Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Dreamworks to Vacate Pacific Shores Center, Desirable Office Space up for Grabs

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Redwood City's Pacific Shores Center
Dreamworks Animation announced last Friday that it would be shutting down the entirety of its 193,000 square foot Redwood City Studio.  The facility is located in the Pacific Shores Center, the same complex where Google recently purchased a million square feet of commercial space.
The move is in concert with a company wide restructuring that Dreamworks is undergoing in an effort to offset a couple years of lack luster box office performance.  In total, 500 jobs will be cut across all Dreamworks locations, with a large bulk of those cuts likely coming from the Redwood City facility - though in a statement, Dreamworks did say that many of the Redwood City employees would be offered positions at their Glendale, CA location.
Dreamworks vacating their RWC studio leaves a huge chunk of desirable commercial real estate up for grabs.  This in a city that has increasingly been on the radar of Silicon Valley companies looking to expand.  Chances are the facility, which occupies two buildings at 1400 and 1500 Seaport Boulevard, will not be vacant for long.
One thing is for sure - whoever does end up moving into the facility will be in good company.  Late last year Google purchased 6 of the surrounding buildings at 1200, 1300, 1600, 1700, 1800, and 1900 Seaport Blvd.  And who knows, with Google's appetite for commercial real estate being as voracious as it is, it wouldn't be all that surprising if they made a move on the two freshly vacant buildings themselves.
It will be interesting to see how this develops.   We'll be sure to keep you updated!

Friday, January 23, 2015

Why the Automobile Industry is Moving to Silicon Valley

The Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak by Audi USA, on Flickr
Photo by Flickr user, Audi USA
It's no secret - Silicon Valley is the tech hub of the world.  Apple, Google, Facebook, Tesla, Intel, HP and endless more of the world's leaders in tech innovation call this southern chunk of the Bay Area home.  And with Silicon Valley's reputation as a breeding ground for innovation, it should come as no surprise that the area has become an attractive spot for major automobile manufacturers to make their beds.
The automobile industry and the tech industry are becoming increasingly intertwined.  And the smarter cars get, the more the auto industry finds itself looking to tech to stay on the cutting edge.  One company that is making no secret of their presence in the area is Ford.  The auto giant just unveiled a new 25,000 square foot research and development facility in the Stanford Research Park in Palo Alto.  And to further integrate their facility into the Silicon Valley community,  they appointed former Apple Inc. engineer, Dragos Maciuca, to sit at the helm of the operation.
While this isn't Ford's first research facility in the area, it marks an exponentially larger effort by the company to get involved in the tech sector.  Their previous facility, which opened in 2012, was home to only eight engineers.  This one will house as many as 125 by the end of the year - most of them specializing in software.
Most major automobile manufacturers have at least some R&D presence in Silicon Valley, but Ford's has become the most pronounced.  At the unveiling of the new facility, Ford CEO Mark Fields said, “As we think about coming to Silicon Valley, we want to be viewed as part of the ecosystem here.  Silicon Valley is a marketplace of ideas and it’s important to be here and be a part of that."
Mark Fields by CC Chapman, on Flickr
Mark Fields, CEO of Ford - Photo by Flickr User, CC Chapman
And which idea are they most immediately in the market for?  Ford - like Google and several other automobile companies - is working to develop self-driving vehicles.  Their "Fusion Hybrid Autonomous Research Vehicle" has been over a year in the works now, but at the unveiling of their new facility they announced that they would be partnering with Stanford University to further develop it.
With tech giants like Google working on self-driving cars of their own, it begs the question - are tech and auto partners or competitors?  For now, the relationship is mutually beneficial.  As Ford CTO Raj Nair put it, “I don’t think of it as a matter of rivalry, more of an opportunity for partnerships. We’re increasingly seeing opportunities of technology that are applicable to the car. They’re increasingly seeing car as the biggest consumer electronics device that you can have.”
Whatever comes of the relationship, us Bay Area residents will get to watch it unfold firsthand.  Self-driving cars, cars with built-in WiFi, cars with smart thermometers that adjust depending on whether your headed to or from home.  It's definitely an exciting time, and I for one am happy to have a front seat to it all.

Friday, January 16, 2015

4 Architectural Styles That You Might Find on a Stroll Through the Bay Area

Clearly this list is not exclusive.  There are plenty of other architectural styles that probably belong on here, and these 4 aren't even the most common.  Nevertheless, these are the four I chose - enjoy!
1) Craftsman
White Trim Craftsman Bungalow House by Photo Dean, on Flickr
Photo by Flickr user, Photo Dean
The craftsman home initially rose to prominence in the early 1900's as a rejection of industrialization, but a recent revival has made it one of the more popular architectural styles today.  The concept behind the Craftsman home is that it should be in harmony with nature.  The exterior typically consists of some mixture of wood, stone and stucco, and the roof is low pitched and gabled with decorative beams underneath the gables.  Inside, it embraces simplicity, with built-in furniture and an open floor plan.
2) California Ranch
Our midcentury ranch house, early Spring by Ronald (Ron) Douglas Frazier, on Flickr
Photo by Flickr user, Ronald (Ron) Douglas Frazier
You can find these single-level, asymmetrical homes (usually L or U shaped) on pretty much any given street in the Bay Area. They became immensely popular around the middle of the 20th century, and have been a fixture in west coast suburbs ever since. The floor plan is usually open, flowing and informal, and the garage is typically attached to the home. Picture windows serve to incorporate views of the outdoors into the interior ambiance, and sliding glass doors give instant access to the back patio.
3) Spanish Colonial Revival
 by cyclotourist, on Flickr
Photo by Flickr user cyclotourist
You know these homes when you see them.  Their signature red terracotta roof tiles, stucco exterior walls, and arched doorways give them away. The stairs are made from painted tile and red brick, and the windows and balcony's are usually adorned with decorative iron grills.  While Spanish Colonial Revival homes certainly aren't uncommon here in the Bay Area, they are definitely a lot more prevalent in the southern portion of the state where they first became popular.
 4) Queen Anne Victorian
Painted Ladies - San Francisco by SJL, on Flickr
Photo by Flickr user SJL
Outside of San Francisco, the Queen Ann Victorian home isn't all that popular on the west coast. However, the painted ladies in the City by the Bay could be the most well-known demonstration of the style.  They're highly decorative, multilevel, and more often than not multicolored.  They tend to have wrap-around front porches, but space constrictions obviously eliminate that possibility in San Francisco.  Bay windows are a signature of this particular architectural style.

Monday, January 12, 2015

San Carlos Transit Village Approved: Construction Could Begin This Year


After years of planning and debate, the San Carlos transit village has officially been cleared for construction.  The development will cover 6 acres of land between El Camino and the San Carlos train station, and will consist of 202 residential units, 25,800 square feet of commercial space, a public plaza adjacent to the train station, and a multi-modal parking structure.

Resident’s Concerns

When planning began, the project was met with opposition due to concerns about how it would affect traffic.  Those concerns have been quelled for the most part as city planners and the developer working on the project, Legacy Partners, assure that its proximity to Caltrain and SamTrans stops will encourage increased usage of both public transit outlets.  Although Legacy Partners has stated that one of their main project objectives is to provide non-auto dependent housing to San Carlos residents, it is inevitable that many of the people moving into the complex will bring their cars with them - even with bus and train stops nearby.  How much of an impact this will have on traffic remains to be seen.

Another concern that San Carlos residents initially voiced to city planners was that the development would cast unsightly shadows over an otherwise sunny and pleasant area.  Legacy Partner’s addressed this concern by scaling down the size of the complex from 4 stories to three, and the number of residential units from 453 to 320, and then again to 202.

What’s in it for San Carlos?

The City of San Carlos will be able to collect property taxes on the land, which they have not been doing in its current form (right now it’s a big patch of dirt).  They will also receive $1.5 million dollars in one-time fees from Legacy Partners – a welcome chunk of money for a city that until now has not significantly benefited from the recent wave of mid-peninsula development.

Further, low inventory has kept San Carlos’s housing market congested for a while now, so the addition of 202 relatively affordable residential units should help ease competition in the area a bit.

According to an article published by the San Francisco Examiner, the project could break ground later this year.


Want to learn more about the San Carlos Transit Village?  The city has uploaded building plans, relevant documents, and videos of public hearings to their website.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

6 Kitchen Countertop Options That Aren't Granite

Okay, I get it... granite is great.  It's rich, beautiful, natural, heat resistant and everything in between.  But there's a whole world of kitchen countertop options out there that it seems like everyone is too scared to explore.  So take a chance.  Be Different.  Go against the grain.  Live a little.  Human ingenuity has provided us with all sorts of awesome materials to put on top of our cabinets and drawers.  Here are six such materials - dive in.
1. Quartz
Quartz
Quartz is low maintenance, virtually indestructibe, and unlike its natural stone counterparts it does not need to be sealed.  It's a non-porous surface which makes it easy to clean and hard for bacteria to grow on it.  Granite is a bit more heat resistant, but other than that there isn't a whole lot of downside to quartz.  It's price competitive with granite, looks as good, and can take more of a beating.
Cost - $60-$140/sqft
2. Tempered Glass
tempered-glass-countertop
Glass counters can be back painted,  which means they come in whatever color you want. They can bring drama to a kitchen, or make it look modern and sleek.  They're also heat resistant and non-porous.
Cost - around $200/sqft
3. Laminate
Laminate
Laminate has a reputation for being cheap and tacky here in the states, but in Europe laminate countertops are everywhere.  It's cheap, low maintenance, easy to install, easy to clean, and can mimic the look of granite.  So if your on a tight budget, don't rule out laminate.
Cost - $10-$60/sqft
4. Wood

Although wood can be finished and used in many ways, its most popular kitchen iteration is probably the butcher block style. It has a warm look and works great in traditional or cottage style kitchens. The obvious downside to wood is that it harbors bacteria and has to be sanitized often.
Cost - varies greatly depending on quality and species of wood $50-$200/sqft
5. Stainless Steel
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Stainless steel countertops at our listing on Kansas Sreet in San Francisco
Stainless steel countertops have long been popular in commercial and industrial settings, but recently they have been gaining momentum in residential kitchens as well.  Stainless steel is antibacterial and non-porous, so it is extremely low maintenance.  Downsides are that it scratches and dents easily, is cold and uncomfortable to the touch, and it definitely does not fit into every design scheme.
Cost - $75-140/sqft
6. Tile

Tile comes in endless colors and designs, making it extremely flexible. A big plus to tile is that if a one or two get damaged it isn't that big of a deal to have them replaced. A major downside to tile is that the grout in between the tiles can get stained, and if not cleaned properly it will become a breeding ground for bacteria.
Cost - $10-$80/sqft
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