‘I was just shocked’: City concerned about run-down Berkeley student housing co-ops

The four-story, 118-year-old residence has water stains on the walls from leaks. A sundeck sags precariously above a room with asbestos in the ceiling and a pantry littered with rodent traps. A storage closet sits nearly empty, its emergency supplies never replaced after an overflowing bathroom destroyed them in 2022. And a mold test kit covered in brown fungus perched for months on a downstairs windowsill.

Struggling Cities Face More Pain From AI Boom

That said, in certain places land will become much more valuable, as companies choose to locate near AI centers to access the labor markets for AI researchers, or to learn about AI from the industry’s leading actors. I predict a major real estate comeback for San Francisco and nearby environs, and probably gains for Manhattan as well.