Raisa De La Rosa
Appearances
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Why can’t we just turn the empty offices into apartments? (classic)
Sure. My name is Raisa De La Rosa, and I am the Division Director for Economic Development for the City of Santa Rosa.
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Why can’t we just turn the empty offices into apartments? (classic)
I think what makes me probably good at what I do is because I come from an arts background, like I see things probably a little differently or see opportunity differently or, you know, have an understanding of something differently combined with my childhood love of bureaucracy.
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Why can’t we just turn the empty offices into apartments? (classic)
This is like there's so much creativity in how you can get things done. I don't know what this is, but when I was a kid, I would sit at my mom's typewriter and make up forms and then fill out forms. Seriously? I don't know why. I liked it. I was like, okay, we're going to efficiently do this.
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Why can’t we just turn the empty offices into apartments? (classic)
We have a ton of things that have been entitled in the downtown. In the downtown alone, In the building permit process, we have 870 permits. Developers have applied for something. We have 419 in construction, and we have 131 final. So we have a lot of units that are in the pipeline. It's a question of whether or not they can get to the end with their financing.
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Why can’t we just turn the empty offices into apartments? (classic)
As an example, we have a mall in our downtown area, And it's owned by Simon Properties. And it had a Sears in it. So we ran hard after that one to have it be transformed into housing on top, grocery on the bottom. We're still trying to get them to do it. We've had fits and starts with it. And I drive by that every day. And think, come on, man.
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Why can’t we just turn the empty offices into apartments? (classic)
But, you know, and then there was the pandemic and then finances ground to halt. And then there was the da-da-da-da. And then there was, you know, if it's not one thing, it's another, it feels like.
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Why can’t we just turn the empty offices into apartments? (classic)
I mean, in the end, what I've come to figure is we're just such a small piece of the pie of development.
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Why can’t we just turn the empty offices into apartments? (classic)
It could be the case that there's no incentive to lease a building. They purchase it, they owe no money on it, the taxes are very low. Or even if they're a new owner, it could be part of a portfolio where the loss on this one helps offset the gains on something else, so then it actually makes sense to not maybe lease it out.
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Why can’t we just turn the empty offices into apartments? (classic)
There could be any number of reasons why somebody who owns a property doesn't redevelop it. You know, developing housing is expensive. Getting financing for housing is expensive. You know, land property owners have a vested right into doing what they want to do with their property so long as it fits within the laws.
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Why can’t we just turn the empty offices into apartments? (classic)
So from the government's perspective, they're free to go if they wanted to convert it.
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Why can’t we just turn the empty offices into apartments? (classic)
Yeah. The other thing is neighbors. Neighbors and NIMBYism tends to be the biggest obstacle. Sometimes neighbors, whether they be commercial or residential, have a very short-term view on impacts that can greatly benefit them down the road.