Thursday, August 27, 2015

Boost to city tax revenue, San Bruno


Tanforan sold, Google (YouTube) bought.

The Daily Journal/Austin Walsh, 8/24/15. "Tanforan, YouTube building sasles lifts revenue in San Bruno: Major: Property purchase show city is open for business."

Image result for Tanforan, San Bruno picture
San Bruno:  Shop
Image result for Google YouTube, San Bruno, CA picture
Cool tech employment
"The recent sale of two corporate landmarks in San Bruno has brought forth a boon for the city in tax revenue from the purchases. The Shops at Tanforan sold for $174.4 million to Australian investment fund QIC, according to a press release Monday, Aug. 17, and Google spent $88 million to purchase the YouTube headquarters in twin office buildings at 900 and 1000 Cherry Ave. earlier this month, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

The sales generated about $68,400 combined in property transfer tax revenue for San Bruno, which splits the tax proceeds roughly in half with San Mateo County each time a property changes hands, according to San Mateo County Clerk Mark Church. 

.... In recent years, the city’s finances have begun to rebound thanks to a thriving local economy, as officials passed a $40 million budget in June. .... Tanforan is one of the city’s largest employers, and sources of revenue, contributing heavily to the $8.1 million officials have budgeted to receive in sales tax proceeds this fiscal year.There are 108 stores and services in the two-story shopping center, located at 1150 El Camino Real, between Highway 101 and Interstate 280.  ....  ... Despite the challenges associated with becoming a target of corporate investment, Mayor Ruane said there is an overall benefit for the city. “This is very good for San Bruno,” he said."   Read article.

Reference. City of San Bruno, California.  City-Data.com, population 42,443. Tanforan Shopping Center.  Google, Inc. (YouTube), San Bruno (Main Office), Careers.  Related. Google (YouTube), Find Law.  San Franciscol Business Times/Cory Weinberg, Reporter, 8/17/15. "San Bruno's Tanforan shopping mall sells to Australian investor."

Photographs. Tanforan Shopping Center from Forest City diversified Real Estate.  Google YouTube, San Bruno from their hiring Glass Door.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

43 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe we should merge Pacific with San Bruno!

Anonymous said...

and call ourselves San Pacifico

Anonymous said...

San Bruno attempted to annex Pacifica back in 1957.
They probably have a better chance now.

Anonymous said...

12:47

The county looked into it, the county didn't want Pacifica's debt.

Anonymous said...

DC or SB would gag at the thought of annexing today's Pacifica. See, being real cities, they know a town with 60% permanent open space is doomed to be a flatassbroke town. Oh, and let's not forget the CCC sticking their nose in stuff and the enviros and the nitwit class of developers we seem to prefer. We'll end up orphans taken in by the county because they have to provide basic services when we are no longer able to do so. Depending on the weather, our charade as a city should end in a couple years.

Anonymous said...

Pacifica is unique in that it is the only city in SF Bay Area to have NOT taken advantage of progressive economics (Quantitative Easing) since the end of Bill Clinton's term. How much has Pacifica changed since 1998?

It is some what amusing to want to save Pacifica while the rest of Bay Area grows in population & pollution and intrudes on Pacifica with the good and bad of it.

What next? Too many cars on Hwy 1 which contribute to increase of NOX that may kill the frogs and snakes? Perhaps shrink the highway?


Anonymous said...

5:47--

Put down the crack pipe.

QE began in 2009 and is a Federal monetary policy. Not sure what it has to do with Pacifica or how we were supposed to take advantage of increased liquidity via long-term bond purchases by the central bank.

Please, educate us!

Janet Yellen's Tears of Laughter said...

LOL @ the Quantitative Easing post.

I believe you've qualified for the Dumbest Comment of the Year award (handed out in December). The judges will be in touch with their decision.

Anonymous said...

6:19 --
QE is the new name for "bond buying by Fed". It hasn't always been called QE but it was very much the methodology to infuse liquidity into the system.

When Fed buys bonds or infuses liquidity it cannot sit idle on the balance books. The whole point of liquidity is for it to propagate across the system. The net effect of it is interest rates fall and borrowing goes up. Or as supply of liquidity goes up the demand falls. Money becomes cheap. The result is low interest rates.

When Fed decreases or stops buying bonds the cost of money goes up due to no or little supply. The result is high interest rates.

The mandate of the fed is to strike a balance between supply and demand of the liquidity in the system.

In 1998 after LTCM collapsed -- it wss the first of many significant liquidity infusions or "QE". What followed was the boom of tech market and eventual bust in 2001-2002. You can read about it here.

To recover from that bust, it was then followed by another "QE" exercise in which was followed by housing market boom and eventual bust in 2008. Unless you've been lost under a rock you should be well aware of this.

And to recover from the bust of 2008, we've been subject to QE since late 2008-2009 until now.

And the rest is history. Before you judge, pay attention.

Now, how could Pacifica have taken advantage of this you ask?
Pacifica could have encouraged investment climate. Because it is cheaper for businesses to borrow (during times of quantitative financial easing) it has the potential to create more revenues by way of larger tax base. Incidentally, this was what Peebles was pitching.

Cities all around SF Bay Area took advantage of this. The evidence is plenty. Have a look around East Palo Alto. Pacifica (both its citizenry and city govt.) for peculiar reasons hasn't really done much to encourage business or development or take advantage of cheaper lending. Now that interest rates may go up, business will tend to focus on those avenues that have better/quicker potential and lower risk.

Pacifica is not it.

Anonymous said...

102 Well, alrighty, then. Who's up for a big bowl of Cheerios?

big banker said...

In the financial recovery act, there was Federal money for "shovel ready" city improvement projects. In fact I called Steve Rhodes, and told him, Hey Steve, Obama is giving away money for city improvement projects, get in line. He didn't even know about it.

QE is the fed adding liquidity into the markets because if the government didn't intervene the financial markets, banks, and government would have collapsed.

Actually the Chinese economy is real ling right now and they are selling our bonds. Our Government is buying them all back Just like how the Fed's stepped in to add money to Fannie and Freddie and purchased almost every mortgage written from 2008 to current.

In the case of Peebles. I am not really sure if he could have even finished his quarry project. His lender Wachovia was taken over. So I don't know if he could have used personal funds to finish or just finish one phase.Or he could have brought in an equity partner. Only a couple projects I know of were finished when the lender (bank) was taken over. The condo buildings in San Bruno are 2.



Anonymous said...

654 Heretic! Peebles would have finished his project, saved Wachovia, and won the Kentucky Derby riding a unicorn.

Anonymous said...

Big banker is right about Peebles. He couldn't have finished the quarry project. Probably couldn't have even gotten started. And he probably wouldn't have brought in an equity partner. He wanted to keep total control of the deal. He probably would've flipped it to get his profit out. He never used his own funds. That's what he explained in his book. He was recently quoted in the New York Times lauding Donald Trump for doing deals with other people's money and not using his own. That's how the big boys do it.

Anonymous said...

big banker

.. towards the end of 2008-2009 many significant RE projects in SF stalled or went illiquid. They were paused for a while and had to undergo various kinds of financial/ownership restructuring etc. But pretty much all of them restarted around mid 2010 and since then have turned a tidy profit.

If Peebles couldn't have finished the potential would've been explored by someone else. IMO, The biggest bottleneck to Pacficia's development is self imposed peculiarities by its own citizens and govt.




Anonymous said...

Anyone with a pea sized brain knows that the way to wealth is using other people's money. How do you think you buy a house or a car or a dishwasher or carry a balance on a credit card? Do you actually believe an economy runs on hourly wages?
If no one borrowed, no one would lend. If no one loaned we'd all be living in grass shacks and grubbing for meal worms.
Pacifica's NOBY royalty is so clueless. That's why this town is such a FAIL.

Kathy Meeh said...

Unicorn 1016, developing the quarry for economic benefit to this city (commercial, retail, mixed-use) is a no-brainer.
And, big banker 11:00, summarized the projected "getting the development built" issue. That's how business works.

1135, right, the systematic NIMBY game-plan has worked, now what?

Anonymous said...

1135 You missed a few clues yourself. Developers use of other people's money is a recognized given--even those damn Nimbys know that. And despite your addiction to low-hanging fruit, I think you know they know. The commentary here, for example 1035, implies how the use of financing by a smart developer like Peebles is almost a business unto itself. He couldn't lose. Bravo for him and the other big boys. They live today to fight and build tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Big Banker. What we need is a town made up of realtors, brokers, bankers, contractors, trash haulers, insurance agents, and the like. Pure hearts, one and all, motivated by concern for Pacifica's fiscal pain. And how about more voters local and statewide who tell gov't hands off development. Thank God for democracy.

Kathy Meeh said...

104, I think you're confusing democracy with calculated NIMBY mob rule.
And for progress, we do need all those people you mentioned; plus, other forms of business and commerce, the range of specialized professionals, workers, road builders, etc.
And what is your occupation? Waiting for that...

We've listened to this anti-city diatribe way to long. Time to save what's left of our civilized City, (and bury the NIMBY ideology in the empty-space dirt where it belongs).

Anonymous said...

A lot of people move to SF Bay Area because businesses create economic opportunities for them (by way of nice paying jobs). And businesses can do this because they can borrow at convenient rates and take calculated risks.

The big question is, has Pacifica done anything to attract population to move into Pacifica and/or businesses to thrive?

All evidence points to: Not Really!

All of the development in Pacifica it seems was a result "overflow" from the rest of Bay Area rather than from within. Have a look at Palo Alto. They have managed a balance between both open space and fostering businesses. Even Half Moon Bay does it better.

Anonymous said...

11:35 You don't get it. It's not like a mortgage or car loan or credit card that you pay back with your money. People like Peebles and Trump borrow big amounts of money but then either pay it back with other people's money or don't pay it back at all, like Trump's bankruptcies and Peebles' non-recourse loan for the quarry. They don't spend their own money to pay off the loan. 12:52 gets that. It's a business that only the big boys can play. Peebles borrowed $16 million to buy the quarry and spent roughly $8 million (or less) on his campaign to convince the voters. When that lost, he defaulted on the loan leaving the lender holding the property worth maybe $3 or $4 mil tops and Peebles walked away with about $8 mil pure profit, having never put out a dime of his own money. That's big time wheeling and dealing. Regular folk don't get to play in that game.

Anonymous said...

So, start calculating, Kathy Meeh, instead of waawaawaanofairwaawaawaa. Good grief!

Anonymous said...

I'm hoping the new owners of the quarry build a big hotel, and shopping and restaurants. Include a solid grocery that will survive. Put Linda Mar and Manor out of business. Then bring on more developers with appetite, big bucks and iron will to build a tourist hotel and dense housing at LM or maybe even premium outlets. Instead of a poop pit on LMBlvd use the valuable space for development. Replace that eyesore of a hellhole at Manor with dense housing for commuters.
Dramatically change the North and South gateways to Pacifica and you really will change Pacifica. And, best of all, these areas are already zoned for development. Quit farting around with the land-squandering multi-million dollar homes that only make money for the developer and crew and council's ego-library project and get serious about saving and even improving this town.

Anonymous said...

PA has Stanford and its equally sophisticated neighbors to create demand for housing, services and biz as well as keep the aesthetics at a high level. HMB benefits from looking and functioning like a traditional coastal ag town and being somewhat isolated. Pacifica is a bunch of tacky convenience stops along a highway, each with its own identity and resentment of the others. They came together to avoid becoming San Bruno's garbage dump back in the 50s, then made terrible, short-sighted land use decisions, and here we are in 2015 fighting over scraps. Is Pacifica viable? Two years ago Stone and Nihart claimed that to be fiscally sound we needed 10 of the Beach Blvd developments @$500K per? That's 5 million bucks per year in new revenue for now. I think they're math was correct. That money is not out there, not in anything that's ever been proposed or is likely to be proposed. Hell, we haven't even seen a dime from Beach Blvd. Go ahead, whip out the old Nimby Gun, but this may be as good as it's going to get. Hope they have Plan B.

Anonymous said...

When that lost, he defaulted on the loan leaving the lender holding the property worth maybe $3 or $4 mil tops and Peebles walked away with about $8 mil pure profit, having never put out a dime of his own money. That's big time wheeling and dealing. Regular folk don't get to play in that game.

He deeded the property back to the lender. Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure. The lender accepted the deed in lieu and now sold it to the new owners.

The pea brains over at Loeb central are sweating now that progress is being made in the quarry.

Anonymous said...

Amen 230. They're a rare breed. High flyers with an exquisite sense of risk and reward.

Anonymous said...

341 Captain Redundant Quibble at your service!! Don't you get all giddy, Cap'n, and forget your Speed-stick. We've seen this movie before.

WAKE UP PACIFICA said...

Prediction:
Thanks to the NIMBY idiots' past performance, the new Quarry owners are going to pull out all the stops. Then the nutty NOBIES will be opining for a "Peebles like" development.
Unbridled anti-development abuse = Vengeance Development.
Way to go you faux-enviro dupes.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Big Banker. What we need is a town made up of realtors, brokers, bankers, contractors, trash haulers, insurance agents, and the like. Pure hearts, one and all, motivated by concern for Pacifica's fiscal pain. And how about more voters local and statewide who tell gov't hands off development. Thank God for democracy.

August 28, 2015 at 1:04 PM

Dime bag dealers, pot heads, meth freaks and hippies have done so much for Pacifica economy.

Crawl back under the rock you came out from stinky hippie.

Anonymous said...

Hippies are free spirited people. They don't try and systematically manipulate agenda to fit their pre-conceived notions of "good" and "bad".

The species we have in town are more along the lines of "I have mine and you shall not have yours".

They are neither environmentally friendly nor co-operative. Just bullheaded manipulators.

todd bray said...

All yee Yessies and Rantanons seem very quiet about an excavator in your preciuos Quarry. I would have expected MAJOR victory dance hooting and hollering. What's wrong with ye all?

Kathy Meeh said...

@ 8/28, 246 crybaby response to my 8/28, 126 or 1204 comment-- if you really have something/anything to say, kindly say it.
As for "good grief" (your comment), the infrastructure void in this City is an economic grief which compounds over time (time value of money lost forever).
Solutions: #1, support smart revenue development in the quarry (retail, commercial, mixed-use).

Anonymous said...

Todd

Can I please see a spreadsheet regarding how much money you have brought into town?

Can I also see a list of your accomplishments?

Kathy Meeh said...

1151, your anonymous questions singling-out Todd are not fair.
Better, begin with the core concept that NIMBIES don't give a damn if there is a City. NIMBY desire and strategy to vacate a balanced City economy has been fully vocalized, demonstrated and documented over 30+ years.

The question is how to stop the adverse impact NIMBIES have caused this City. Possibly Todd could continue to offer that insight.

Anonymous said...

Todd, they're just scared to hope and have their hearts broken again. Hey, maybe this outfit will skip any housing and go for commercial and a hotel. Now, that would actually be good for Pacifica 'tho there wouldn't be any houses to sell. You'd celebrate, right? Revenue for the city, but without housing. Good, right?

Anonymous said...

Kathy

if the shoe fits...

Anonymous said...

Let's hope that this new owner has as much vision and resources as Peebles.
No more deference to faux-enviros.
The only thing they are good at is killing Pacifica.

Anonymous said...

201 Sounds like a sure-fire strategy for failure. Let's hope the participants have less rage than you.

Anonymous said...

@201 Deference to faux-enviros? What an odd thing to call a vote of the people on an issue of importance to them.

Kathy Meeh said...

255 duh. Anyone who cares about the economic benefit and survival of this City should be outraged by NIMBY tactics, twisted lies (including your comment), and the 30+ anti-progress plot the rest of us have been subjected to.

Kathy Meeh said...

258, get real. The 2006 and 2003 mixed-use quarry votes were hammered by the usual "play book" of twisted NIMBY tactics, including bring-in the regional eco-NIMBY troops to sell the message: "traffic", and smearing the quality developers and developments.
And when each of these mixed-use redevelopment projects were presented, there was interference from the anti-development city council majorities: Vreeland, Lancelle, Digre, DeJarnatt.

Anonymous said...

Oh Kathy, it's so unfair. Those darn elected officials carrying out the wishes of the people who elected them so that they'll get re-elected to continue carrying out...and so on and so forth. Treachery! Here's a thought. 2016 is shaping up to be the Year of the Outrageous Candidate. Get yourselves some. Obvious choices would be one or even two of the irascible characters with frequent flyer miles for appearing before council. They know how to stir a pot. Whether they can avoid falling in it remains to be seen. Or maybe someone from the Business Community with a big war chest. I think the same disclaimer about pots must apply. 2016 is almost here. Could be your team's breakout year! And we're not talking pimples.

Kathy Meeh said...

408, no NIMBY, "pimples" would be your forever twisted comments, which some reasonable people might consider "outrageous".