Napa County could sell downtown Carithers building

Napa County could seek to sell its Carithers building on First Street in downtown Napa for a minimum price of $10 million.

County officials for years have said they'd like to get rid of the former department store, which has housed various county offices since 1993 but that some view as an eyesore. But the county has needed the office space.

Early last year, the county awarded a $5 million contract to fix the roof and air conditioning on the three-story building. It seemed that the county wouldn't jettison Carithers anytime soon.

But the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, June 16, will consider declaring Carithers as surplus property. Switches in county department locations have made this possible.

The Board of Supervisors meets at 9 a.m. in the county administration building at 1195 Third St. in downtown Napa.

Carithers is located at 1127 First St. in the heart of downtown Napa. It is across the street from the First Street Napa hotel, condominium and retail project being built on the former site of Kohl's department store and Parkway Plaza.

"Now is the time to get rid of 1127," county Chief Executive Officer Ryan Alsop said on Friday. "That's been a goal for a while, not just for the county, the Board of Supervisors and previous Board of Supervisors, but also city leaders and other people, people who are working in the downtown business corridor there on First Street."

Though Napa County controls the fate of Carithers, the city of Napa has a stake in a matter that will help shape the future downtown.

Napa Mayor Scott Sedgley said many people would probably like to see the Carithers site repurposed. Architecturally, the building is a big, surviving monolith from the Napa's downtown redevelopment of the 1970s.

"The county declaring it surplus is the first step," Sedgley said.

If the Board of Supervisors declares the site as surplus, local agencies and affordable housing sponsors would have the first chance to buy it, under California law. If no such agency steps forward after 60 days, the county could then put the property on the market.

Alsop said no one has contacted the county about buying Carithers.

"Unofficially, in the community, we're hearing whispers and rumors, yes," he said. "But officially, we've had no requests or offers made. But we think this is a good time to do it. We think it's a valuable piece of property."

Alsop noted the substantial investment being made directly across the street from Carithers with the new First Street Napa project.

The Carithers building has critics. Local artist Gordon Huether last year urged supervisors to get rid of Carithers and also spoke to the Napa Valley Register on the topic. Huether said the building "sticks in my craw because it's so ugly."

Napa County officials have talked about selling Carithers for over a decade. Their wish never came true.

The air conditioning and roof repair began last year to prolong Carithers' life as a county building. Instead, it may have hastened the building's demise. A 2025 county report detailed what happened.

Roof work was underway in September 2025 when two small storms hit. The first hit when half of the roof was open for construction – clear weather had been forecast – and caused water damage on the second floor, with leaks penetrating to the first floor. The second storm caused further damage, the report said.

As a result, the election division and public defender's office moved into the then-vacant Hall of Justice, whose jail had been emptied in August when its inmates were moved to the new county jail south of downtown. Much of the district attorney's office moved into rented space at the 1250 Main St. office complex in what was billed as a temporary step until Carithers construction was finished.

Making the district attorney's move from Carithers permanent, shifting Child Support Services to leased space, and relocating the assessor-recorder-county clerk to the Hall of Justice will allow the county to jettison Carithers.

Napa County last fall suspended work on the Carithers air conditioner and roof project during the winter to avoid further water damage. That suspension looks to become permanent. Alsop said the county can use the roofing material and air conditioning units bought for the project at other county buildings.

At one point, the county considered selling the Hall of Justice site for redevelopment. The three-story building was built in 1976 and expanded in 1989. It had offices on two stories and the jail on the third story.

The Hall of Justice has its own backstory.

In 2024, county officials said inmates flushed large items down the toilets, damaging pipes and causing plumbing leaks onto the offices below. The probation department, Napa County Fire and the Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District moved out.

The jail moved last year to a new complex along the Napa-Vallejo Highway (Highway 221), leaving the building vacant. With the inmates gone, the plumbing problems were solved and the lower-floor offices could be used again.

As things stand now, the Hall of Justice could remain for the foreseeable future. It is next to the county administration building and the 1998 criminal courthouse, which is not to be confused with the historic courthouse.

Sedgley didn't voice the same aesthetic concerns about the Hall of Justice that many have about Carithers.

"My personal opinion, I think the Hall of Justice is one of the most attractive buildings on that block," the mayor said.

The Carithers department store came to downtown Napa in the Behlow Building in the mid-1930s. But by the 1970s, the store's owners looked at moving to a bigger location in an outlying area.

The city of Napa launched a redevelopment effort that involved knocking down blocks of buildings to make room for modern replacements. Part of that effort involved building a new home for Carithers to keep the store downtown.

In October 1972, Napa dedicated today's Carithers building with much fanfare. The guest of honor was George Romney, the U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development, who called the city's urban renewal efforts "visionary."

Carithers closed after the February 1986 storms that flooded downtown with Napa River water. Napa County bought the building in 1989 for $1.9 million, leased it out for a few years, then moved in various county offices in 1993.

Thirty-three years later, the county may be done with Carithers.

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