Silicon Valley real estate

Silicon Valley real estate

Two of the world's biggest data center developers have projects in Nvidia Corp.'s hometown that may sit empty for years because the local utility isn't ready to supply electricity. In Santa Clara, California, where the world's biggest supplier of artificial-intelligence chips is based, Digital Realty Trust Inc. applied in 2019 to build a data center. Roughly six years later, the development remains an empty shell awaiting full energization.

Georgia-based PulteGroup wants to transform the Homestead Shopping Center into a 147-townhome development, complete with about 20 affordable homes and 341 parking spaces. The three- and four-story project, located at 3521 and 3591 Homestead Road, also includes nearly 5,000 square feet of commercial space. More than 10 storefronts in the existing shopping center would be demolished, including one of the city's only Korean supermarkets and Chinese herbal medicine shops - and small business owners aren't leaving without a fight.

Having recently passed the midpoint of a defining decade, we're just becoming aware of The Great Reordering's cascading collective traumas. The retail experience transitioned from shopping bags to cardboard boxes. Campuses with movie nights, lecture series, gyms and celebrity chefs were swallowed by Zoom meetings. Empty offices hollowed our cities and flattened urban social culture. Countervailing dynamics inevitably come into play, and the oversupply of commercial space has one silver lining.

Ever since Mark Zuckerberg started building a multimillion-dollar family compound in Palo Alto's affluent Crescent Park neighborhood over a decade ago, noise has overtaken the once-peaceful enclave, an investigation from the New York Times reports. And, according to the outlet, he's attempted to placate the surrounding community with an assortment of gifts. Zuckerberg - who's now worth approximately $257 billion - sent Krispy Kreme donuts, sparkling wine, chocolates and noise-canceling headphones to his neighbors as a form of consolation.