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You get the government that you vote for...

Quote:

Originally Posted by azsunsurfer (Post 8790086)

You get the government that you vote for...

No, you don't. I never voted for the current crowd except SF's current mayor and her predecessor, both of whom are relatively pro-development.

And it continues:

Quote:

Developer scraps plans for 300 units of housing in Berkeley
By Ted Andersen – Digital Editor, San Francisco Business Times
Jan 3, 2020, 7:33am PST Updated Jan 3, 2020, 7:05pm PST

Longstanding plans for an 18-story building in downtown Berkeley have come to a screeching halt.

The project at 2211 Harold Way near the downtown BART station had been the largest in the city with 301 units of housing, but officials announced Thursday that the developer was unexpectedly pulling the plug, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The Berkeley City Council approved the project — dubbed the Berkeley Residences — in December 2015, but construction got tied up with legal challenges. The project drew opposition due to its height and lack of affordable units, but in 2016, an Alameda Superior Court judge denied all of the complaints by local Berkeley residents against the building.

The developer, Los Angeles-based Hill Street Realty, purchased the site for $20 million in 2012 with the hope of taking advantage of a streamlined entitlement process, but the project instead experienced a series of setbacks.

The high-rise would have been the tallest building constructed in the city since Chase Tower was completed back in 1969 . . . .

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...157298/enhance

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranc...tpenJBWExEZyJ9

I imagine this has something to do with it:

Quote:

Zillow experts predict Bay Area will be the nation’s worst housing market in 2020
By Mark Calvey – Senior Reporter, San Francisco Business Times
Jan 2, 2020, 5:42pm EST

Economists and other real estate experts surveyed by Zillow on their 2020 outlook for 25 of the largest housing markets expect the Bay Area to have the worst housing market in the country.

The San Francisco and San Jose metro areas were the only two regions where home prices are expected to drop in 2020. Zillow’s survey found that 57% of respondents see prices falling in the five-county Bay Area, which includes San Francisco and the East Bay, while half anticipate home prices falling this year in the San Jose area.

“The Bay Area has hit an affordability ceiling. There aren’t that many potential buyers left, even with lower interest rates this year,” said Zillow economist Jeff Tucker, who quickly added that the Bay Area still benefits from its concentration of some of the nation’s highest-paying jobs.

Of the survey’s 10 markets most likely to underperform in 2020, six are in California, with San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Sacramento making up the bottom five. . . . .

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranc...n-s-worst.html

A couple of photos of the City Center Building in Hayward, which is currently being demolished. More info here:

https://www.hayward-ca.gov/discover/...y-center-tower

3/9/20
https://i.postimg.cc/J7TNNqfq/IMG-20200309-192003.jpg

3/16/20
https://i.postimg.cc/HnPbTYwK/IMG-20200316-123535.jpg

I am the poster of bad news today...

Concord Naval Weapons Station redevelopment project dead for now

Quote:

The redevelopment of the Concord Naval Weapons Station, the Bay Area’s largest proposed housing project, appears to be dead after the Concord City Council declined to extend an agreement with Lennar, the project’s master developer.

In a 3-2 vote Tuesday night, the council rejected legislation that would have extended the current exclusive negotiating agreement with Lennar Concord LLC, which was set to expire at the end of March. The 5,000-acre redevelopment of the mothballed military base calls for 13,000 housing units, 8 million square feet of commercial space, 2,500 acres of open space and potentially a college campus.

Lennar had run into strong opposition from building trades after refusing to sign a project-wide labor agreement that would have made it an all-union development. The Contra Costa Building Trades Council sought an agreement that was consistent with the city’s Concord First policy, which requires that developers hire 40% Concord residents, pay prevailing wages, hire and train veterans, and commit to approved apprenticeship programs.

The developers said that agreeing to an all-union job site would make the project infeasible, raising construction costs by $542 million and cutting the project’s profit margin from 17% to a loss.

Milpitas - March 2020

Pic from 4/9. Continuing demo of Hayward City Center

https://i.imgur.com/Z7s9xO3.jpg

I did a quick 3 minute drone video of how the streets are during rush hour for those who are interested. Mainly filmed in Milpitas/San Jose/Fremont in March. Cheers, stay safe and I hope you are all having a nice weekend!

https://youtu.be/pyr2KLVYfNQ

• Video Link

Amazing shots gillynova! :tup:

BART is finally opening in Milpitas and Berryessa on June 13!

excellent, feels good to have a firm date finally!

little tidbit from San Bruno

Quote:

Major San Bruno housing project is revived following city rejection

A year ago, San Bruno became the poster child for anti-housing politics when it rejected a 425-unit apartment complex despite the project’s compliance with the city’s transit corridor plan, which 70% of voters had approved.

The City Council’s no vote got statewide attention and prompted a threat from California’s Department of Housing and Community Development. City officials were warned that they were legally compelled to approve the project since it met all city requirements and that fines could be $600,000 a month.

The threat seemed to work: 10 months later, the property owner is back with a new plan for 427 units on the Mills Park site, a vacant office complex on El Camino Real. And this time it seems likely to pass, according to city officials.

On Monday night, San Bruno City Manager Jovan Grogan repeatedly said that the city doesn’t have the authority to reject the project during an online meeting.

The new Mills Park plan differs from the previous one in that it no longer features a Whole Foods on the ground floor, a concession to neighbors who complained it would create gridlock and make street parking tougher. The store has been replaced with two housing units, increased bike parking and a smaller 4,000-square-foot retail space.

The new proposal also no longer involved the Signature Development Group — the Oakland developer decided to walk after spending several years and $3 million on the first proposal. Longtime property owner G.W. Williams Co. is leading the development itself.

The 2019 no vote on the project was unusual because only one City Council member actually voted against it. While the project required three yes votes on the five-member council, two members recused themselves because they own property within 1,000 feet of the site. That meant that the project needed the support of all three remaining councilors — one of those, Marty Medina, voted no.

The latest plan comes as San Bruno faces a $9.8 million deficit in the 2020-2021 fiscal year, a number that could get worse if the coronavirus health emergency extends into the summer. As part of the Mills Park development agreement, G.W. Williams Co. has agreed to pay a $10 million fee and contribute $100,000 for bike and pedestrian street improvements.

Like other Peninsula cities, San Bruno has been rapidly adding jobs over the last decade, but housing production has been limited. San Bruno approved 119 units between 2016 and 2019, less than 10% of its state goal of 1,155 units, which is supposed to be met by 2023. The state has rarely taken action against cities that fall behind.

Williams also floated the possibility that if the city were to again reject the project, the owner would submit a much larger project allowed under SB35, which streamlined housing development near public transit. The SB35 alternative, which would not require city approval, would have 631 units and would lack the open space and setbacks the current scheme includes.

With the announcement of a firm opening date of BART in Milpitas and San Jose, I decided to create a video of the station as I'm sure not many people will see or experience it for the time being. I will do Berryessa BART station soon enough. Cheers guys! :cheers::cheers:

• Video Link

Thanks OhioGuy! Cheers and stay safe :)

Somewhere in South SF... I'm not familiar with the area
https://i.imgur.com/GtF8CSsh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Zd6qEdBh.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by gillynova (Post 8932892)

Somewhere in South SF... ...

not sure, but the first looks like the Gateway project, the second is the recently completed cluster with the ugly hotel that I think is considered part of Oyster Point (which used to have a thread here, not sure what happened to it)

edit: looks like the webcam is still up

see also posts 1067, 1089, and 1118

Hey guys! Let me know of any project in the Bay Area that you want an updated picture of. I'll go around this weekend to take them and update our threads (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/tag...=san+francisco)

Cheers everyone and stay safe!

Seems like a dead crowd. Oh well, I will continue to update this thread whenever I can.

Also, if anyone is interested, I took footage of the protests in downtown San Jose and made a video out of it to document a historical moment (imo). Hopefully you guys like it. Stay safe!

• Video Link

Quote:

Originally Posted by gillynova (Post 8947379)

Thanks for keeping on—you consistently do good work. :yes:

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