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Mountain View approves 10,000 homes by Google's North Bayshore project (2017)

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Re: Mountain View approves 10,000 homes by Google's North Bayshore project (2017)

#11

Post by baron816 »

Parking would be less of a deal if they built mixed developments, which are more desirable anyway. It’s quite nice being able to walk out of your house and drop right into a coffee shop, bar, or restaurant. Walking to work or school is amazing too.

People here seem to be so afraid that their neighborhoods will begin to look more like Dubai or Hong Kong. But clearly what we’re doing now isn’t sustainable, nor is it even that pleasant. Much of SV looks like it did in the 1970s, and you have to sit in a half hour plus of traffic if you want to do anything. I think we would be in pretty good shape if maybe we didn’t go to the extremes, but took a housing model more like Paris, London, or Amsterdam. We can limit heights, but still build dense and create a place people really want to live in.

Re: Mountain View approves 10,000 homes by Google's North Bayshore project (2017)

#12

Post by newnewpdro »

DuskStar wrote: post #5
TaylorGood wrote: post #2

The elephant in the room wasn’t addressed. There is an affordable living developer involved yet no mention of pricing strategy? That said, hard to imagine it being any different than the highest of comps.

Building more high income housing still reduces housing costs at the low end. Every person who rents in a new development - even if it's $5000/month - is a person who isn't competing in a lower cost market.

Surelly there's a threshold which must be crossed before the highly paid pool is depleted enough to make such an impact.

Edit: To clarify, it's not as if tech companies, especially Google, are going to stop hiring and attracting more highly paid people to the area. 10,000 sounds like a number small enough to be gobbled up pretty quickly by SV tech growth.

Not that I'm in favor of turning the bay area into a high density population. A lot of what makes the region so nice to be, especially the peninsula, is the relatively low density. I really wish tech companies would make more of an effort to distribute their workforce and better leverage technology to enable remote work. It's really messing with the demographics, culture, and gender distribution of places like SV. When San Jose is being referred to as Man Jose, you've got a real problem.

Re: Mountain View approves 10,000 homes by Google's North Bayshore project (2017)

#13

Post by bo-chen »

newnewpdro wrote: post #12
DuskStar wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Building more high income housing still reduces housing costs at the low end. Every person who rents in a new development - even if it's $5000/month - is a person who isn't competing in a lower cost market.

Surelly there's a threshold which must be crossed before the highly paid pool is depleted enough to make such an impact. Edit: To clarify, it's not as if tech companies, especially Google, are going to stop hiring and attracting more highly paid people to the area. 10,000 sounds like a number small enough to be gobbled up pretty quickly by SV tech growth. Not that I'm in favor of turning the bay area into a high dens…

The demand curve is continuous so the effect on prices is continuous. There is no threshold effect.

Re: Mountain View approves 10,000 homes by Google's North Bayshore project (2017)

#14

Post by epistasis »

salimmadjd wrote: post #3

(Dec 13, 2017) - This is a great start. But I think we really need more like 100,000 new units built. Just to help reverse some of the astronomical housing prices. I have no idea how a teacher would be able to live in SV and plan to have a family and everything else. At this rate, the housing costs are unsustainable. We wont be able to have a functioning city with all the needed staffing like teachers, nurses, seller…

Unfortunately Scotts Valley and Santa Cruz have anti-housing factions similar to everywhere else in the Bay Area, and the pro-housing faction is in earlier stages of organization than in the Bay Area. Scotts Valley City Council actually had a member say in open meeting that they don't want "those type of people" living there, in reference to renters and presumably others without the means to buy a home. Santa Cruz is similarly non-inclusive, and both are extremely homogenous communities that tend to scare away the typical racial diversity seen in a tech company. Many people of color in tech I've met say they simply don't feel welcome here like they do in the Bay Area.

Santa Cruz also has a green belt. But instead of encouraging density and all the environmental benefits of density, the aging political crew that enacted it now prefer sprawl, since they have their single family single story homes that continue to appreciate at astronomical rates. (At least until the homes are bought as tear-downs and replaced with single-family two story homes that extend to all corners of the property to maximize square footage.)

But if anybody can change attitudes, it's probably Apple or Google.

Re: Mountain View approves 10,000 homes by Google's North Bayshore project (2017)

#15

Post by stevenwoo »

baron816 wrote: post #11

Parking would be less of a deal if they built mixed developments, which are more desirable anyway. It’s quite nice being able to walk out of your house and drop right into a coffee shop, bar, or restaurant. Walking to work or school is amazing too. People here seem to be so afraid that their neighborhoods will begin to look more like Dubai or Hong Kong. But clearly what we’re doing now isn’t sustainable, nor is it ev…

Mountain View has done a decent job on the streets near me on San Antonio with a lot of three-four story apartments/retail going up versus say Palo Alto or Los Altos right next door. The mall going under around the same time helped of course.

Re: Mountain View approves 10,000 homes by Google's North Bayshore project (2017)

#17

Post by salimmadjd »

epistasis wrote: post #14
salimmadjd wrote: post #3

(Dec 13, 2017) - This is a great start. But I think we really need more like 100,000 new units built. Just to help reverse some of the astronomical housing prices. I have no idea how a teacher would be able to live in SV and plan to have a family and everything else. At this rate, the housing costs are unsustainable. We wont be able to have a functioning city with all the needed staffing like teachers, nurses, seller…

Unfortunately Scotts Valley and Santa Cruz have anti-housing factions similar to everywhere else in the Bay Area, and the pro-housing faction is in earlier stages of organization than in the Bay Area. Scotts Valley City Council actually had a member say in open meeting that they don't want "those type of people" living there, in reference to renters and presumably others without the means to buy a home. Santa Cruz is…

why can't someone buy enough land and incorporate their own city?

Re: Mountain View approves 10,000 homes by Google's North Bayshore project (2017)

#18

Post by hkmurakami »

s0rce wrote: post #9
beambot wrote: post #8

Those have to be condos, right? There isn't acreage for 10k single family homes in that area...

Ideally a mixture of medium and high rise condos and some higher density single family homes, duplexes and town/row houses would be great.

10k in that space has to be midrise condos throughout given that high rises will meet stern neighborhood resistance.

Re: Mountain View approves 10,000 homes by Google's North Bayshore project (2017)

#19

Post by prawn »

baron816 wrote: post #11

Parking would be less of a deal if they built mixed developments, which are more desirable anyway. It’s quite nice being able to walk out of your house and drop right into a coffee shop, bar, or restaurant. Walking to work or school is amazing too. People here seem to be so afraid that their neighborhoods will begin to look more like Dubai or Hong Kong. But clearly what we’re doing now isn’t sustainable, nor is it ev…

On my first trip to Hong Kong (decades ago, as a teenager) I remember my family stayed in a hotel with a shopping centre on the lower levels. You took an elevator down from your room that literally opened out into a supermarket, food court, department store, etc. I remember thinking it was awesome. Add other facilities within enjoyable walking distance and you're laughing, for those keen to live with that density.
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