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Don't you hate it when you miss the exit for Utopia and wind up in dystopia? Some Silicon Valley investors are known for their ambitious nature, which can sometimes border on narcissism depending on who you ask. Case in point is their plan to build an entirely new city from scratch complete with the belief that they can do it better than anyone else. The first true test of the grand master plan will soon begin with gathering signatures to get on November's ballot. High housing costs, rising crime...yes, the San Francisco Bay Area has its share of problems. But have no fear! A group of Valley billionaires is here to save the day. Well, under the moniker of California Forever, these investors have quietly acquired land over the past five years in the northern part of the state in a place called Solano County. Known more for rolling hillsides, family-owned farms, and cows mulling around, this place could become a mega suburb with dense housing and walkable streets set on 60,000 rural acres. What this proposed oasis actually looks like remains to be seen, but given the tech pedigree of the investors involved, you can bet technology and office campuses are in the mix. One interesting selling point for Utopia North is the availability of affordable housing. That would seem to be at odds with reality given the tech industry has been mostly responsible for the skyrocketing housing costs up and down the state. And the bigger plan is to woo other industries like defense, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and biotech to open up offices there. If this feels reminiscent of a storyline from an episode of Scooby-Doo, you're not alone. Meddling kids or not, convincing and securing the approval of Solano County residents who are understandably dubious of the shady billionaires and their secretive plan for a new community whose name sounds like a celebrity cemetery is as ambitious as betting $800 million so far on the idea. Whether you think this is a cult for the wealthy or a potentially viable community for all, the bigger consideration is that these billionaire investors are doubling down on the Bay Area, while others have written it off. You don't need crop circles to tell you that means something https://lnkd.in/gTFXUyDM #realestate #bayarea #siliconvalley #solanocounty #technology #california #cities #culture

California Forever is the brainchild of Czech-born former Goldman Sachs trader and entrepreneur Jan Sramek. He came up with the idea after a yearlong exploration of improving housing availability within the city promised not to be an effective solution, he tells Axios. He's since raised over $800 million from investors like Mike Moritz, Reid Hoffman, Marc Andreessen, John and Patrick Collison, Laurene Powell Jobs, Chris Dixon, John Doerr, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, and Andreessen Horowitz. The company also quietly amassed more than 50,000 acres of land it bought from residents, suing some of them for price collusion. The project's pitch is that the new city will alleviate some of the Bay Area's housing problems and fill out the region connecting it to Sacramento. Recently unveiled plans heavily borrow from New Urbanism, emphasizing walkable neighborhoods and a mix of housing (both for sale and rent) at varying prices. Part of the plan is to bring in at least 15,000 jobs. To achieve that, California Forever is in talks to get companies to open satellite offices there, says Sramek. He's reaching out to well-known tech employers and companies in industries like defense, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and biotech that need space for facilities. "It's not an expansion for the daily commute — it's an expansion where you might go once a week to see your team or something like that," he says. Sramek admits that better train connectivity to the rest of the region will be a separate challenge that is much more out of its control. "I think there should be a high-speed train between San Francisco and Sacramento.... If we were in Europe, you could be there in 45 minutes," he says. California Forever is a "risky real estate project" and, as such, its backers expect high returns, says Sramek. But while the endeavor is much riskier in the beginning given the high level of uncertainty, it's expected to become more akin to a traditional real estate investment over the long term, according to a source familiar with the project. And if this doesn't work? The group could develop the land piecemeal, says Sramek. The bottom line: Some Silicon Valley investors may have entirely written off the Bay Area, but others are doubling down and trying to reshape it via one of their most ambitious bets.

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Setting aside the concerning level of secrecy and the aggressive land acquisition, it's astonishing that Silicon Valley believes it has the blueprint to reinvent city administration and planning. A significant challenge lies in the fact that the acquired land is primarily zoned for agriculture. Transitioning this to residential zoning will result in a sharp increase in land values, which in turn would escalate the costs of construction, infrastructure, and other services. Which then could just be sold to developers who choose to build yet another sparse bedroom community for profit. Moreover, another problem arises: who exactly is the target resident for this project? As highlighted in the article, the majority of folks who benefit tend to be affluent and predominantly white. This does little to foster the diversity, vibrancy, and cultural richness that are hallmarks of truly cosmopolitan cities. While I can't delve into all the myopic facets of this venture in this post, the attached article provides a more thorough critique. What strikes me most, however, is the irony of the situation. Many billionaires have historically engaged in tax avoidance strategies. By reducing their contributions to the public coffers, they've undermined governments' capacity to fund the very types of initiatives that this new project, 'Foreverville,' aims to realize. If they were willing to contribute more to their local communities' tax base, we could have more people-centric cities. https://lnkd.in/euGrMbcb

Some of the richest people in the world are banking on a new California utopia. ⁠ ⁠ According to the NY Times, several of the richest tech bros have teamed up to buy $800 million worth of land just a few hours outside of the Bay Area — with the intent to build a new city. ⁠ ⁠ Pitched as a clean-energy, public-transit-accessible, high-density urban area, the new city is meant to combat problems like the current housing shortage, new job creation, and infrastructure investment.⁠ ⁠ The company making the land purchases is Flannery Associates, led by a former Goldman Sachs trader named Jan Sramek. ⁠ ⁠ Other investors include: ⁠ – Chris Dixon, a16z⁠ – Marc Andreeessen, a16z⁠ – John Collison, Stripe co-founder⁠ – Patrick Collison, Stripe co-founder⁠ - Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn co-founder⁠ - Michael Moritz, Sequoia Capital Chairman⁠ – Laurene Powell Jobs, Emerson Collective founder (and Steve Jobs' widow)⁠ ⁠ A district rep told Bloomberg that Solano County residents would likely need to pass a rezoning initiative for the development to have a chance — a move he said that's unlikely.⁠ ⁠ #siliconvalley #tech #realestate #utopia #urbandevelopment #technews #businessnews

How do I know that I'm not catching a falling knife? 🤔 This question lingered in a recent meeting with an investor as we delved into the landscape of San Francisco's real estate market with our partner Tallbridge Capital. This a valid and valuable question. But why is it that tech leaders are coming back to San Francisco? I would like to highlight only a few aspects: - San Francisco remains a massive tech, research, and VC hub; a global tourism and conference destination; and a very desirable place to live – all of these remain true today. What long-term impact will the boom in artificial intelligence have on San Francisco? - Looks like there is an opportunity to buy irreplaceable assets in irreplaceable locations at pricing that has not been available in the past 20 years! What do the market experts think about it? Brandon Roth - Big money is already in the market, and it is re-upping where it can – look at the makeup of MF portfolio landlords, office transactions, Brookfield's $600M acquisition of an MF loan portfolio! What are Brookfield people feeling about it? Juliana Diaz Nuñez

In the heart of California, a new vision named "New Metropolis" is taking form, conceived by four billionaires whose ambitions stretch as vast as their substantial coffers. This emerging oasis, with land amassing in anticipation of its manifestation, promises not just profit, but solutions to California's pressing housing dilemma and the snarls of its notorious traffic. However, when the New York Times peeled back the curtain on this grand venture, it unearthed a swath of concerns among its readership, myself included. Foremost among these worries is the daunting challenge of water provisioning for an anticipated 20,000 units in a land perpetually haunted by the specter of drought. Beyond this, there is apprehension about intensifying the already constricted two-lane highway and the potential diversion of much-needed attention and funds from affordable housing initiatives. To me, this metropolis serves as a poignant emblem of both historical and contemporary social disparities. It reflects the age-old trend of resources pooling amongst a privileged few, simultaneously highlighting the creation of high opportunity bastions and furthering of housing crises. If we truly aspire to redress the pervasive housing shortages, the escalating rents, and the endemic traffic challenges, our gaze must shift towards a broader, more integrated strategy. Perhaps California's salvation lies in tapping into its oft-neglected midlands, thereby reducing the strain on its twin titans: The Bay Area and Los Angeles. By sowing seeds of medium-sized cities across these midland expanses, and knitting them together with efficient transit arteries like state-spanning bullet trains, we could pave the path towards a more harmonious future. This forward-thinking approach could serve dual purposes: alleviating housing and transport woes while proactively addressing the looming threats posed by climate change and its associated calamities. "The site was in a corner of the San Francisco Bay Area where land was cheap. Mr. Moritz and others had dreams of transforming tens of thousands of acres into a bustling metropolis that, according to the pitch, could generate thousands of jobs and be as walkable as Paris or the West Village in New York. Since then, a company called Flannery Associates has been buying large plots of land in a largely agricultural region 60 miles northeast of San Francisco. The company, which has little information public about its operations, has committed more than $800 million to secure thousands of acres of farmland, court documents show." NYTimes Finally, this appears more like a land grab by the elite, constructing a self-contained metropolis for those affluent enough to purchase their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th homes in exclusive and newly created high-opportunity area. Our recent history has shown us a global exodus and violent conflicts over limited resources, emphasizing that no place is immune to natural disasters or disputes over dwindling resources.!!!

A mysterious company has spent $800 million in an effort to buy thousands of acres of San Francisco Bay Area land. The people behind the deals are said to be a who’s who of the tech industry. Flannery Associates has been buying large plots of land in a largely agricultural region 60 miles northeast of San Francisco. The company, which has little information public about its operations, has committed more than $800 million to secure thousands of acres of farmland, court documents show. One parcel after another, Flannery made offers to every landowner for miles, paying several times the market rate, whether the land had been listed for sale or not. The company’s ambitions expand on the 2017 pitch: Take an arid patch of brown hills cut by a two-lane highway between suburbs and rural land, and convert into it into a community with tens of thousands of residents, clean energy, public transportation and dense urban life. #siliconvalley #sanfrancisco #bayarearealestate #cityofdreams #futuretrends #cleanenergy #affordablehousing #publictransport #californialiving #technology #technologytrends

Imagine if we could build an entirely new city from scratch. This city would have a new government structure designed for the modern age. Unburdened by history and nationalism. A city designed to solve hard problems and become a home for the most innovative people in the world. It could show humanity what is possible. Dryden Brown founded Praxis to establish a new city somewhere in the Mediterranean to serve this purpose. He has established a community of thousands of builders, investors, creators and philosophers on the internet that align with Praxis. Dryden has raised nearly $20M from Paradigm, Bedrock, Fred Ehrsam, Joe Lonsdale and more. For Host Governments, Praxis will offer them a portion of tax revenue they generate as they attract economic investment into their new city. For Companies, Praxis will offer R&D incentives and policies that support innovation and investment. For Residents, you will get a Visa that comes with land and tax advantages. Praxis provides a promising vision for the future: we can do big bold things outside the traditional system. That smart people all around the world, who congregate online, could manifest a home in the physical world, as The Network State highlights. As current government fail to innovate, while technology automates more of our lives, and our money moves on chain, new cities are not only possible, but a natural outcome to serve the builders of the techno-capital machine.  

Well…. This makes for an interesting development. There are still a number of issues for SF to overcome in the next few years as it relates to high taxes and cost of living, dysfunctional leadership, and a regulatory situation that is hostile to new construction… but this marks a promising turn for the city’s real estate sector.