They Can Buy Yachts, Fancy Cars And Cities? Why Tech Billionaires Are Buying Land Near San Francisco To Create Their Own Utopian City

A group of tech billionaires including Marc Andreessen, Reid Hoffman and Laurene Powell Jobs are buying land near San Francisco to build a self-contained utopia for the wealthy. They are funding a firm called Flannery Associates, which has purchased more than 55,000 of agricultural and unused land about 60 miles north of San Francisco. 

Flannery Associates purchased much of the land at above-market prices, leading to questions about the firm’s motives. As the company reaches out to local officials, its intentions are coming into focus. It plans to develop the land into a sustainable city filled with electric vehicles, open spaces and efficient public transportation. 

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The proposed development would include a mix of housing, businesses and amenities, all designed to create a sustainable and luxurious environment. Residents would have access to self-driving cars, on-demand food delivery and other high-tech conveniences. Renewable energy sources would power the city. 

Utopia For All?

The development proposal prompted mixed reactions. Some investors praise the idea of creating a sustainable and luxurious community, while others have criticized it as elitist and exclusionary. Leading the land purchases and plans for the city is Jan Sramek, a former Goldman Sachs trader. Sramek and the investment group note intentions to create a city that welcomes all people, but many critics suspect living in the city will only be a viable option for the wealthy. 

Roadblocks And Jobs

The development needs approval from local officials and must clear various planning, zoning and environmental hurdles before the first shovels hit the ground. With an estimated $100 billion development cost, the planned city will require a considerable amount of funding by tech billionaires and other investors. A project of this scale will create thousands of construction and operational jobs and should generate billions of dollars in tax revenue. 

The development of Flannery Associates’ utopia is a sign of the growing influence tech billionaires wield. The billionaires involved in the project include Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, Andreesen and Chris Dixon, partners at the Andreessen Horowitz venture capital firm, Patrick and John Collison, co-founders of Stripe, and Jobs, noted philanthropist and billionaire widow of Apple Inc. Co-Founder Steve Jobs. 

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