It’s Wine Country’s worst-kept secret: Tourists are welcome to bunk down, but many who sauté their days away in its world-famous restaurants have nowhere to sleep nearby.
Napa and Sonoma counties have nine Michelin-starred restaurants between them, but few major apartment projects under construction. The development of much-needed multifamily housing is hindered by declining rents that are nonetheless unaffordable to many in the hospitality and leisure industry, as well as a burdensome approval process seasoned with NIMBY sentiment.
It’s under these conditions that the town of Yountville in Napa County is proposing a controversial development to build up to 150 units of “workforce housing” around the corner from the three-Michelin-starred The French Laundry…