This is CRAZY...the Prometheus Real Estate Group are the same corporate group that built the high rise mess on San Antonio for "an arm and a leg" monthly rental. Housing is being built of course, but it will definitely cost you. This just keeps getting worse and worse with no end in sight. Google is expanding all over the bay area. Other than tech people, everyone else is screwed. The City of Mountain View does not care. They just care about all the money they are getting BUT they are putting nothing back into the community, other than your ridiculous high rises that usually only tech companies employees can afford to rent. The people that work in retail, or restaurant industry can't afford it.

Prometheus will write a $3.1 million check to Palo Alto Housing to "prefund" three other affordable housing projects in the "city". . . Isn't the complex being built on Villa Street across from Chiquita Avenue in Mountain View?
How is Mountain View's shortage of affordable housing going to benefit from this "pledge to Palo Alto Housing"?

The city cancel has lost touch with the goals of the long term residence of Mountain View. We don’t want this high density housing in our city, it’s too crowded all ready.

We need have new City Council members that are grounded in reality.

For perspective, this "massive" "dense" complex will be slightly larger than the Madera complex built at the former Minton's Lumber site a few years ago. Like it or hate it, it's no skyscraper.

this is not good news for anyone. I hope this includes at minimum 1 parking spot off the street per bedroom. there is no room in this neighborhood for anything less.

A bike path across Central Expressway and the train tracks would be a fantastic public benefit. I hope that the council can make this happen. The lack of a safe crossing between Rex Manor and Shoreline West is a huge impediment in getting people to bike and walk in those neighborhoods. Neither the Shoreline nor the Rengstorff crossing is in any way safe bikes desperately need an alternative route. This will give kids in the north western part of the city a safe bike route to Los Altos High as well as connecting commuters with the Permanente Creek Trail. We desperately need this trail!

Are they going to expand Villa to 2 lanes? Traffic will be a nightmare.

I for one welcome our new housing overlords.

Isn't 1710 Villa St. an EPA Superfund site formerly owned by Jasco Chemical Corp?

Web Link

It is fitting that the company involved is called Prometheus.

They have stolen the reason of the city council in defiance of the residents. Now Mountain View will be chained to this massive population growth without adequate resources for those moving in, effectively eating the liver out of the pleasant community we once enjoyed here.

I guess those ancient Greek legends can repeat themselves after all.

[Post removed due to trolling]

The area is already too crowded. Traffic on El Camino and central expressway during rush hours is horrible before all those new apartment building are done. I am not sure if we can fit more apartment building around the downtown area.

Best wishes to you and your family this holiday season! I hope you find peace, with less anger and spite in 2018.

This is what I love about the current trends.

So we now have Google adding 10,000 new apartments.

And this project adding another 220 apartments.

Current projects are getting close to completion, adding as much as 400 new apartments

So we are now going to increase the inventory by 10,600 apartments.

There is estimated that there are 30,000 apartments maximum in the city of Mountain View.

Thus an increase of 33% of inventory.

If you look at the “economics” of the situation, this will result in at minimum an equal discount of current apartment values. Thus the current apartments will lose 33% of their current and future values. And as much as twice this on older apartments that are not “premium” quality.

On top of this, Prometheus and Google are either funding below market housing or directly building new inventory.

To me, this is the perfect economic storm regarding the current owners at this time. Their values are inevitably will be discounted, and never be able to be recovered.

Oh well, Business is Business

@Business Man - Your assumptions are flawed. The supply of apartments is right now far short of demand, even at the inflated price point of Prometheus' rentals. Also, Google and other companies (e.g. Apple, not too far away) are currently planning on expanding by many thousands of jobs in the near future. And that's just with current plans; a company like Prometheus will be looking 5, 10, 20 years ahead. Think what you will about their utter lack of concern for the livability of MV and amoral profit-grubbing, but they are pretty astute about their business.

I don't think there is much chance that any of the major developers will lose money on their current projects. Unless maybe (hopefully) Merlone Geier, on their abominable, non-people-friendly San Antonio Center project.

I drive through Mountain View on my way to and from work each day. No matter what route I take, it's a parking lot between 7 and 9. Kids on bikes and skateboards dodge in and out of stopped traffic, bicyclists hog the lanes, scooter riders split the lanes, and whatever lane I'm trapped in is a prison from Mathilda to San Antonio.

Does the plan include more schools, more roads, a few magical bridges, extra lanes and parking, or anything at all to alleviate this sort of congestion? I moved into a nice, safe community in 1970, but now it's a lot like living in Manhattan.

High Density is bad for everyone! It brings crime, pollution, and impatient uncourteous drivers. It will do very little for affordability and reduce and quality of life for all. Transportation should be number one priority from San Jose to San Francisco before any more rapid development. We have been told the same stories for decades from knowledgeable professionals that traffic congestion would get better if you build more. Guess what? They have always been incorrect.

High density is the best solution. Think of the thousands of acres destroyed in this year's wildfires, one of which was started by a homeless encampment. Not to mention the enormous financial cost to taxpayers. Californians cannot keep building out further into the hills, either because they need cheaper housing or want a 4-bedroom house with a yard. We need to confront the reality of a growing population in a era of increasing wildfires, drought, and flooding.

Sure, we can wait for transportation to improve, but by then it will likely be too late.

In response to Monta Loma you said:

“@Business Man - Your assumptions are flawed. The supply of apartments is right now far short of demand, even at the inflated price point of Prometheus' rentals. Also, Google and other companies (e.g. Apple, not too far away) are currently planning on expanding by many thousands of jobs in the near future. And that's just with current plans; a company like Prometheus will be looking 5, 10, 20 years ahead. Think what you will about their utter lack of concern for the livability of MV and amoral profit-grubbing, but they are pretty astute about their business. “

Google is building a new office headquarters complex next to Diridon Station in San Jose. Those workers will not live in Mountain View, they will live in Morgan Hill and Gilroy and use the Cal Train and VTA to commute.

Why, because the cost of living is almost 25% lower than Mountain View. In fact, that project will be done years before the Mountain View project will be completed. Thus most workers will be TRANSFERRED from Mountain View to San Jose, because the costs will be so much less.

You cannot ASSUME that the job openings proposes will be filled. I do not. There are perhaps hundreds of job openings right NOW in the valley. But they go unfilled NOT because there are no workers, but because the employers do not see A NEED TO ACTUALLY FILL THEM. In fact, as a Human Resources Graduate, I know most of those are simply required to sustain job RECRUITMENT requirements, but no job OFFERS are required. It is employment research activities and nothing more. Thus your basis that the jobs increases will support more supply is not as strong as you think.

And the fact that the “VALLEY” is not critical anymore regarding the “TECH” industry is simply a fact. You do realize that at most 5% of the resources of APPLE, EBAY, PAYPAL, LINKED IN, MICROSOFT, GOOGLE, and the like are in this area. IT is merely SYMBOLIC.

There are many layers of this onion. You are only looking at the surface and are not aware of the complexity of how things are done. You also said:

“I don't think there is much chance that any of the major developers will lose money on their current projects. Unless maybe (hopefully) Merlone Geier, on their abominable, non-people-friendly San Antonio Center project.”

As you know, there are no guarantees regarding return on investment. They are simply placing a bet. If you take into account that 50% of the people working in California want to leave it at this time, and that the TECH industry is growing much faster in other locations, their gamble has a lot more risk than they took into account.

A bill that would repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, landmark legislation that protects property owners from radical forms of rent control, has been scheduled for its first hearing in the state Assembly.

On Thursday, Jan. 11, AB 1506 by Assemblyman Richard Bloom, D-Los Angeles, will be heard by the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee. The hearing begins at 9 a.m. at the California State Capitol.

Repealing AB 1506 would allow local governments to place rent control on all types of housing — including single-family homes — and forbid owners from resetting rents to market rate when they have a vacancy.

All rental property owners, property managers and industry partners should write letters to their Assembly members, urging them to oppose AB 1506.

It is vital that members of the Assembly understand that repealing the Costa-Hawkins Act would have a disastrous impact on an already stressed housing market and worsen California’s housing crisis.

In response to Repeal Rent Control you said:

“A bill that would repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, landmark legislation that protects property owners from radical forms of rent control, has been scheduled for its first hearing in the state Assembly. On Thursday, Jan. 11, AB 1506 by Assemblyman Richard Bloom, D-Los Angeles, will be heard by the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee. The hearing begins at 9 a.m. at the California State Capitol.”

Since this is going to be a ballot measure, it simply doesn’t matter what the State government will do. Just realize that it can be inevitable. Why, because if the state government doesn’t repeal Costa Hawkins, the people of California will. So let the corruption of the State government do as it may for its financial interests. You also said:

“Repealing AB 1506 would allow local governments to place rent control on all types of housing — including single-family homes — and forbid owners from resetting rents to market rate when they have a vacancy. All rental property owners, property managers and industry partners should write letters to their Assembly members, urging them to oppose AB 1506.”

This is an example of the corruption of the state government, because the assembly and senate are used by their financial donors to implement their preferred policies. You also stated:

“It is vital that members of the Assembly understand that repealing the Costa-Hawkins Act would have a disastrous impact on an already stressed housing market and worsen California’s housing crisis.”

The crisis is so bad already because the market is not even. The “Supply-Side” economics has resulted in a severe lack of affordable housing. Every state that has no rent control has the most severe lacks of housing. All you have to do is search the states without rent control and you will see they are the worst supplied. In contrast with those that do have rent control. The stressed market is caused by the financial interests that chronically under inventory the market.

Costa-Hawkins protects rich political donors (aka bribers). Give money to politicians and they will do most anything.