Bay Area Land News - October 1, 2019
US / California / Bay Area News
Bay Area home-price slump continues
San Francisco Chronicle
Bay Area home prices slumped for a sixth straight month in August, according to a report issued Thursday by research firm CoreLogic. The median price paid for a new or existing Bay Area home or condo was $810,000 last month, down 0.7% from July and down 2.4% from August of last year. Prices year-over-year have now been flat or falling for six consecutive months. The last increase was in February.
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Bay Area home sales come close to a level not seen since 2010
San Francisco Business Journal
The price of a median home in Santa Clara County dropped 8 percent since August 2018 to $1,023,000.Read More [Subscription Required]
The latest battle to save San Francisco Bay — Cargill salt ponds
San Francisco Chronicle
A few months ago, the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency administrator in Washington changed a preliminary determination of the San Francisco EPA office, declaring that the 1,360-acre site is not subject to the Clean Water Act. Cargill has quickly followed with an announcement that it intends to “explore future uses. ”Locating 30,000 more people in the path of sea-level rise, right next to an already gridlocked freeway doesn’t make environmental or economic sense.
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Why California is failing to put a dent in homelessness
The Mercury News
Despite spending billions on homelessness, governments and non-profits have failed to put a dent in California’s population of city street-dwellers. Things won’t change until policymakers recognize that their current approach doesn’t scale and too often ignores the public’s interest in clean, safe streets. In July, Gov. Newsom toured the Estrella Vista Apartments, a new affordable housing development in Emeryville. The visit allowed Newsom to highlight steps that the state, local governments and non-profits are taking to tackle homelessness and the shortage of housing. It also gave him an opportunity to push back against President Trump, who has been weaponizing the homelessness issue against California Democrats.
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Newsom vetoes bill aimed at stopping Trump environmental rollbacks
San Francisco Chronicle
Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill Friday that California lawmakers passed in an attempt to prevent the Trump administration from rolling back environmental and labor protections. SB1, by state Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, would have adopted into California law the federal Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, Fair Labor Standards Act and other regulations as they existed when President Barack Obama left office. It would have expired in 2025, on the day when President Trump would end a second term if re-elected.
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BART’s wish list for $100 billion ‘mega measure’: Second bay crossing, new fare gates
The Mercury News
A second route across the bay to ease bottlenecks between Oakland and San Francisco. Discounted fares for low-income riders. New fare gates that are harder to sneak through. Those are among the projects on BART’s wish list as Bay Area transportation leaders put together plans for a massive tax measure that would raise $100 billion over several decades to fund an array of projects meant to ease traffic and improve public transit around the region.
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For this Idaho candidate, the enemy is California exodus
The Mercury News
Wayne Richey, candidate for mayor in Boise, Idaho, wants to save his native city from an invasive species — Californians. Get rid of West Coast amenities. No more bike paths. Deep-six a proposed $100 million library. Shred plans for a new minor league ballpark. And slap new buyers with higher property taxes. The California Diaspora, driven by retirees and high prices in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, is roiling the heartland. It’s hardly the first time Golden State residents — seeking refuge from soaring home prices, maddening commutes and other irritants — have settled in neighboring states and been welcomed like a swarm of locusts.
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San Francisco News
Settlement clears way for SoMa warehouses to become tech towers
San Francisco Chronicle
For 95 years, the San Francisco Flower Mart in South of Market has been a hub for dozens of growers offering a dazzling range of blooms. Soon, its nondescript home will be demolished to make way for a 2.2 million-square-foot office and retail campus — more than 50% more space than Salesforce Tower, the city’s tallest building. A block away, the 24-court San Francisco Tennis Club will be replaced by a massive office project where Pinterest has signed a lease, along with affordable housing and a public pool.
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City to settle lawsuits that blocked massive Central SoMa development
San Francisco Business Journal
A developer, condo owners and two neighborhood nonprofits had challenged that the city didn’t properly study the Central SoMa plan, which heightens zoning for taller buildings along a 230-acre swath.
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SF Giants unveil plan for a 5-acre ‘constructed ecosystem’ along bay
San Francisco Chronicle
Now that the San Francisco Giants’ underwhelming season is over, the team has big off-season plans — at least in terms of real estate. Construction should begin this winter on the first phase of the remake of the team’s parking lot south of McCovey Cove along Third Street, including a 5-acre waterfront park with tide pools open to waders and a bayside lawn capable of holding 5,000 people.
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West Portal worries
San Francisco Chronicle
It doesn’t have the cachet of Union Square or the tourist magnetism of North Beach and Chinatown, but West Portal’s compact four-block size boosts foot traffic, merchants say. West Portal has the lowest retail vacancy rate among the city’s neighborhood shopping districts, suggesting it has weathered the tsunami of e-commerce better than other places. Business advocates say that while West Portal has historical economic advantages, it can’t be complacent. Small businesses grapple with all the challenges of retail, including the rising cost of business operations, the shift to online shopping, and changing consumer tastes.
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SF residents killed housing at Balboa Reservoir repeatedly. Will they embrace it this time?
San Francisco Chronicle
Mayor London Breed has one big hope for San Francisco’s Balboa Reservoir — that history will not repeat itself. Three times in the 1980s and 1990s, San Francisco mayors Dianne Feinstein and Art Agnos fought to build housing on the 17-acre parking lot next to City College of San Francisco known as the Balboa Reservoir. But those efforts were thwarted by opposition from a coalition that included residents from neighboring Westwood Park as well as students and faculty from City College, the main campus of which sits just to the east of the reservoir.
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On Prop. M's future, the silence is troubling
San Francisco Business Journal
It's time for the development community to speak up.
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SF commissioner Rich Hillis decides he wants city’s top planning job
San Francisco Chronicle
Rich Hillis has given up his seat on the San Francisco Planning Commission to apply for the department’s top job. “After seven years on the commission, I’ve grown more and more passionate about addressing our housing and affordability challenges,” Hillis said. “It’s time for me to find new ways to be part of the solution.” Hillis said he is stepping down before the commission begins the process of selecting a replacement for Planning Director John Rahaim to avoid any conflict of interest.
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South Bay News
Google gains option to buy downtown San Jose parcel in transit village area
The Mercury News
Google has obtained an option to buy a site north of the SAP entertainment and sports complex in downtown San Jose that’s near a property the search giant bought recently. Both properties are located on North Montgomery Street in downtown San Jose. Google has proposed the development of a transit village in downtown San Jose that would sprout next to and near the Diridon train station and SAP Center.
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What to watch for as SJ's City Council votes on extending a high-rise subsidy — and why November 5 is an important date
Silicon Valley Business Journal
The San Jose City Council this afternoon will vote on whether to extend a fee and tax cut that directly affects nine high-rise development projects in downtown.Read More [Subscription Required]
BART delays won’t derail downtown San Jose momentum: experts
East Bay Times
The unsettling prospect that BART’s arrival at two crucial train stops in downtown San Jose is being delayed by as many as four years won’t derail the development momentum in the urban core of the Bay Area’s largest city, experts said Wednesday. Initially, the Valley Transportation Agency estimated BART service would begin by 2026 at two downtown San Jose stops, but the latest estimates that were revealed at a recent study session have potentially pushed back the service launches to 2029 or 2030.
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Peninsula News
Housing planned near San Mateo City Hall
The Daily Journal
A proposal to replace a 30,000-square-foot office building just south of State Route 92 with a 48-apartment development may boost the housing stock in the neighborhood surrounding the San Mateo City Hall if plans submitted by DNA Design and Architecture gain traction in the coming months. Slated to provide a mix of one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments as well as 2,665 square feet of ground-floor commercial office space at 1919 O’Farrell St., the proposed four-story project will provide four below-market-rate units affordable to very low-income households, said Rocky Shen, principal at DNA Design and Architecture.
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Used to getting its way, Stanford struggles to gain control over county review process
Palo Alto Online
Stanford University and Santa Clara County staff are locked in an unusual conflict over how the university's application should be handled by the county Board of Supervisors, a disagreement that few in the public understand or consider important. As the supervisors proceed toward public hearings in the weeks ahead and a decision on Stanford's general-use permit application, Stanford is not helping itself or serving the community's interests by demanding a different process that consists of confidential negotiations behind closed doors.
Redwood City revisits changes to zoning
East Bay Times
After broaching the topic in June, the Redwood City Planning Commission on Tuesday will revisit proposed amendments to the mixed-use live/work zoning district to allow standalone and multi-family housing as well as height and density increases in those areas. The MULW zoning district encompasses a total of 37.2 acres near El Camino Real, Woodside Road, Arguello Street, Winslow Street and Rolison Road.
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Jay Paul Co. Pairs Down Original Plans for 1.14MM SQFT High-Tech Office Campus in Redwood City
The Registry
Jay Paul Company, one of the region’s most prolific office developers, known for its large scale, tech-oriented campuses that have secured tenants in the likes of Facebook, Amazon, and others, has taken a step back and paired down its plans for a roughly 27-acre site located at 320-350 Blomquist Street in Redwood City. The developer, who had originally proposed a four building, 1,144,748 square foot office campus on the site, submitted revised plans in May after facing robust pushback from local residents. Under the new proposal, new development has been reduced by roughly a third.
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'Workforce housing' project in limbo because of dispute with neighbor
Palo Alto Online
When Palo Alto approved in June 2018 a proposal for a 57-apartment development on the prominent corner of El Camino Real and Page Mill Road in Palo Alto, members of the City Council lauded it as both an important boost to the city's anemic rate of producing housing and a critical experiment with "workforce housing."
Sobrato buys prime piece of downtown Mountain View
The Mercury News
The Sobrato Organization has bought a prime parcel in downtown Mountain View, a one-acre site that could be a key spot for new development. The legendary development firm purchased a property that consists of a Wells Fargo branch and a big parking lot in downtown Mountain View at the corner of Castro Street and Church Street, Santa Clara County public documents show. “This is a very nice site,” said Dave Sandlin, an executive vice president with Colliers International, a commercial real estate firm. “The property could definitely be developed.”
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At Sunnyvale project, affordable housing with a touch of green
Silicon Valley Business Journal
Edwina Benner Plaza addresses the pressing need for affordable housing in Silicon Valley.
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