California Forever dealt huge blow as $3 billion contract goes to Texas

SF Gate ^ | July 19, 2026 | Katie Dowd, Managing editor

[Red Badger]

California Forever, a controversial project with aspirations to expand Solano County by up to 400,000 residents, was dealt a blow last week as a $3 billion contract went to Texas instead.

California Forever first became known to the public in 2024, when reports surfaced that a shadowy group of billionaires had purchased 65,000 largely rural acres around Suisun City and Rio Vista, making it the largest landowner in Solano County. The group announced it planned to build a new city with its acquisitions, but the idea was widely unpopular in the county. Amid dire polling numbers, California Forever pulled a November 2024 ballot measure that would have allowed the project to bypass certain zoning restrictions to develop the area.

Since then, the project has pivoted, at least in the short term, toward manufacturing. The site’s location, which has access to the Pacific Ocean via Suisun Bay, has been pitched to companies as an ideal spot for shipbuilding.

One of those companies is Saronic Technologies Inc. The Austin company builds autonomous ships and has a contract with the U.S. government. Recently, the U.S. Navy used its drones to attack a naval base in Iran, and one of Saronic’s autonomous Corsairs was employed in the rescue of downed U.S. pilots in the Strait of Hormuz.

Saronic had several finalists for its $3.2 billion new shipyard contract, among them the Solano site. But last week, the company announced it was staying in Texas and awarding the contract to the Port of Brownsville. In a press release touting the port, Saronic said the project will generate $160 billion for the county, making it “one of the largest economic development projects in modern Texas history.” Construction is set to start this year, with the port operational in 2028.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Military/Veterans; Society; Travel
KEYWORDS: austin; brownsville; california; californiaforever; corsairs; drones; katiedowd; navy; riovista; saronictechnologies; shipbuilding; solanocounty; southtexas; straitofhormuz; suisunbay; suisuncity; texas; usv; waronterror; zoningrestrictions

[Chani]

Ha! Take that, Kalifornia!

[econjack]

Smart move given CA anti-business posture.

[Zathras]

I know the CA location.
Very risky considering CA controls and traffic issues.

[GenXPolymath]

Brownsville has access to a huge work force of dual nationals that can make American wages and live across the border for 1/3 the cost. There is a reason SpaceX is also in Brownsville with a huge manufacturing force.

[BB62]

It’s “Commiefornia”.

;-)

[Enterprise]

[citizen]

It’s in SF Gate so they can’t call it fake news.

[Political Junkie Too]

They wouldn't even let the historic battleship USS Iowa stay in Suisun Bay. San Francisco rejected it as a museum ship, and it was moved to Los Angeles instead.

What made them think they would let shipbuilding take place there?

-PJ

[ifinnegan]

Suisun Bay had the mothball fleet for decades.

I don’t know when they got rid of it.

[Vaduz]

California has lost all of it’s value nothing of worth here any more democrats death pow in action.

[dfwgator]

Yay, more liberals come to Texas.

[Red Badger]

I don’t think so. Working in a shipyard is real work and requires men with muscle. Liberals don’t like real, physical work and their men are are females..................

[woodbutcher1963]

Really, I would guess that people building ships tend to be more salt of the earth types.
Maybe Union Democrats, but still blue collar working class folks.

[woodbutcher1963]

Gosh, even Fall River, MA has the USS Massachusetts and a couple other retired vessels at Battleship Cove.

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[Political Junkie Too]

And Houston had the USS Texas at the San Jacinto Historic Site for decades until it was repositioned to Galveston for refurbishment and permanent berthing.

-PJ