“Since then, a company called Flannery Associates has been buying large plots of land in a largely agricultural region 60 miles northeast of San Francisco. The company, which has little information public about its operations, has committed more than $800 million to secure thousands of acres of farmland, court documents show. ... Mr. Moritz and others had dreams of transforming tens of thousands of acres into a bustling metropolis that, according to the pitch, could generate thousands of jobs and be as walkable as Paris or the West Village in New York.”

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“California Forever, the company behind the project, has spent about $1 billion acquiring 70,000 acres of farmland and put forth a plan to build a walkable community with nearby manufacturing and shipbuilding facilities.”

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“Flannery had no known business, shareholders or employees, yet in the space of a few years it spent about $950 million on about 70,000 acres, an area twice the size of San Francisco. After The New York Times revealed the company’s intentions and funders in 2023, California Forever was born, and Mr. Sramek began selling his plan. The company’s long-term plan is to build a walkable city of up to 400,000 people, about an hour north of San Francisco, with a manufacturing center and nearby shipbuilding facility along the Sacramento River.”

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