Tri-Valley Area Becoming An Attractive Destination For Tech Companies
PLEASANTON (KPIX 5) -- Look out, Silicon Valley. A new part of the Bay Area is now king when it comes to job creation.
For years, the Tri-Valley has been home to some of the Bay Area's largest corporations and also some of its biggest traffic headaches. But according to a newly released report by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, the area is now home to over 450 tech companies, fueled by around $4 billion in investments over the past ten years.
Even behind a bank on Main Street in Pleasanton is a high-tech home security company.
"All my employees get to benefit from a better quality of life because they don't have a three-hour commute every day," said David Selinger, the CEO of the company Deep Sentinel.
Aside from not having a long commute, the lower costs of working the Tri-Valley area are also attractive.
The price of office space per square foot in the Tri-Valley area is $32. In Silicon Valley, the price is $52 per square foot. It is even higher in San Francisco, at price $72 per square foot.
There is also no shortage of talent in the Tri-Valley area.
"We have a very high level of education in terms of master's degrees, computer science degrees, bachelor's degrees; actually the highest in the Bay Area," Selinger said.
Although Tri-Valley home prices have been rising in recent years, relative to other parts of the Bay, they're still a deal. The median home price in the Tri-Valley is $900,000 compared to $1.1 million in Silicon Valley and $1.2 million in San Francisco.
"You get a new home, you get larger home, and you get to live in a community that is still very livable," pointed out Dublin Mayor David Haubert.
The Tri-Valley is hoping that its 12 percent job growth in the past four years is only the start.
"We want the next Google and the next Facebook and the next LinkedIn to be created and housed here in the Tri-Valley," said Mayor Haubert.
But with growth comes growing pains. Haubert cited "traffic, schools and affordability" as some of these pains.
When asked if his kids will be able to afford to live in Dublin in the future, Haubert replied, "I hope to keep it affordable for everyone's children."
But Haubert also added that, realistically, he thinks it's "going to be hard" for a lot of people in the future.
Locals of the area also weighed in on the Tri-Valley becoming the new Silicon Valley. They also cited traffic, housing and more people as prominent issues going forward.
Another big issue is whether BART should go further into the Tri-Valley and possibly link up with the Central Valley. BART isn't too favorable about the idea.