The Benicia asset is located on a prime North Bay site, sitting on hills overlooking the Carquinez Strait, a waterway connecting San Pablo Bay and Suisun Bay.

In a statement, Signature noted the company’s experience working with communities on large, complex redevelopment projects.

“We look forward to collaborating and coordinating with the City of Benicia, neighboring property owners and the broader community as we explore potential redevelopment of the site and plan for its future,” said Mike Ghielmetti, Signature’s president.

Signature’s developments include the Brooklyn Basin project on Oakland’s waterfront, the Ruby Hills housing and golf course neighborhood in Pleasanton and Willow Village, a new Menlo Park neighborhood replacing an office and research campus near Meta’s headquarters.

In October, Phillips 66 hired Catellus Development and Deca to plan the redevelopment of its Los Angeles refinery complex, which sits on 650 acres straddling Carson and Wilmington in proximity to the Port of Los Angeles. Phillips 66 said it tapped the two firms because of their experience solving complex redevelopment challenges.

Oakland-based Catellus redeveloped the 200-acre East Bay site previously owned by Pacific Refinery Co. into a residential community of 926 homes known as Victoria by the Bay in 2003. The project involved remediation of the site, which refined 55K barrels of oil daily until it was shut down in the mid-1990s, including the removal of contaminants.

Deca, based in San Francisco, converted a Class C warehouse at 800 Cesar Chavez St. in the city into an electric vehicle charging and maintenance facility. The project involved an extensive power upgrade, delivering more than five MW of power to the 130K square foot site.

Phillip 66’s century-old Los Angeles refinery and Valero’s Benicia refinery, which opened in 1969, have the capacity to refine more than 300,000 barrels of oil per day into gasoline. The closure of the two aging refineries will reduce the Golden State’s capacity to produce gasoline by more than 17%.

In August, Gov. Gavin Newsom convened a special session of the state legislature to approve a new law allowing the state to require that refineries maintain a minimum inventory of fuel to avoid supply shortages. The legislation, signed by Newsom on October 14, requires petroleum refiners to backfill supplies and plan for maintenance downtime to prevent gasoline price spikes.

Phillips 66 announced on October 16 that it would permanently close its Los Angeles refinery at the end of this year.

“With the long-term sustainability of our Los Angeles refinery uncertain and affected by market dynamics, we are working with leading land development firms to evaluate the future use of our unique and strategically located properties near the Port of Los Angeles,” Phillips 66 CEO Mark Lashier said in a statement.

The impending closure of the Phillips 66 and Valero refineries will reduce the number of full-scale oil refineries in California to seven.

In February, the California Energy Commission produced a list of options to ensure a reliable supply of gasoline as oil companies withdraw from the refinery business in the state. The list includes state ownership of one or more of the production facilities, the Los Angeles Times reported.