Interview: Tech Giants Show Intent to Improve Bay Area with Eye on Design, Entitlement Hurdles
Senior Land Use associate Frank Petrilli recently spoke with American Lawyer Media about the unique challenges that tech companies like Facebook and LinkedIn face as their business expands and their campuses must grow as well.
Frank, drawing from his personal experience representing Facebook, Bohannon Development Company, and LinkedIn on a number of Bay Area projects, shared behind-the-scenes insight on the dynamics of housing and traffic, public perception, community contributions, tech values in development, well-being through design, and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
“Larger tech companies like Facebook and LinkedIn have shown a real willingness to embrace long-term thinking about how to improve the region and work with their neighbors to address their needs,” he told ALM. “That kind of responsiveness certainly happens with traditional developers, or for larger master-planned developments like Forest City’s Pier 70 project. But tech companies appear to be at the leading edge in terms of investing in their local communities because it is the right thing to do, and not as a result of transactional or opportunistic thinking.”
To read the two-part interview, click on the links below.