A new Bay Area city backed by a secretive group of billionaires will be built “non-stop” for 40 years, the project’s CEO said in a news release Wednesday. The announcement further reveals the long-term commitment of California Forever’s backers to creating a new city of 400,000 people, even after polling overwhelmingly indicated locals weren’t interested in the idea.
In 2024, reports surfaced that a shadowy group called Flannery Associates had purchased 65,000 largely rural acres around Suisun City and Rio Vista, making it the largest landowner in Solano County. The issue even became one of national security as local politicians said they had no idea who was buying up land near Travis Air Force Base.
After the purchases became public, the group, under the name California Forever, announced it planned to build a new city that could accommodate up to 400,000 people. Solano County currently has about 455,000 residents. The announcement was widely unpopular in the county and, amid dire polling numbers, California Forever pulled the November 2024 ballot measure that would have allowed the project to bypass certain zoning restrictions to develop the area…