Bay Area Land News - October 17, 2019
US / California / Bay Area News
30 years after the Loma Prieta earthquake, a look at what has changed in the Bay Area
San Francisco Business Journal
The Loma Prieta earthquake rocked the Bay Area 30 years ago on Thursday, but the effects of the 6.9-magnitude shock are still evident to this day. The immediate impacts were devastating: Buildings collapsed, freeways crumbled, bridges buckled and homes slid off their foundations, resulting in 63 deaths and more than 3,750 injuries. Many places in the Bay Area look markedly different because of the Loma Prieta earthquake, and the legacy of the region’s most destructive earthquake in more than a century will continue to shape the way the Bay Area looks and grows going forward.
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SF developer joins California high-speed rail board to get it 'back on track'
San Francisco Chronicle
Not sure if congratulations or condolences are in order, but longtime Bay Area housing developer Jim Ghielmetti of San Francisco, has been appointed to the California High-Speed Rail Authority board of directors. High-speed rail was intended to whisk travelers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two hours and 40 minutes. However, a barrage of planning and legal problems, coupled with a near-doubling of the cost to $77.3 billion has put the future of the line in serious doubt.
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San Francisco News
SFMTA votes to restrict private vehicles from Market Street in bid to make area safer
San Francisco Gate
SFMTA Board voted Tuesday to approve a plan to make stretches of the Market Street thoroughfare closed to most vehicles. Known as the Better Market Street Project, the proposal sought to restrict private vehicles (including rideshares) from driving along a two-mile area of Market Street, while allowing just buses, taxis, commercial vehicles, bikes and emergency vehicles on the road. The vehicle restrictions will run on Market Street, from 12th Street to Steuart Street.
Here is what Market Street will look like car-less, according to newly approved plan
San Francisco Gate
The plan to make Market Street a safer thoroughfare for pedestrians and cyclists who traverse the street each day has been a work in progress. But on Tuesday afternoon, SFMTA unanimously approved the Better Market Street Project that would push private vehicles off a 2-mile stretch of Market Street. But what would that exactly look like? Although removing private vehicles — including Lyft, Uber and other rideshare options — from Market Street should help reduce the amount of traffic and vehicle-involved collisions, Muni buses will continue to operate along on that street, and taxis will be able to use the roadway as an option, as well as paratransit and commercial vehicles.
Banning cars on SF’s Market Street, once a radical idea, approved unanimously
San Francisco Chronicle
Banning cars on San Francisco’s Market Street may have once been a radical idea. But on Tuesday, the Municipal Transportation Agency board voted unanimously to do it, with undiluted support from just about everyone: bicycle activists, politicians, city bureaucrats, parents, health care workers, business owners, ride-hail companies and Mayor London Breed.
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Chinese developer suspends construction on one of SF’s tallest towers
San Francisco Chronicle
Chinese developer Oceanwide Holdings suspended construction on a 605-foot tower in San Francisco’s Transbay district, one of the city’s largest projects, as it grapples with rising construction costs. The Beijing company said Wednesday that work has stopped indefinitely on the shorter tower at its Oceanwide Center project. Oceanwide is studying ways to lower construction costs to resume work.
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Oceanwide halts construction on Transbay hotel and condo tower
San Francisco Business Journal
Chinese developer Oceanwide stopped construction on a 54-story tower in downtown San Francisco slated to house a Waldorf Astoria hotel and 156 residences, the developer said Wednesday, after months of speculation about the project's status.
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SFO to spend more than $1 billion to hold back the bay
San Francisco Gate
Building airports on low, flat, somewhat isolated coastal areas with good visibility made sense at one time, but not so much now that sea level rise is a serious threat. As government officials around the world look for ways to protect their coastlines against the effects of climate change in the decades to come, planners at San Francisco International are moving ahead with a proposal to build a 10-mile-long seawall around the facility to protect it from the rising waters of San Francisco Bay.
Janitors vs. coders: SF created nearly as many low-wage jobs as high-paying tech gigs
San Francisco Chronicle
A new city report reveals the numbers and the challenge they pose: San Francisco would need to plan for an additional 9,300 affordable housing units — three times the number of approved units in the city’s pipeline — to keep up with the rise of low-wage jobs expected over the next six years, according to a report released Wednesday from the Board of Supervisors Budget and Legislative Analyst.
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South Bay News
Here are the five largest active office projects in San Jose
Silicon Valley Business Journal
Demand for office space in San Jose has been strong this year. The vacancy rate for office space in the city dropped from 12.3 percent at the end of Q2 2019 to 8.8 percent at the end of Q3, according to a quarterly office market report on the Silicon Valley region by Avison Young's San Jose office.
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Office market remains sturdy in Silicon Valley amid jobs surge
The Mercury News
Silicon Valley’s office market turned robust during the July-through-September quarter, according to separate research reports by two commercial real estate firms. During the third quarter, office rental rates rose and vacancies dwindled for an array of office spaces, stated reports released separately by Cushman & Wakefield and Newmark Knight Frank, two commercial realty brokerages.
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Big office tower, residential tower, (or maybe a combination of both) pitched for downtown San Jose
Silicon Valley Business Journal
Cupertino-based developer KT Urban is looking to build a new development totaling more than a million square feet in downtown San Jose, near the McEnery Convention Center and the Children's Discovery Museum. What exactly will be built is still to be determined.
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San Jose without PG&E? Mayor wants to explore city-owned utilities
The Mercury News
One week after California’s biggest utility cut power to hundreds of thousands of residents, Mayor Sam Liccardo says he wants to explore a San Jose without Pacific Gas and Electric. Confronted with that stark reality, Liccardo drafted a memo that will go before San Jose’s rules committee next week asking staff to investigate creating a city-owned utility to develop independent power systems such as microgrids, as well as other less draconian short and long-term measures that would protect the city from future shutdowns.
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Milpitas approves slate of new renter protection rules
Silicon Valley Business Journal
The city of Milpitas has approved a slate of new renter protection rules, including a just-cause eviction ordinance. The City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve the new rules, the Mercury News reports.
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Peninsula News
Burlingame scoping the threat of sea level rise
The Daily Journal
Burlingame officials are scoping strategies to fend off rising waters expected along the city’s chunk of the Bayshore, and seeking input from residents wishing to discover more about sea level rise mitigation plans. Officials are hosting a town hall discussion Wednesday, Oct. 16, examining the potential risk zones in the area east of Highway 101 and unveiling strategies for protecting the vulnerable areas.
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Redwood City Council advances retail plan
The Daily Journal
After broaching the topic in January, the Redwood City Council Monday advanced a series of policy recommendations aimed at enhancing the retail landscape downtown. During the meeting, councilmembers specifically applauded proposed design requirements for retail spaces as well as limiting banks looking to occupy key corners downtown. There was also interest in activating vacant storefronts by allowing pop-up businesses, among other proposals.
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Mixed-use project proposed at Redwood City Wells Fargo
The Daily Journal
Developer Lane Partners plans to redevelop a Redwood City Wells Fargo branch into a mixed-use project with housing, office and retail under one roof. Principal Mark Murray said his firm is “in contract to acquire” the property at 1900 Broadway and offered new details about his vision for it during a City Council meeting Monday.
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Palo Alto explores new ways to settle giant pension bill
Palo Alto Online
Seeking to settle the city's astronomical pension bill, Palo Alto is preparing to adopt a policy that would commit the city to higher annual contributions — and possible service reductions — to reduce the backlog. The new pension-funding policy, which the City Council's Finance Committee considered on Tuesday night, is the latest in a series of reforms that the council advanced in recent years as part of a renewed effort to lower the pension bill.
Facebook donates $25 million to build Bay Area teacher housing
The Mercury News
In Facebook’s biggest contribution yet toward solving the Bay Area’s housing shortage, the tech giant on Thursday said it will donate $25 million to build up to 120 apartments for peninsula teachers. The money will help fund a unique development city and county officials have been trying to get off the ground for nearly two years.
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Menlo Park grapples with significance of new state housing law
The Almanac
As Menlo Park's City Council continues to grapple with the challenges of unequal growth in different areas, recently passed state laws are complicating matters in new ways, as became evident at the council's Oct. 15 meeting.
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Millbrae refines accessory dwelling unit regulations
The Daily Journal
With an eye on setting policy which allows for additional construction in a manner respectful to the surrounding community, Millbrae officials proposed refinements to the regulations for developing accessory dwelling units. The Millbrae City Council examined terms of the potential policy Tuesday, April 8, with an intent to set the ground rules for construction of the secondary units which have grown in popularity as a means of offsetting the affordability crisis.
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Santa Clara debates new rules for rentals, Airbnb listings
Silicon Valley Business Journal
Santa Clara city leaders are debating new rental rules in the city, San Jose Spotlight reports, changes that would have implications for both landlords renting out single-family homes and for owners who list their dwellings on a short-term basis on platforms like Airbnb. Here's a closer look.
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East Bay News
East Bay affordable housing partnership ends, will project move forward?
East Bay Times
An affordable housing partnership between a nonprofit and a housing group has dissolved, but the city says the project will continue, regardless. Sunflower Hill and MidPen Housing announced the decision last week to “amicably end their partnership” and joint development of the former Layton property located at 4260 First St., near a Safeway store.
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Water district considers scooping up largest land offering in California, a $72M Bay Area ranch
Silicon Valley Business Journal
The Alameda County Water District is considering paying $72 million in what would be the largest land sale in California to preserve water quality, the East Bay Times reported. The N3 Cattle Co. site — an 80-square-mile, 50,000-plus acre Livermore property that hit the market at $72 million earlier this year — is also the largest private holding currently on the market in California.
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