The front of the San Jose Mercury News brings us an article today about the down turn in the construction industry. 

So this brings up questions for the residents of Santa Clara – as we go towards more building in Santa Clara what happens when construction companies start to realize that they won’t be able to either sell off or lease the properties that they are so hell bent on building?  Will construction companies stop building, like people who have left their homes because they cannot afford their mortgage any more, will they leave sites half built?  Will they leave their ‘keys’ on the kitchen counter and walk out the house and leave their worries to someone else?  Will they start a job but not complete it?

It’s certainly a concern and something that people are not talking about or unwilling to address publicly.

I believe that Fairfield Residential will not do such a thing and that they will see their commitments to the end but there is a part of that site that has to be built by another company and that has not bee clarified yet.  So that section will sit maybe for years, maybe not, but nevertheless this has not been addressed by Fairfield or the city.

I can remember a building site in Sydney that sat for years, the base was dug out, the pylons poured and then it just sat and sat … the rain water gathered and sat creating a mosquito heaven, the tramps found places to sleep, the graffiti increased, you get the picture. Unfortunately, the builder couldn’t even afford to maintain security, his money was gone.  I left Sydney and years later I returned to see that same hole in the ground sitting there a big eye saw in the heart of that gorgeous city.  I’m sure by now it’s a building, well I hope so.

Yes we have reason to be concerned about what some of these developers will or will not carry out.  We have the right to understand their plans for a recession.  The boom seems to be over, Sun Microsystems is no longer the Santa Clara hero, Yahoo has plans to come but what if they get acquired by Microsoft?  will they still come?  Envidia has plans to expand and so far no talk of cutting back, well at least not publicly, a good thing I think.

I think it’s worth asking the city council do they have a plan if builders walk away from sites mid term? or is it really none of their business?  Just a question, nothing more, nothing less.

 

©Letters From Silicon Valley 2008