$5 Million Deal: Cal Poly Humboldt Secures Former Sun Valley Floral Farms
Map showing the three tracts purchased by Cal Poly Humboldt. The area labeled Foster 3 is the former site of Sun Valley Floral Farms.
Context Courtesy of the Mad River Union
Cal Poly Humboldt has purchased the former Sun Valley Floral Farms (SVFF) property on the Arcata Bottom. The 191-acre site is adjacent to two other properties on Foster Avenue previously purchased by the university.
The purchase price was $5.05 million, according to the university. The property had been listed for sale in 2021 – erroneously, according to Sun Valley’s then-CEO Lane DeVries – for $13 million. SVFF laid off its employees and closed the sprawling operation in July of 2024.
Cal Poly says it has no immediate development plans for the property. But with a footprint one-third again bigger than the largely built-out 144-acre main campus, the location, vast expanses of land and numerous legacy structures would appear to offer multiple educational opportunities in support of the university’s degree programs, from agriculture and biology to fire science, cannabis studies, environmental and high-tech applications.
The purchase was disclosed in a news release, below. The release also contains the news that the University’s previous plans to develop the nearby 16.7 acre parcel as the Foster Campus Connectivity Project are being re-evaluated “based on community input.”
Neighbors in the sparsely populated but tight-knit community, already well-organized in response to previous developments in the area, have been aware of the pending purchase for weeks, having heard from people associated with the property. However, the university has been waiting for escrow to close before disclosing the acquisition.
The Cal Poly Humboldt news release:
ARCATA, Calif. – Cal Poly Humboldt announced today the acquisition of 191 acres of agricultural and industrial property on Foster Avenue in Arcata. The property, which includes a 418,320-square-foot industrial building, represents an investment in the University’s long-term growth as California’s newest polytechnic institution.
The property, part of the former Sun Valley Farms site, was purchased by the Cal Poly Humboldt Foundation and leased to the University. There are no current plans to develop the 191-acre property.
“This acquisition provides Cal Poly Humboldt with the space and flexibility we need to grow responsibly while stewarding important resources in our community,” said Steve Karp, Cal Poly Humboldt’s acting vice president for Advancement and executive director for the Cal Poly Humboldt Foundation. “While we have no immediate development plans for this property, securing land for future generations of students is essential to fulfilling our polytechnic vision.”
The property currently has existing lease agreements with established agricultural tenants, including Driscoll’s Berries and Sierra Madre Mushrooms. The University will continue with the leases, preserving agricultural jobs and operations in Arcata.
Key features of the property include:
- 191 acres of land with flexible Agriculture, Commercial, and Industrial zoning
- 418,320-square-foot warehouse building
- Ample water resources with 400 gallons-per-minute capacity from ground wells
- 600,000-gallon fire mitigation tank
- Established agricultural operations
- Proximity to U.S. Highway 101, Arcata-Eureka Airport (ACV) and Port of Humboldt Bay
“Cal Poly Humboldt remains committed to being a thoughtful neighbor and responsible steward of land in Humboldt County,” said Michael Fisher, acting vice president for Administrative Affairs and chief financial officer. “This property allows us to support existing agricultural operations while providing options for future growth as our polytechnic programs evolve.”
The acquisition expands upon two contiguous Foster Avenue properties. The first is the University’s 16-acre parcel purchased in 2022, planned as a transportation and mobility hub with shuttle service to support nearby student housing. Based on community input, the University is actively re-evaluating its plans. Another adjoining 26 acres purchased by the Foundation in 2024, was leased to the University and is partially being developed as an instructional farm.
Cal Poly Humboldt will work closely with the City of Arcata, neighboring property owners, and community stakeholders on any future uses of the newest Foster Avenue property, ensuring compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and local land-use policies.
The Foster Avenue properties complement Cal Poly Humboldt’s polytechnic transformation. With support from the state’s $458 million investment, the University built the Hinarr Hu Moulik student housing complex (964 beds), launched numerous new academic programs, and made significant infrastructure improvements.
ABOUT CAL POLY HUMBOLDT
Cal Poly Humboldt is Northern California’s first polytechnic university and one of three polytechnic universities in the California State University system. Dedicated to hands-on learning, applied research, and social and environmental stewardship, the University’s unique environment serves as a living laboratory for innovation in sustainability, climate resiliency, renewable energy, natural resources, and more. The University offers undergraduate and graduate degrees across three colleges: Natural Resources & Sciences, Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, and Professional Studies.
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A possible positive is that CPH has deep pockets, your tax dollars, to address and clean up any toxic problems from previous owners.
I graduated from Humboldt State University, so it always going to be HSU to me.
I believe that as a state owned entity they have exemptions that the public is not privileged to, clean up might not be required.
Clean up laws and rules are for the wage slave not for the government are you kidding right now LMAO
Pretty good price tag for almost 200 acres of flat ag land. I’m sure the neighbors are happy too. Good all around, I guess.
Damn this! Einsenhower tried to warn us about the threat posed by the School Industrial Complex all the way back in 1961, way before people were paying attention, and look, here’s where we’re at now, they’re going after our beloved beautiful flowers.
Fish & Wildlife, Sheriff, and various other LEO’s went after our beloved beautiful flowers.
While I’m pleased that Cal Poly Humboldt is investing in the community, I’m having a hard time understanding why it (and many luminous Democratic politicians and Progressive people in the entertainment, business and technical sectors) are acquiring assets so close to sea level with the pending climate crisis and inevitable sea level rise. The only thing that makes sense why our Progressive leaders would purchase at or near sea level must be for insurance payouts and losses they can claim at tax time.
Sounds cynically sarcastic. 🤷♀️
I don’t mean to sound sarcastic, just trying to understand the mixed messages.
It could also be because the whole sea level rise is an over blown farce? Why else would the Obama’s, John Kerry, and Bill Gates buy beachfront property at sea level after going on and on and on about climate change and sea level rise?
Not necessarily my opinion on the matter, just throwing it out there.
Let me add to your….after going on and on about climate change- While Flying Around In Their Private Jets!! It’s really hard to stomach all the crap from this ruling class of elites…BOTH sides of the aisle
Tsunamis are real…
Near as I could tell, the elevation above sea level on that property ranges from only about 10′ to only about 23’…
And if I’m not mistaken, it’s actually subsiding a little bit every year…
Here is a chance for Cal Poly to become more food self-sufficient.
They could use the green houses for year round veggies, plant trees for fruits to eat and make juices.
They could raise chickens for eggs. The possibilities are endless. Also would make a great ag program.
Might want to check it first for insecticide and fungicide contamination, etc…
Heavy metals…???
Soil fumigants…???
Systemic fertilizers, insecticides and fungicides…???
Might be more than a few nasty carcinogens residually present…
The commercial flower industry is potentially pretty toxic…
Who knows how that land has been treated in the past…
Things that are grown there now may not be fit for human consumption any time soon…
The wonderful Cannabis Degree Program could just grow tons of cannabis from all the genomes that people have so gullibly donated. Research fields to analyze which strains and crosses are most amenable to corporate cultivation models! Think of the corporate advantages!! And then the wonderfully permitted mega-farms can be successful…with all the already wealthy investors becoming yet more wealthy!! THAT is America!!! Am I right or am I right?
You can actually see the lab work advantage, what student would want to spend class time doing the harvest?
Pretty but Poisonous | The Hidden Harms of Lily Bulb Farms
http://www.yournec.org/pretty-but-poisonous-the-hidden-harms-of-lily-bulb-farms/
“…Easter lily bulb farms also use high levels of copper-based fungicides, such as copper hydroxide and copper sulfate. The EPA label for copper hydroxide notes, “This copper product is toxic to fish and aquatic organisms. Unlike most organic pesticides, copper is an element and will not break down in the environment and will therefore accumulate in sediment with repeated applications.” For a more extensive list of the chemicals used on Smith River estuary lily bulb farms, visit siskiyouland.org.
According to that report, in 2021 (the most recent year that data was available) farmers applied 219,822 pounds of pesticides on approximately 300 acres of Easter lily fields (that is 733 pounds per acre). Many of these chemicals are harmful to humans and deadly to aquatic species who are affected when pesticides are washed into waterways, something that happens often in an estuary in a rainy climate. Pesticides used include the fumigant 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D), which is banned in 34 countries including the European Union because it is a known carcinogen and reproductive toxin; metam sodium, a human reproductive and immune system toxicant that is also highly toxic to fish and which is banned in the European Union; phorate, a probable groundwater contaminant that is banned in the EU, China, India, Switzerland, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Turkey, among other nations. According to the EPA phorate “is very highly toxic to fish and wildlife” and warns that “runoff may be hazardous to aquatic organisms in neighboring areas.”
I had agricultural classes in high school. Feed animals before and after school. Producing food at this site perhaps hydroponically to avoid soil toxicity issues would be great , especially if greenhouses are available. I buy hydroponic organic living lettuce that comes with rootball still attached that stays very well in fridge. Use students on a work study basis to pay off college tuition loans.
Leendert tried to auction off all of the psychical assets but didn’t have any bids.
This “ag program” couldn’t happen at a better time! The Orange Lunatic is deporting the people who pick our fruits and vegetables. These students in the Ag Program can get a Bachelors degree and then can compete for jobs on industrial farms so they can pick our fruits and vegetables! What an amazing idea! I’m so glad Cal Poly Humboldt is so forward thinking!
They will be happy and smiling to have any job at all. Serfs shall be renamed as “production assistants” and can work for free while attending college to get first in line for the incredibly low- paying jobs offered in the future. It’s a great plan!
Anybody know why sun valley sold out and gave up on global capitalism?
no labor force of imported cotton pickers?
I haven’t heard the scoop
the timing is consistent with the shutoff of foreign labor.
oh how I needed those flowers
Manifest Destiny. Never ends well for “locals”.
Cal Poly Homeless are screwing the locals, just as UC Davis and so many other Cal Universities have done to locals communities that they contaminated and taken over.
Paid for with OUR tax money. Shouldn’t that mean that now this land is OURS?
I bet there’s some complicated words to tell us it really isn’t…and we should shut up and obey
If you read the news release (not the Mad River Union’s rewrite), you see that the land was not purchased by the university. It was bought by a private foundation, for leasing to the school. The lease could cost the school as little as $1 a year (pure speculation, on my part).
Yet they say that they can’t afford a football teem.
They’re spending it all teaching folks how to read and write.
College football teams outside the wealthiest conferences of top-level ball who have media deals are paid for by the boosters. If you want Cal Poly football its only a few million a year for a D2 program, much cheaper than fielding an FBS team. The field it there, all it needs is someone or a group of someones to show up with a huge check and make it happen. I will bet you if some rich Cal Poly alum says they’ll drop $25-$30M on the program they’ll be playing ball next year.
Heck, it might take an extra hundred thousand a year to buy a great team with NIL.