Arent Fox Bay Area Land News - March 10, 2016
Please note: We have an upcoming event on Tuesday, March 22: Elephant in the Room Luncheon - Is the Bay Area Ready for a Regional Planning Agency with Teeth? If you would like to join, details are available here.
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News you can 'dig' covering national, California, Bay Area, San Francisco, South Bay, Peninsula, and East Bay headlines.
US/California/Bay Area News
San Francisco Business Times
California high-speed rail survives court challenge
California's high-speed rail agency scored a win on Tuesday as a Sacramento judge ruled that backers of the project haven't violated promises to voters — at least so far.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Business Times
Seven in 10 Bay Area nonprofits say skyrocketing real estate costs threaten their future here
More than 4 in 5 Bay Area nonprofits are concerned about the impact of the region's sky-high real estate costs on their "long-term financial sustainability," according to a study commissioned by the city of San Francisco and leading nonprofit groups.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco News
San Francisco Business Times
Exclusive: After collapse of $165 million deal, new likely buyer emerges for last Transbay tower site
A new partnership has emerged as the likely buyer of the last highrise development site adjacent to San Francisco's Transbay Transit Center. Hines and developer Michael Kriozere of Urban West Associates are close to a deal to buy the Parcel F site, according to three sources familiar with discussions.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Examiner
Mayor Ed Lee fires back at critics, defends his homeless efforts
In an unusual show of political force, Mayor Ed Lee defended his efforts to address San Francisco’s homeless issue during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting while blasting his critics for turning to rhetoric and proposals lacking substance.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Examiner
SF law would make it harder for bad contractors to win new contracts
Contractors who perform poorly on city projects in San Francisco could soon have a harder time winning future contracts, even if they put in the lowest bid. Supervisor Scott Wiener on Tuesday introduced legislation aimed at reforming The City’s contracting process by allowing city departments to take a contractor’s past performance into account when considering bids.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Examiner
Residents protest Ellis Act evictions of mid-Market building
A group of artists and musicians living in an 84-unit building on Market Street are going toe-to-toe with their landlord after being handed notices of what they say is the largest Ellis Act eviction in San Francisco history for their live-work units late last month.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Chronicle
Redone McClintock Building shows how less can be better
Sometimes the best addition to a building involves the act of simple subtraction. Don’t top off, open up. Emphasize — or reveal — the virtues of what has been there all along. Which is an elaborate way of describing how a modest building at the foot of Potrero Hill is poised to begin not its second life but its third. And the restoration is centered on a naturally ventilated atrium that did not exist before.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Chronicle
Here’s what a Bay Bridge bike path to SF might look like
We’re getting the first glimpses of what a Bay Bridge bike path from Treasure Island to San Francisco would look like — and the ideas range from the spectacular to the surreal. But as far out as some of the designs might be, one thing is clear: What was once viewed in transit circles as pure fantasy dreamed up by the bike-riding crowd could become very real.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Business Times
New $65 million hotel proposed for Financial District
A new 144-room hotel is being proposed for the Financial District in what is now the Cort Furniture building at 447 Battery Street.
To read the full article, click here.
SocketSite
New Condos Proposed for Big Bubble Site
The Cow Hollow parcel upon which the two-story Big Bubble Laundromat sits at 2525 Van Ness Avenue, adjacent to Amero, is zoned for development up to 65-feet in height. And having recently acquired the site, a Vancouver-based developer, the Executive Group, is working on plans for a seven-story building to rise.
To read the full article, click here.
South Bay News
San Jose Mercury News
Milpitas: Planning Commission to review 400-unit residential complex, consider gym expansion March 9
Milpitas Planning Commission will hold public hearings Wednesday on a proposed housing project and a requested expansion of a local gym. The panel will review a developer's application for a conditional use permit to build a 302-unit apartment tower and 98 townhomes on a 5.75-acre site at 1256 Piper Drive.
To read the full article, click here.
Silicon Valley Business Journal
San Jose City Council advances proposed increases to business and sales taxes
San Jose residents and businesses have a much better idea of what will be on the city's 2016 ballots following Tuesday night's city council meeting.
The council voted 9-2 to place a general fund sales tax measure on the June 7 ballot, and 10-1 to start the process of getting a measure to increase the business tax on the Nov. 8 ballot.
To read the full article, click here.
Silicon Valley Business Journal
Plans firm up for industrial-chic Railyard Place in San Jose
Eight months after acquiring a 10.6-acre site on the edge of downtown San Jose, Insight Realty Co.’s plans for what it’s calling Railyard Place are starting to come into focus.
To read the full article, click here.
Peninsula News
San Jose Mercury News
Facebook helps low-income Belle Haven families go solar
Facebook has been stepping up its use of renewable energy at its data centers and offices, but it's also trying to improve the environment around its growing Menlo Park headquarters.
To read the full article, click here.
Palo Alto Online
Palo Alto residents prepare for expansion of downtown parking program
Downtown Palo Alto's shifting parking landscape will undergo another tremor on April 1, when the new phase of the city's Residential Preferential Parking (RPP) program takes effect, bringing with it new parking restrictions for both residents and employees.
To read the full article, click here.
Mountain View Voice
Highway 85 express lanes face steep opposition
A major project that would add toll lanes to all 24 miles of Highway 85 has cleared environmental review and is headed into early design phases. But city officials across Santa Clara County are offering weak support and outright opposition to the plan, citing a need for more public transit options.
To read the full article, click here.
The Almanac
Menlo Park has funds to start Middle Avenue tunnel design
The city of Menlo Park now has the funds to begin preliminary engineering work on a pedestrian and bicycle tunnel that would run under the Caltrain tracks in the vicinity of El Camino Real and Middle Avenue.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Business Times
In race for talent, Stanford builds affordable faculty housing
The project is the first housing built to be ever be built at the university-owned Stanford Research Park, an office complex adjacent to the Stanford campus that houses the headquarters of notable tech companies such as Hewlett Packard and Tesla Motors.
To read the full article, click here.
East Bay News
San Francisco Business Times
Exclusive: Oakland Tribune Tower owner flips another historic office building
Tom Henderson, a businessman who is seeking to create 2,000 jobs in Oakland through a foreign investment program, has sold the historic I. Magnin Building, one of the four office buildings he bought in Oakland's downtown.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Chronicle
In Oakland, Libby Schaaf has bold plan for affordable housing
Oakland, for decades home to some of the region’s lowest-income households, is now fighting to make sure the city doesn’t get so swanky that it slams the door on the poor. The plan from Mayor Libby Schaaf is risky and might not work. It might backfire in the city’s face, but it’s a bold effort — and the right thing to do.
To read the full article, click here.