Station Casinos, the Las Vegas developer of the Rohnert Park casino, has spent more than $17 million to purchase land in the surrounding area, according to a new article in this week’s North Bay Bohemian.
Real estate prices for property in the vicinity of the 66-square foot project have increased ten-fold since 2009, according to the article, because the area is expected to attract new businesses.
From the article:
Prices weren't always so high. In 2005, the tribe paid $100 million for the 254-acre swath of sovereign land, a relative bargain at $393,700 per acre. Only 66 of those acres are being used for the casino—the other 188 will act as a "community separator" to the southwest of the site.
(Now-bankrupt financier and developer Clem Carinalli was the principal moneymaker in that deal, along with James Ratto and Dennis Hunter.)
Plots are still available, but landowners know they're sitting on a jackpot. One five-acre parcel a few hundred feet from Wilfred Avenue, on Langner Avenue, is being offered by Century 21 for $5 million. In 2009, the property sold for as little as $255,000.
The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria will pay $200 million to Rohnert Park to offset impacts on crime, roads and other infrastructure, while neighboring cities will receive a total of about $400,000, according to the article.
The tribe will also donate $30 million a year for open space projects and up to $8 million to the Indian Health Project, according to the Bohemian.
