The family of tech mogul Marc Andreessen owns tracts of land close to the controversial “California Forever” city project he is backing – and is planning to build more than 1,000 homes as part of a “visionary” real estate plan, according to a report.
Andreessen, the cofounder of venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, is one of several Silicon Valley bigwigs trying to build a new city on rural farmland in Solano County. The California Forever project was delayed at least two years in July after it faced stiff resistance from local residents.
Meanwhile, an LLC operated by Andreessen’s wife, Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, and brother-in-law, John Arrillaga Jr, owns three tracts of land totaling about 730 acres within a few miles of California Forever’s holdings, according to records obtained by TechCrunch.
The project was already in development in 2015 – two years before California Forever began buying up huge tracts of land in the area – and does not appear to be affiliated.
The land was reportedly first acquired in 1985 by the siblings’ real estate tycoon father, the late John Arrillaga Sr., and his partner Richard Peery. The LLC, called A&P Children Investments, is plotting a mixed-use development that will include more than 1,000 homes on a parcel of land in the nearby city of Vacaville, California.
During a local city council meeting in April, a representative for A&P Children reportedly said the development was a “visionary” housing project.
“What we’re looking to do here is something that’s unique to Solano County and actually to most of California,” said the representative, Greg Brun, according to TechCrunch.
Brun added that the project would not “have the issues you’ve had in the past.”
Andreessen and Arrillaga Jr. could not immediately be reached for comment on the report.
A California Forever spokesperson told the outlet that its leaders “never made an offer” to buy the land – and had already begun buying land in the area for years before learning Andreessen’s family owned the parcels.
“We were not aware that the Arrillaga and Peery families owned any land in Solano County until about two years ago, when we were already five years into the project,” the spokesperson said.
California Forever’s billionaire backers, including Andreessen, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Steve Jobs’ widow, businesswoman Laurene Powell Jobs, have been quiet about their involvement since they were revealed as having bankrolled nearly $1 billion in stealthy land purchases in Solano County.
The project’s CEO Jan Sramek has pitched California Forever to locals as a walkable city that would solve problems plaguing the state, such housing costs, punishing work commutes and environmental crises.
Sramek and his associates had planned to seek approval for the city through a ballot measure in November, but placed it on hold pending the outcome of environmental impact studies.
Local lawmakers and residents have been critical of tactics employed by California Forever in its push to build the city, with one resident once likening Sramek to a “snake oil salesman” during a heated town hall meeting
“Delaying the vote gives everyone a chance to pause and work together, which is what is needed — not a fight between friends throughout the County on both sides of the issue,” according to a joint statement by the county and California Forever.
