2012
"Bay Area economy looking bright for 2013"
If the Bay Area economy were considered a stock, analysts would definitely rate it a “strong buy” for 2013.
“You folks will continue to outperform the U.S. economy and all of California,” predicts Wells Fargo’s chief economist, John Silvia.
Of course, prognosticators can be wrong. Many had predicted the state’s unemployment rate, for example, would continue in double digits through 2013. In fact, unemployment dipped below 10 percent last month for the first time in four years and continued to fall even further in the Bay Area. And job growth numbers were led by industries such as transportation, construction and leisure and hospitality, rather than high tech, which has almost single-handedly powered the local economy.
...More"Executive Profile: Patrick Kennedy, owner of Panoramic Interests"
Background: Kennedy spent 20 years developing apartments and condominiums in Berkeley, eventually selling a 500-unit rental housing portfolio to Equity Residential for $146 million. Kennedy bought his first San Francisco property in 2009 and developed the 23-unit 38 Harriet St. His company is now entitling 1321 Mission St., 180 units of efficiently designed studios and suites. He expects to break ground in spring 2013.
...More"6 rooms into 1: morphing apartment packs 1100 sq ft into 420"
In 2010, we met Graham Hill- the founder of treehugger.com and a serial entrepreneur. He had just bought two tiny apartments in a century-old tenement building in Soho and he had plans to turn them into laboratories, and showcases, for tiny living. He’d spent most of the past year living in tiny spaces- “a tiny trailer, a tent, and then a boat” and he was convinced others would love it as much if small spaces could be designed right.
He wanted a tiny space that didn’t sacrifice function, but instead that would expand to provide a wish list including dinner parties for 12, accommodations for 2 overnight guests, a home office and a home theater with digital projector. Not wanting to limit himself to local architects, he crowdsourced the design as a competition and received 300 entries from all over the world. Two Romanian architecture students won with their design “One Size Fits All”.
...More"Cushman forecast: San Francisco is top U.S. city for office net growth"
San Francisco was the only U.S. city to rank in the top 10 of cities forecast to see the highest office rental rates over the next two years, according to a new forecast from Cushman & Wakefield.
According to the forecast, Jakarta, Sao Paolo and San Francisco will be the top cities for growth in 2013 and 2014.
While some markets and regions will experience increased activity later in 2013, noteworthy growth is not expected in the majority of locations until 2014 and beyond.
...More"Manhattan Mini Apartment Packs 6 Rooms into 1 TranSFormable Space"
The LifeEdited apartment in Manhattan’s SOHO neighborhood is a tiny 420 square foot apartment with a remarkable multifunction living space that can be configured into six different rooms. A moving wall and hideaway furniture can be arranged to create sleeping quarters for 4, two separate offices, or a dining room that can seat up to 12 people. The apartment is the brainchild of TreeHugger founder Graham Hill, who completely remodeled the flat after buying it in 2010. Hill demonstrates the many features of his apartment in this video tour by *faircompanies.
...More"Residential Behavioral Architecture 101"
The above image was taken from an article in a Wall Street Journal article about the book “Life at Home in the 21st Century.” The UCLA group responsible for the book followed 32 middle class Los Angeles families around their homes, tracking their every move to see how people actually live nowadays. This image shows ”the location of each parent and child on the first floor of the house of ‘Family 11′ every 10 minutes over two weekday afternoons and evenings.” In other words, primetime for their waking hours at home.
...More"Tiny House, Happy Life?"
Imagine stepping into a house 25 times smaller than your current abode. For the average American, that would amount to 100 square feet, a space so tiny it feels like it belongs in a tree.
That’s the way Jay Shafer has come home for the past decade. Shafer is considered something of a patriarch of the tiny house movement, a small but growing band of people who drastically shrink their living space in hopes of living a cheaper, less wasteful, and happier life.
...More"TVB Chinese National TV Broadcasts about SMARTSPACE"
Scroll to bottom of page and click link for video dated December 6, 2012.
...More"San Francisco is No. 1 real estate market nationwide, but for how long?"
San Francisco is expected to reign as the nation’s top real estate market for investment, development and homebuilding in 2013, according a recently released annual report from the Urban Land Institute.
...More"The Ten Steps To Walkable Cities"
In Jeff Speck’s excellent new book, Walkable City, he suggests that there are ten keys to creating walkability. Most of them also have something to do with redressing the deleterious effects caused by our allowing cars to dominate urban spaces for decades. I don’t necessarily agree with every detail, and my own list might differ in some ways that reflect my own experience and values. But it’s a heck of a good menu to get city leaders and thinkers started in making their communities more hospitable to walkers.
...More
