderated by new construction. Vacaville has built much more housing than Davis over the last 20 years as a result prices in Vacaville are lower than in Davis.
Ask any realtor, when new housing goes in; surrounding home prices go up. Ask anyone that has done analysis for a homebuilder (like me)…prices go up.
You really think the fact that Vacaville home prices are less than Davis’ is due to supply? Davis is a college town.
These researchers from UCLA recently published research that supports my view that new construction moderates prices for existing housing.
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5d00z61m?
There may also be a challenge to UCD grads being “heavily recruited” in Vacaville. Vacaville’s SCC campus has their new program for a full degree in biotech manufacturing. Might not look as prestigious as a UCD degree, but companies may decide to hire fully accredited manufacturers from SCC if they find they can pay them less than UCD grad is willing to take.
“Where would you rather live, Vacaville or Davis?
I think that’s an obvious choice for most people.”
Vacaville population 92,000.
Davis population 65,000.
Oakland’s population is 440,000
Fresno 540,000
So what’s your point?
“And I haven’t been to Europe, and I mean, I don’t understand the point that you’re making”
You said Davis was “an obvious choice for most people” when compared to Vacaville, but more people choose Vacaville, hence the larger population there. So your opinion is demonstrably false.
“I was in Friends of Lagoon Valley to try to save that beautiful valley between Vacaville and Fairfield, in the sphere of Fairfield. The City Council there, at least when we were fighting them, were pro-development neanderthals with no appreciation of the beauty of Lagoon Valley being worth saving.”
That was 30 years ago. Are those same people still running Vacaville? Are their kids?
WHAT was 30 years ago? You mean when we started the fight to save Lagoon Valley? It’s still very much under threat, and the current leaders are the new boss, same as the old boss. The below are a 2020 and 2019 headline, not a 1990 and 1989 headline:
Triad Lagoon Valley Acquires 840 Acres for Mixed-Use Development in Vacaville, California
https://rebusinessonline.com/triad-lagoon-valley-acquires-840-acres-for-mixed-use-development-in-vacaville-california/
Lagoon Valley project fight rises once again
https://www.dailyrepublic.com/all-dr-news/solano-news/vacaville/lagoon-valley-project-fight-rises-once-again/
The grassroots “Friends of Lagoon Valley” has been superseded by the “Lagoon Valley Conservancy” which, as a member of the “Bay Area Open Space Council”, seems to have squishier visions about the future ‘permanent solution’ for Lagoon Valley, while recent grading at the development site may portend doom for the beautiful valley. There will still be parks, but a subdivision view from the hill trails isn’t my idea of Lagoon Valley being ‘saved’.
It would be a pity. Lagoon Valley is one of the last, mostly undeveloped areas on the I 80 corridor. Of course most of the recent development is on the other side of Vacaville at the 80-505 junction.
I came across this article about how restricting development hurts the one’s you love.
https://www.city-journal.org/the-case-for-small-towns
“Housing affordability is a pressing issue, especially in job-rich areas. But the people being priced out of expensive metro areas are not just theoretical new residents but often the children of current homeowners. When we conceive of homeownership as a sort of reward or aspiration and zone large swaths of metro areas exclusively for single-family houses, we ensure that the children of longtime residents or homeowners will face one of three scenarios: steep and unrealistic housing costs; “drive until you qualify”; or a need to move elsewhere. Indeed, unaffordable housing can prevent young people from forming attachments, contributing to delayed marriage and childbearing. The very notion of a community—where people and families grow in connection with one another—exists in tension with a conception of places as assemblages of individual households, where parochial interests often lock out aspiring homeowners.”
Funny, I recently cited a City-Journal article and was told this:
That reliability evaluation was based on . . . . . Science! 😐
[edidted]
In any case, here’s what I wrote to someone else on June 5th, including the bold text that I used at the time – based solely upon what I was reading on the Vanguard:
My suspicions were only confirmed by the series of Vanguard articles since then.
Based upon some quick research, here’s what I’m gathering:
Vacaville has had some large-scale business failures (including Johnson and Johnson, and Novartis). Perhaps that’s the reason that a 501(c)(3) non-profit “California Biotechnology Manufacturing Center” was established there, for companies like Agenus to take advantage of. However, I don’t know all of the fiscal or other implications of that status, or the reason for it.
Agenus is selling its old site (for $26 million), and purchased the new site for $18 million. Seems like Vacaville is becoming the go-to location for such large-scale manufacturing, apparently as a result of lower cost and more space (along with its proximity to the Bay Area, etc.). Of course, one can see the “result” in the form of the sprawl that’s marching northward along Highway 505. (That new housing isn’t exactly “inexpensive”, however.)
I’d rather not see Davis pursue that path. However, one might ask if Davis (even with DISC) is actually a viable location for large-scale pursuits such as what Vacaville is pursuing, or even if it was able to compete on lease price. Remember that DISC is primarily driven by the profit from housing, from the developer’s point of view.
In any case, one might ask why Vacaville (despite its pursuit of growth and development) could be worse-off fiscally, than Davis:
https://www.dailyrepublic.com/all-dr-news/opinion/local-opinion-columnists/the-tax-watchers-is-vacaville-headed-for-financial-cliff/
Davis is also not as bad-off as Vacaville regarding “pension debt per household”, either:
https://www.pensiontracker.org/entireList.php?selYear=2018&varName=field46&agenty_type=&showOnly=1
Well, I’m off to beat the intense heat, for the moment.
I wouldn’t call the loss of Novartis as a failure for Vacaville. Novartis only purchased the Chiron plant because they wanted Chirons technology for blood testing. Chiron was known as the guardian of the world’s blood supply. Novartis ended up with the Vacaville plant as a result of the take over of Chiron. The Vacaville plant is a large scale fermentation facility that was built specially for Chiron’s projects, and not of great use for Novartis products. Novartis found whatever work they could for Vacaville for years, but we knew it probably wouldn’t last forever. They finally sold to some Chinese company who shuttered for a while and are now doing something out there, but are not a great company to work for.
It was just a circumstance thing and hardly a failure of Vacaville.
Hi Kristin(e)?
I didn’t say it was Vacaville’s “fault”, regarding the loss of those companies. Though you might be able to blame them for their dismal fiscal situation, regardless.
I like Vacaville, but I’m sorry to see the sprawl heading northward up Highway 505, from that “technology/medical” area. (Which impacts more than those in Vacaville.) Typical, sprawling development pattern alongside a freeway – which is found throughout the U.S., really.
In the long run, let’s see if that city is actually “better off” (fiscally, or otherwise), as this model hasn’t worked so far. But it is making the entire country worse – not just this region.
But when it happens in Davis, it’s because Davis failed 😐
As a 33 yr. Vacaville resident with a spouse who has an on-going 25 yr career in biotech, I couldn’t be more thrilled!
My husband started his career here in Vacaville at Chiron, which was bought out by Novartis, and he spent 20 yrs at that Vacaville plant.
I don’t know the first thing about city planning, but bringing these jobs to Vacaville is a win for everyone as these are great jobs! Not only great for those with a degree, but also for housekeeping and security jobs.
Since Novartis sold off my husband has worked in Emeryville. The cost and time of the commute has hurt our quality of life significantly. So this plant can’t be built fast enough as far as I’m concerned!
Thank you for sharing your family’s “boots on the ground” experiences… beats the theoretical/philosophical arguments… appreciated…
So what your saying is the anecdotal/opinionate arguments beat the theoretical/philosophical arguments 😐
Nor is it mine. I’ve often wondered how that area had essentially escaped development (so far). Now I know that it wasn’t an “accident”. (Thanks.)
I’m interested, and will look into this more.