The drying up of venture capital for alternative-fuel projects ought to have been a death knell for Emeryville, Calif., a square-mile sliver of land near Silicon Valley that until recently advertised itself as a "green corridor" for biofuel businesses. But, while the talk of a biofuel boom to rival the tech boom across the bay now sounds outlandish, this city of 6,800 people so far seems to be weathering the recession and the drop in oil prices that are hurting other parts of the green-tech sector.
Emeryville has a history as a rollicking industrial hub, with meatpacking, steelmaking, and paint companies sharing the streets with brothels and gambling houses. The 1970s marked a low point, but the town was cleaned up and revived by the ensuing technology boom. Today, a single, 24-hour gambling house remains: the Oaks Card Club, situated across the street from Pixar Animation Studios. "The town has completely changed," says John Tibbets, who owns Oaks.
A Foundation Already in Place
The city's push to be a hub for biofuels isn't as contrived as it might appear. Biotech and pharmaceutical firms, including giants such as Roche and Novartis NVS, have had facilities in Emeryville for years, and they rely on some of the same processes used to make biofuels. Geoffrey Sears, who heads a real estate firm called Wareham Development, leases offices to many biotech labs, and his clients now include two large biofuels ventures, Amyris Biotechnologies and the federally funded Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI). Sears says the economic downturn has not hurt rentals in Emeryville. The biofuels labs have held firm, and "more and more money is flowing" into existing biotech and pharmaceutical companies. "Our occupancy is 97%. We are planning some new buildings," which should be ready by 2011, he says.
Emeryville has been proactive in trying to reinvent itself and continually reinvent itself since the 1980s. Urban blight was the word that best described the implosion that E-Ville had during the 70s and 80s. From around 1988, the residents through the city government spent a lot of time turning the city around. Now its becoming one of the hotspots of the Bay, biotech wise and to live in. The problem is that it's not quite family friendly: its very, very good for young singles or couples or people with kids before school age, but the schools leave much to be desired as yet. I've loved living here since I moved to the Bay Area in 2001. However, with Avrora pending kindergarten...we're going to move. Alas.
However, profitable biofuels at $50/barrel. Discuss!
Plus, it hosts all the useful chain stores that Berkeley refuses to allow within its city limits ;)
ReplyDeleteheh. That too.
ReplyDeleteDie-Hard Berkeleyans complain that Emeryville hasn't seen a development that it doesn't like (which isn't true), but I do wish they had slightly more rigorous zoning as far as styles go. At least on the neighborhood level.
Even so, it's a pleasant place to walk or cycle in for that matter.
I love E-Ville.
The schools are bad in Emeryville? I had no idea.
ReplyDeleteBut Albany is very nice (a grad school buddy raised his kids there) and Berkeley ain't bad. Assuming that you can afford it.
But really, bad enough to have to move? I'm surprised.
The schools in E-Ville are making a long, hard trudge back from when they were taken over by the state. My bet is within a decade, after the recession recedes and a solid recovery and boom has taken place, they will be one of the best in the east bay, but Avrora doesn't have a decade.
ReplyDeleteBerkeley's schools have gone to shibbit lately. They have started funding their political pet educational projects over the basic necessities.
The other problem, Noel, is we want a bigger than 2 bedroom house. We can't get that in Berk or the east bay in a good school district. We can a little further east.
I'd LOVE to move to marin...but...
You gonna get stuck in the Caldecott nightmare, or do you work near enough to a BART station to avoid that?
ReplyDelete