

Someday Worth Billions, but Now, They Need a Desk - siculars
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/04/realestate/commercial/someday-worth-billions-but-now-they-need-a-desk.html

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keiferski
_Even in the hot San Francisco market, however, RocketSpace appears to be
making a 20 percent premium to current office rental prices, based on its 580
desks, leased by some 130 companies. Mr. Logan, who leases space inside two
buildings near the old Pacific Stock Exchange, charges $700 to $800 a month
for a “desk,” or table space._

Yet another example of "sell shovels, don't dig for gold".

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timr
Yes, and it's out of control. There are at least three different, huge co-
working spaces that have popped up near my place. All were formerly businesses
that were interesting and useful. Now they're just deadzones of douchebaggery.

Not only are these places generally providers of really lame office space (the
people who congregate at co-working spaces are often the worst kind of
wantrepreneur -- all talk and "hustle" and zero ability to _produce_ anything
of value), they drive up the rents for everyone else, drive out street-level
retail and other businesses that help make a neighborhood livable, take up
parking spaces during the day, and cause an urban flight problem, wherein
everyone leaves the neighborhood when the sun goes down.

IMO, the city needs to change the zoning laws to make these sorts of office
desk sublets harder to produce.

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forrestthewoods
"IMO, the city needs to change the zoning laws to make these sorts of office
desk sublets harder to produce."

The only reason these types of facilities exist is due to outrageous real
estate prices caused by extreme regulation. The solution to regulation induced
issues is rarely more tiers of regulation.

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timr
_" The only reason these types of facilities exist is due to outrageous real
estate prices caused by extreme regulation."_

Yeah, I was wondering how long it would take before someone corrected me that
San Francisco's real estate prices were due to our zoning laws.

Kudos to you for not disappointing me. Now that you mention it, I'm sure that
our real estate prices are indeed a byproduct of the evil, evil guv'ment, and
have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that this is one of the most
densely populated cities in the world.

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jacques_chester
San Francisco's density is 6,800 people per square kilometre.

New York City's density is 22,200 people per square kilometre. In fact every
borough, including Staten Island, is denser.

Tokyo's density is 35,600 people per square kilometre.

Manila is the world's densest at 42,900 per square kilometre.

San Francisco is the 20th most-densely populated area in the United States.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population_density)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_proper_by_popula...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_proper_by_population_density)

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majormajor
That's a pretty ridiculous list of US places to try to argue against SF being
dense for the US. Not all of them are as absurd as the 362 people near
Louisville, KY, bit, but basically that list says "NYC is denser than SF, as
are a few relatively small parts of LA, but SF is easily the second densest
large city in the US."

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jacques_chester
I agree, the US list is skewed by the effects of county size. However, the 5
boroughs of NYC are geographically large in a human scale. All of them are
more densely populated than San Francisco, including the ostensibly suburban
Staten Island.

Meanwhile, Tokyo is _vast_ and, until recently, could not have Manhattan-esque
skyscrapers. It is substantially more densely populated.

San Francisco is more densely populated than a suburb. But the idea that it's
amongst the most densely populated places is just not true, either in the
world at large or the USA in particular.

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SF_Tech_PR
Have to comment anonymously, as I still work in PR.

Quentin has a reputation for being easily pitched by PR people... and well,
you can see for yourself:

[http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h...](http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/quentin_hardy/index.html)

Stories that are just pitched by flacks, and written up.

This "trend" piece reeks of the same.

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swayvil
This could be optimized. Catheters. Feeding tubes. Keep everybody naked and
shaved. Daily sponge baths.

~~~
__--__
There's no reason to hire extra employees for the sponge baths. Just put a
drain in the floor, a shower overhead and a pull cord to activate it.

As for the feeding tubes... soylent. :D

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richardjordan
Well this is what you get for wanting to live in the cool city. I get that
more and more startup activity has moved up from the valley to the city but
you also get far more of the folks with money to burn who want to play
entrepreneur who sit around these places chatting with each other more than
doing anything.

Down the peninsula we have the hacker dojo for a $100 per month membership
with great space and a nice atmosphere. Very rarely do you have to put up with
overly loud frat boys playing entrepreneur for show.

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peterjancelis
You could live and bootstrap from SE Asia for the $700-$800 rent that's being
charged for 1 desk.

You are making your money on the internet[1], leverage it into not paying
premiums for location based stuff...

[1] Of course, this is the step that may be lacking for a lot of companies
that pay these kinds of rents.

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heartbreak
You could live and bootstrap in SE USA for that rent too...no sense moving
across the planet.

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eru
Oh, but the food is better here.

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kakali
My $100 Hacker Dojo membership sounds like a steal in comparison to their
rates.

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mathattack
Yearn for privacy? “Headphones are the new cubicle,” he said.

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danellis
Milk jugs are the new bathrooms.

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edandersen
> “Headphones are the new cubicle,” he said.

What will be next to go?

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cpursley
Pure insanity.

