SF, Emeryville Finalists For Stem Cell Research Center

[davidinalameda]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/baycitynews/archive/2005/04/12/stemresearch12.DTL

Emeryville and San Francisco have been selected as prospective permanent locations for California's $3 billion stem cell research program, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine announced today.

The institute, formed after voters approved Proposition 71 in November, required applying cities to work in conjunction with building owners to provide 17,000 square feet of office space at no or low cost, along with other amenities.

San Francisco offered up to 28,000 square feet of waterfront office space as part of a free, 10-year lease as well as access to laboratory space at San Francisco General Hospital.

[Book Lover]

1. Might as well give it away for free

Since no one is buying corporate real estate these days in SF...

[davidinalameda]

2. then why are the prices still so damn high!

[Xithras]

3. It should be in Emeryville or the East Bay (Sac would have been better)

Sorry, but since this will be a government run program, very few of the new employees here are going to be able to afford San Francisco rents. If the facility is placed in SF, it's simply going to add that many more commuters on the Bay Bridge or BART every morning.

Smart growth means placing the jobs where the people are. Since most of these employees are far more likely to live in the (relatively) less expensive East Bay cities, they should put the jobs there.

Putting it in Sacramento or elsewhere in the Central Valley, where the cost of living is FAR lower, would have been an even better idea...but it looks like they've already ruled that out.

[davidinalameda]

4. but the companies that do this kind of work are in the bay area

and not in the central valley nor in Sacramento

[Xithras]

5. Build it and they will come

Besides, they're still considering San Diego, so a Bay Area location doesn't seem to be too pressing on them.

A lot of technology companies are already moving out of the Bay Area anyway because of both cost and crime issues, so it makes sense to locate it in an area that's economically superior to the Bay Area.

If you build it in the Bay Area, you have to pay higher Bay Area wages to accomodate the high cost of living. Every dollar that goes to wages is one less dollar that goes to stem cell research. The money pot for this thing is a fixed size, and when the cash runs out it's DONE, the doors lock, and the people go home. It doesn't make economic or research sense to place it in an area where those funds will be wasted on nonmedical needs.

The less expensive cities with existing biomedical research facilities, like Davis, Sacramento, or Fresno, make far more sense than a Bay Area, LA, or San Diego location.

[davidinalameda]

6. thought they narrowed it down to the Bay Area

I'm curious to see the vote break down by county

wonder how much support this got in the central valley and the Sacramento region as opposed to the Bay Area

[Coastie for Truth]

7. Emeryville is an interesting situation.

Quick BART hop to Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco (and maybe in ten years - from my keyboard to God's eyes) to San Jose.

BART to OAK, SFO

Just before the traffic jam on the Bay Bridge.

My take on Emeryville -- one of thousands of little places - with a rapid transit stop, and an Interstate interchange, that is close to everything.

(As an old east coast guy in the Bay Area - for some reason Emeryville reminds of the Bay Area's Hoboken or Jersey City or Gloucester NJ)

When I first came out to the Bay Area I lived in Alameda - another "location, location, location" place that is still "undiscovered."

[davidinalameda]

8. I hope Alameda stays undiscoverd

it will keep the rents down!

[Coastie for Truth]

9. Maybe we can "gentrify" Alviso instead

-especially now that the Guadalupe River flood control project is completed.