Facebook is working with a local developer to build a $120 million, 394-unit housing community within walking distance of its offices:
Called Anton Menlo, the 630,000 square-foot rental property will include everything from a sports bar to a doggy day care.
[...]
To build the housing, Facebook’s “amenities team” worked with developer St. Anton Partners, a San Francisco Bay area, multi-family real estate developer, to create an environment that mirrors the atmosphere of its corporate campus, where employees are encouraged to mingle and share ideas.
The apartments will go for market rates, and a handful will be set aside for low income residents. All but 15 of the units will be open to non-Facebook employees.
“The beauty of this thing is that it’s extremely close to our campus,” said John Tenanes, Facebook’s director of real estate and an architect involved in the planning. “It’s a five-minute bike ride” along a dedicated path that runs along the San Francisco bay, he said. “You don’t even have to put on the brakes.”
So, $120 million for almost 400 units means $300,000 per unit — but a handful will be set aside for low income residents, because… it would be wrong not to have low-income housing next to Facebook headquarters?
As Handle notes, this is a simple way to ensure high neighborhood quality — by ensuring high neighbor quality:
1. Proximity to one’s employment location and urban amenities.
2. Geographic and Climatological Factors (Beach, Weather, etc.)
3. Neighborhood Quality.If you hold 1 and 2 constant, you still see huge variation in price due to 3. In most urban areas, you can move half a mile and the same structure will sell for an order of magnitude more.
What determines neighborhood quality? Mostly, it’s one’s neighbors. If you want safety and security, law and order, ‘good schools’ and voluntary contribution in community endeavors, you need good neighbors.
People are willing to make significant sacrifices, including paying a fortune and spending an extra hour a day commuting, to live in such a place. It’s a stretch, but peace of mind is worth every penny.
People use to get these things for free. Quantifying just how much more they have to pay for it these days is a long-term project of mine.