Arent Fox Bay Area Land News - May 2, 2017
News you can dig.
US/California/Bay Area News
San Francisco Business Times
Housing’s tale of two cities: Seattle builds, S.F. lags
The difference has been that in Seattle, planning for new housing has combined with availability of sites for development to fuel a robust housing boom.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Business Times
Will this state bill add 20,000 Bay Area housing units near BART stations?
The bill would expand land developable by BART from a quarter mile to half mile radius around stations and add the potential for 20,000 housing units by 2040.
To read the full article, click here. [subscription required]
San Francisco Chronicle
‘Living river’ rejuvenates Napa, brings needed flood control
That success is relevant far beyond Napa’s boundaries, amid the attacks this year on California’s efforts to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles via high-speed rail, or the creed in Washington that environmental considerations are bad for business.
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San Francisco Business Times
Can Seattle teach San Francisco how to make housing happen?
The Bay Area has better commuter transit than Seattle, but doesn't take advantage of it enough to make housing more affordable.
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San Francisco Examiner
Opinion: Bill sabotages statewide affordable housing efforts
While San Franciscans love bickering about housing developments more than complaining about the fog, AB 915 is a sad example of how The City’s internal political squabbles worsen state-level policy and harm low-income people from San Diego to Crescent City.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Business Times
BART's ambitious retail vision crumbles
The local transit authority had originally planned to incorporate retail services into 43 of its Bay Area stations.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco News
SFGate
SF Planning Commission to consider revised plans for 15th and Mission condo tower
Purchased for $1,300,000 in August of 2013, the Kevin Stephens Design Group (KSDG) initially submitted plans to the San Francisco Planning Department that would build a residential and commercial condo tower (LEED Silver or better) as well as restore the sidewalk and plant new trees.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Examiner
Opinion: An innovative way to oppose new housing in San Francisco
Disregarding the fact that the law was passed in the 1970s and has only been used once to date in San Francisco — due to the political pressure of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) planning obstacles, and recently overcome in 2016 by a courageous homebuilder — CCHO’s co-directors conveniently forget a number of facts related to this critically important legislation.
To read the full article, click here.
SocketSite
Millennium Tower Penthouse Tumbles 29 Percent
Purchased for $8.1 million in mid-2015, the two-bedroom plus den penthouse unit #1A on the 58th floor of San Francisco’s Millennium Tower, a 2,700-square-foot unit with two parking spaces which has been remodeled with an “ultra-contemporary design” and “only the finest materials, procured from around the globe,” returned to the market this past November priced at $8.995 million.
To read the full article, click here.
SFGate
Study: SF millennials are likely to have jobs but not own homes
A new study from real estate site Trulia titled "Grandpa was a Millennial" found that San Francisco and Cap Coral, Fla. are the only metro areas in the country that have lower unemployment rates for older Millennials (ages 28-32) than Gen Xers (ages 33-55).
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Business Times
Prologis to use innovative design for massive proposed Bayview project
Prologis hopes to get those entitlements by mid-2018 and complete construction about 18 months later, said Dan Letter, Prologis’ managing director of capital deployment for the West region.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Business Times
Massive Mission Bay office and lab project delayed by nine months, adds $75 million in costs
A 750,000-square-foot Mission Bay project has been delayed about nine months and is costing an additional $75 million.
To read the full article, click here. [subscription required]
San Francisco Business Times
Airbnb settles lawsuit with San Francisco
The settlement agreement still needs to be endorsed by the city's Board of Supervisors and Mayor Ed Lee, but Airbnb Head of Global Policy And Communications Chris Lehane said on a conference call this morning that "we fully expect it to be up and running and implemented by early 2018."
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Business Times
Huge building sales roar back as San Francisco breaks annual real estate tax record
The average property sales price was $31 million in the nine-month period, up from $12.7 million for an average sale in the fiscal year 2015-2016.
To read the full article, click here. [subscription required]
South Bay News
Mercury News
Opinion: Historic San Jose buildings get new life
I’ve gotten on my stump plenty of times about preserving historic buildings in San Jose, so it makes sense to me to applaud when someone gets it right. There are two examples of that downtown within steps of each other on North Third Street: The Hotel Clariana and the new boutique gym West Coast Aesthetics.
To read the full article, click here.
Mercury News
San Jose: Smart & Final to replace Mel Cotton’s store in Midtown
The 29,580-square-foot store will go up on the two-acre lot at the corner of West San Carlos and Race streets, directly across the street from Safeway. Until it closed for good last year, Mel Cotton’s Sporting Goods had stood there for more than 60 years.
To read the full article, click here.
Peninsula News
Palo Alto Online
In shifting land-use vision, city embraces its tech roots
Seeking to quash recent rumors that coders are incompatible with downtown's zoning rules, the Palo Alto City Council voted on Monday night to revise the city's land-use "constitution" so that it officially recognizes software developers as an integral -- and legal -- part of the business ecosystem.
To read the full article, click here.
Silicon Valley Business Journal
LinkedIn unveils proposal for new Mountain View HQ (renderings)
The plans are the first set of proposals the city has received from LinkedIn since the company acquired the land in a major property swap with Google in 2015.
To read the full article, click here. [subscription required]
Palo Alto Online
Edgewood developer sues over fines
Attorneys for an Edgewood Plaza Shopping Center developer filed an appeal in Santa Clara County Superior Court on Monday regarding the more than $700,000 in fines the city has levied for failing to provide an operating grocery store at the center.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Business Times
Decade in the making, massive biotech project set to break ground in South S.F.
High demand for biotech space, especially in South San Francisco, and soaring rents are driving BioMed Realty to break ground on the potentially iconic Gateway of Pacific project, originally entitled in 2009.
To read the full article, click here. [subscription required]
The Almanac
Fire chief offers alternative to expanding Belle Haven station
The neighbors let the chief and the three fire board members in attendance know that they don't like the original proposal to rebuild their 22-year-old neighborhood fire station so it can handle the neighboring industrial district's new and planned development.
To read the full article, click here.
Mountain View Voice
Decision time for city's future goals
On a mission to choose the city's big goals for the next two years, the Mountain City Council last week took a messy priority list and trimmed it down to a slightly smaller mess.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Business Times
A look at Chan and Zuckerberg-backed Primary School’s 10-year plan in East Palo Alto (slideshow)
A free private school backed by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife opened in East Palo Alto last year, but the school still has a long way to go in its plan to provide health care and education under one roof.
To read the full article, click here. [subscription required]
The Almanac
Local impact of sea-level rise: Comment sought on report
Using various scenarios of sea level rise, the report analyzes impacts on the county's beaches and wetlands, public health infrastructure, homes, businesses, schools, airports, wastewater treatment plants and police stations.
To read the full article, click here.
San Francisco Business Times
Peninsula developer kicks off new wave of housing in downtown San Bruno
Sares Regis Group of Northern California is building the first project, a housing and retail project, to kick off a major revitalization of downtown San Bruno.
To read the full article, click here. [subscription required]
East Bay News
San Francisco Business Times
Oakland modular tower proposal gets downsized, reveals designs
Two of the tallest modular towers proposed in the U.S. are moving forward, but one has been downsized.
To read the full article, click here.
SFGate
East Bay burger battle ends as developer halts In-N-Out plans
"We will come forward with a new application for the site in the near future," Mark Hall, owner and CEO of Hall Equities Group, said in the statement. "Our next project proposal may not be the most dynamic, or high profile of projects, but it will be a low-impact good neighbor, and it will be a use that is consistent with the established zoning parameters."
To read the full article, click here.