Faced with staggering debt, Copia is planning to sell off its 12-acre riverfront property on the Oxbow, possibly by the end of the year, shifting most of its wine and food programs to new facilities in San Francisco.

Copia hopes to lease back part of its Napa campus for selected aspects of the operation, said Garry McGuire, Copia’s president and CEO.

“We are committed to Copia’s home base and headquarters remaining in Napa,” wrote McGuire.

“The core business of Copia is healthy and growing.” However, Copia’s $78 million bond debt “is not sustainable,” he wrote.

“The best solution is to move Copia to a facility that is not encumbered by so much debt,” and get the highest price for the property itself, he wrote.

The sale would end a seven-year struggle to make Copia, a one-of-a-kind cultural center, an economic success.

The $55 million center opened in November, 2001. Napa officials hailed it as anchor for hotels and restaurants that would draw tourists to downtown and the Oxbow.

The campus, which was the dream of vintner Robert Mondavi, never drew the expected crowds.

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