Copia – the $80 million wine, food and arts center that was supposed to help anchor downtown Napa's revitalization – has closed and filed for bankruptcy.
This is an unfortunate turn of events, but it's not overly surprising. (Read the details on the Napa Valley Register and the Sacramento Bee.) Inspired and partially funded by Robert Mondavi, Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts was intended to educate people about wine and food, serve as a cultural and artistic center, cement Napa Valley's place in the wine world and spur further rejuvenation of a marginal downtown. But the place struggled since it opened in 2001 and I maintain it was largely because of the location.
Napa Valley is hallowed ground for the wine industry. The narrow valley has some of the best wineries and grows some of the highest quality grapes in the world. But Napa the city, located at the southern end of the valley, has long been a blue collar town. For many years, Napa's fortunes were more closely tied to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard (which closed in 1996) than to the wine industry, which was centered in St. Helena and Yountville. Everyone drives right on through Napa to get to the wineries.
Napa civic leaders have worked tirelessly to revitalize a downtown that used to roll up the sidewalks no later than 6 o'clock, and they have had some success. There are new restaurants, wine tasting rooms, hotels, day spas and a restored opera house. What is now called the Oxbow neighborhood – an extension of the historic downtown – has evolved a great deal since Copia opened in 2001. A 160-unit Westin Verasa resort recently opened, joining the fabulous, year-old Oxbow Public Market and other new attractions. A Ritz-Carlton is proposed.
But Copia never drew the expected crowds. Of the 5 million visitors to the Napa Valley each year, Copia attracted maybe 2%. Some people blamed the prices, some people said it was dull, some people said they couldn't figure out what the place was about.
I go back to the old real estate saw: Location, location, location. Copia would be thriving if it were located in Yountville or St. Helena, two cities that visiting wine lovers and foodies know well.
The great irony, though, is that Copia appears to have done at least one thing right. Downtown Napa may now be healthy enough to withstand the closure.
– Paul Shigley
