Arent Fox Bay Area Land News - July 7, 2016
News you can 'dig' covering national, California, Bay Area, San Francisco, South Bay, Peninsula, and East Bay headlines.
Just Saying...
What happens when transportation, a keystone of land use architecture, starts to shift from its original weight-bearing place? SPUR's blog, with a contribution from Joshua Karlin-Resnick, investigates how CEQA's regulatory requirement to study and alleviate the impact new development has on traffic at intersections has widened roads, pressured pedestrians, and encouraged cars, driving us away from planning visions. Get the full scoop here.
-T. Tosta
US/California/Bay Area News
Curbed SF
Seattle is crushing San Francisco in new home sales
Seattle’s approach to housing has been night and day compared to San Francisco: They set a goal of over 2,400 new units every year for nearly 20 years, starting way back in 2005.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Business Times
How Caltrain's $1.2 billion in contracts could improve your commute
If the transit agency's board approves the deals, it could start the process of electrifying Caltrain tracks between San Jose and San Francisco.
To read the full article, click here.
Bloomberg BNA
Video: How tech is transforming American real estate
Glenn Kelman, chief executive officer at Redfin, discusses technology's impact on real estate, the San Francisco market and the trends he's seeing. He speaks to Bloomberg's Cory Johnson on "Bloomberg West."
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Chronicle
California’s greenhouse gas emissions drop, barely
The paltry size of the drop — with emissions down less than 1 percent from the previous year — illustrates just how difficult meeting California’s ambitious global warming goals may be.
To read the full article, click here.
Bloomberg BNA
As growth in apartment rents slows, U.S. developers press pause
Builders went upscale to preserve profits squeezed by rising land and labor costs. Now they’ll need to work harder to find renters willing to pay a premium for trendy locations and frills such as rooftop pools and fire pits.
To read the full article, click here.
Wall Street Journal
Apartment rents rise 4% in second quarter; growth slowing from peak
The slowdown reflects in part a surge of new supply in the country’s hot rental markets that is limiting landlords’ ability to raise rents, as well as uncertainty about the health of the technology sectors. Renters also are growing weary of steep rent increases in markets like San Francisco, which has seen rents jump 50% since the recession.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Chronicle
Opinion: Tax tech companies that caused our housing crisis
A recent poll found that 83 percent of voters polled were clear about the cause of our housing affordability crisis — the influx of more than 10,000 new, highly paid employees that the technology industry brought to San Francisco. In addition, more than two-thirds of voters believe we need more innovative housing solutions.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Chronicle
Big drops in urban water use, state finds
The State Water Resources Control Board reported Wednesday that urban water use dropped 28.2 percent in May compared with the same period in 2013 — the second-biggest monthly reduction since the state’s water rationing program began last year. May’s savings followed an impressive 26.1 percent reduction in April.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Chronicle
More U.S. homes bought by foreign residents, survey shows
The survey defines nonresident foreigners as non-U.S. citizens with permanent residences abroad; they generally buy homes here for investment or vacation. Resident foreigners are non-U.S. citizens who immigrated within the last two years or hold temporary visas for professional, educational or other reasons.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco News
San Francisco Business Times
How Brexit could boost San Francisco's hot office sales market
Real estate sources expect 2016 to be another banner year for office building sales, in both volume and purchase prices, thanks to strong investor demand and a boost from the Brexit.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Chronicle
SF voters could see 39 — yes, 39! — city ballot measures
“It isn’t so much a ballot as a bar exam,” John J. Pitney Jr., a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College, said of San Francisco’s upcoming election. “Direct democracy is one thing, but we do have elected officials for a reason. This is just too much. One can hardly expect voters to study so many issues in any depth.”
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Chronicle
In Hayes Valley, old freeway site is now architectural showcase
All of the recent projects fit within the Market & Octavia Area Plan, which went into effect in 2007 and restricts height to five stories along major streets and three stories on alleyways. Within these confines, fortunately, neighborhood activists have pushed for contemporary buildings that don’t look as though they were pressed from a mold.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Business Times
S.F. has a condo glut, with massive supply and dwindling demand, report says
In the city alone, there are 1,037 new condos on the market, combined with 833 units that have already been lived in. Combine that with 2,560 currently under construction, and 5,688 lined up up to be built, and the city has hit its highest number of condos in five years, Polaris said.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Chronicle
SF cannot be the provider for nation’s homeless
As it stands right now, any person who comes to San Francisco and sits down on the street becomes our problem. We’re responsible for housing them, treating their medical issues and keeping them from peeing and defecating on the street, scattering dirty hypodermic needles and blocking the sidewalk.
To read the full article, click here.
SFHAC
AHBP vote continued to July 12th
There have been a few changes to both the Mixed-Income Program and the 100% Affordable Program.
To read the full article, click here.
San Jose Mercury News
Rent increase may close celebrated San Francisco gay bar
In June the building was sold, and the bar's owner received a notice that the monthly rent for the 2,800-square-foot space would leap from $3,800 to $9,500 in September. On Sunday, he called an emergency meeting to break the news to regulars.
To read the full article, click here.
South Bay News
Mountain View Voice
Supervisors allot $3 million to North County shelter
Looking to help house hundreds of North County's homeless residents during the winter months, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors agreed last week to set aside $3 million to renovate an existing warehouse in Sunnyvale to serve as a permanent cold-weather shelter.
To read the full article, click here.
San Jose Mercury News
Campbell: Designs for Del Grande project being narrowed down
Cresleigh Homes has proposed developing the parcels at 540, 558 and 566 E. Campbell Ave. and 24 and 34 Dillon Ave., commonly referred to as the Del Grande property, into a four-story mix of retail and condominiums.
To read the full article, click here.
Peninsula News
Silicon Valley Business Journal
As Burlingame rent-control advocates submit signatures, apartment association believes it's found a fatal flaw
Burlingame is seen as a crucial test of the Bay Area's burgeoning renter's rights movement, partly because the city is majority renter and is seen as ground zero for steep rent hikes that have generated national news coverage.
To read the full article, click here.
The Almanac
Menlo Park: How Facebook's expansion might affect local traffic
If Facebook builds its two large office buildings and a hotel as proposed, an estimated 14,000 people could be commuting to and from its Menlo Park campus each day, 6,550 of whom would be new employees, according to the draft of an environmental impact report on Facebook's proposed expansion.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Business Times
New residential project heralds housing boom coming to South San Francisco
“We’re trying to be a more transit-oriented city,” said Sailesh Mehra, planning manager for the city of South San Francisco. City officials have been working with Caltrain to relocate the city’s train station and build a new plaza that will have pedestrian and bike connections to downtown. The $55 million project is expected to be complete by the end of 2019.
To read the full article, click here.
San Jose Mercury News
Palo Alto: Stanford can move homes away from TCE contamination
The council's unanimous decision did not appease residents in neighboring College Terrace, who have done their own tests to show that the trichloroethylene, or TCE, has spread.
To read the full article, click here.
Mountain View Voice
Help for troubled Rengstorff crossing
For a city with no shortage of complicated traffic problems, the rail crossing at Rengstorff Avenue is among Mountain View's worst -- at least, it seems to be the one that generates the most complaints.
To read the full article, click here.
Mountain View Voice
Mayor pitches plan for alternate rent control measure
Showalter is proposing some kind of alternative measure that would be classified as a city ordinance, meaning the City Council could amend and tweak the policy to suit future needs.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Business Times
Opinion: How much housing will square-mile site provide? Maybe none
A small city of just 4,400 residents, Brisbane contains one of the Bay Area's largest housing opportunities.
To read the full article, click here.
The Registry SF
San Mateo developer seeks to raze and rebuild hotel near Marina Shopping Center
The initial proposal, which was submitted last year, calls for the development of a new 158-room, four-story hotel along with 134 surface parking spaces. The owner, Solomon Tsai of Founder Investment Corp. of San Mateo, said the new hotel will be a Hampton Inn and Suites brand property and could offer up to 180 rooms and possibly five stories, depending on how approvals go.
To read the full article, click here.
East Bay News
San Francisco Business Times
Here's where Goldman Sachs is putting its money in Oakland
Goldman Sachs joins other huge global financial companies that have also made recent investments in Oakland real estate as the city's residential and commercial markets have hit record-high rents. The Blackstone Group and the Carlyle Group have also funded housing projects that started construction this year.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Business Times
San Francisco's largest office landlord moves to build housing in Oakland
Boston Properties (NYSE: BXP), also one of the largest office landlords in the country, and Oakland-based developer McGrath Properties have agreed to build at least 137 residential units at Parcel B in the MacArthur BART Transit Village project near the city's hot Temescal neighborhood.
To read the full article, click here.
San Jose Mercury News
Fremont welcomes tech campus
With office space on the Peninsula limited and companies looking to spread their footprint in the region, the rezoning at Ardenwood Technology Park is meant to position the site for growth.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Business Times
Uber Oakland office developer to build second creative office hub
Developer Lane Partners and financial partner Walton Street Capital, the team that sold Oakland's former Sears Building to Uber Technologies Inc. last year in a market-shaking deal, is looking to repeat its winning formula.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Business Times
Will developer rebuild after Emeryville fire destroys half-built apartments?
The developer entitled the site back in 2013 and hired contractor Davis Reed Construction to start building the $40 million project earlier this year. Construction was on track for residents to begin moving in early 2017, but the fire will likely cause at least a six-to-nine month delay, Holliday said.
To read the full article, click here.
SFGate
Oakland sells land near Lake Merritt to developers for $8 million
Despite resident protests, the council voted 6-1 to sell the parcel for $8 million to real estate firm UrbanCore and the East Bay Asian Local Development Corp., which plan to build a 27-story apartment tower and nine-story mid-rise with 361 apartments, 108 of which would be affordable.
To read the full article, click here.