19 October 2024 / SF News / Virgil Aspen

A New Group of Silicon Valley Techies Are Now Trying to Build A North Bay Village

Yet another group of Silicon Valley tech workers are trying to build their own paradise, this time on a 267-acre plot located 90 minutes north of San Francisco.

The project, named Esmeralda, says it is completely separate from the similar California Forever proposal from Solano County.

Those behind this new effort voice hopes of instead building a tightly-knit and walkable community in Cloverdale, a small town on the outskirts of Sonoma County.

Esmeralda's only public-facing founder, Devon Zuegel, is a Stanford graduate who has spent time as a software engineer at Github and Affirm, according to her LinkedIn profile.

On that same page, Zuegel also lists that she has volunteered for housing activist group California YIMBY, in addition to leading The Stanford Review, the college's Peter Thiel-funded right-wing newspaper.

"If you dream of living in a small town while being surrounded by creative, high-agency people, we’re building this for you," Zuegel wrote in an X post announcing the project.

Esmeralda Land Company, the for-profit company ran by Zuegel behind the project, entered a purchase agreement for the 267 acres of land in July, ending a seven-year period where the parcel sat on the market without an interested buyer.

The tract was previously the site of a $200 million proposal for a hotel, an idea that fell through because a local airport was deemed to be too close.

The company has previously hosted a "pop-up village" in Healdsburg that their official website says served as a prototype for what they hope Esmeralda will become.

On the website, it is also stated that the purchase has not closed yet, and that the company are in a "rigorous due diligence process" to ensure the feasibility of the project.

Local officials seem to be in support of the idea, expressing excitement that developers are now paying attention to Cloverdale, a rural city of less than 10,000 people.

"It’s a really cool idea," said Neena Hanchett, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Image from Wikimedia

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  • Damn. Props to @Virgil Aspen for coming through with a commenter requested write-up.

    • cl 6 hours ago edited

      Cloverdalians, to the battlements!

        • If you dream of living in a small town while being surrounded by creative, high-agency people, we’re building this for you," Zuegel wrote in an X post announcing the project.

          Why am I reminded of this?
          ****
          Claude Upson, just told Mame that he wants to purchase the lot adjacent to his patio as a wedding gift:

          Claude Upson: We have to work fast though. There’s some people bidding on that property – the wrong kind, a fellow named Epstein, Abraham Epstein.

          Mame: The cellist? Oh, how lucky you are – all that glorious music right next door. And she’s a darling, one of the nicest women I ever met.

          Doris Upson: I guess you don’t understand quite how it is up here, Mamie, but this section is restricted only up to our property line, so we feel that we have an obligation to make sure that, well, you know.
          ****
          Shove your "high agency people" up your gated-community-yearning, sanitized-from-reality, smug ass.

          • "surrounded by creative, high-agency people"

            Yeah, sure, every crowd has their own shibboleths, but do these people even hear themselves? They might mean something completely innocent, but everybody else hears - If you're not tech, you're little people.

            • so will the influx of smug tech industry pricks get along with the smug wine industry pricks who are already there?

              the difference between the two, though, is the wine guys understand you need a working class to, you know, pick your grapes and stuff

                • As long as it doesn’t screw up the Anderson Valley

                    • Well the SMART train to the Larkspur Ferry is planned to go all the way to Cloverdale, eventually. It seems to be kind of stalled at STS

                      • "The company has previously hosted a "pop-up village" in Healdsburg that their official website says served as a prototype for what they hope Esmeralda will become."
                        lol Just what the Bay Area needs, another Healdsburg! Well, we've certainly got enough douchebags to populate another Healdsburg...

                          • Sonoma County has ACRES of VACANT "agricultural" space - dead orchards, undeveloped farm land and bankrupt fields. Let's develop those spaces FIRST, then maybe, start taking away people's property ...

                              • What the fuck are you going on about? Who's taking away whose property? Where did you get that?

                                The proposed development site is the former location of a sawmill and it's been actively marketed for redevelopment for over a decade. And, it's right next to Cloverdale, so it utilizes all the existing infrastructure.

                                If you're going to develop a property, an abandoned industrial site is waaay better than "VACANT" agricultural land.

                                • Maybe find another pet project for your millions? Another space agency, perhaps? Or a deep-sea submersible? Here's an idea! Something related to medicine that can save lives and actually have a POSITIVE IMPACT on the society around you!

                                  • Esmeralda is a terrible name, good luck with the project though.

                                      • Sonomans are way too savvy to let these fascistic billionaires build privatized Legolands in their midst.