Silicon Valley Elites Identified as Purchasers of $800M Land for Utopian City
Following weeks of local speculation, the purchasers of 55,000 acres of land in northern California have been unveiled. Flannery Associates, supported by a group of Silicon Valley investors, has discreetly procured $800 million worth of agricultural and vacant land, as reported by the New York Times. Their primary objective is to establish an idealistic new town that will offer residents dependable public transportation, urban lifestyle amenities, and an entirely clean energy infrastructure.
At the helm of the project is Jan Sramek, a former 36-year-old trader from Goldman Sachs, with notable Silicon Valley figures endorsing the endeavor. These luminaries include venture capitalist Michael Moritz, Reid Hoffman, co-founder of Linkedin, Laurene Powell Jobs, founder of philanthropic entity Emerson Collective and spouse of Steve Jobs, Marc Andreessen, an investor and software developer, Patrick and John Collison, sibling co-founders of payment processor Stripe, along with entrepreneurs Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman.
While Flannery has been amassing agricultural land and vacant parcels over the course of the last five years, their interactions with local officials and residents have only recently commenced. The firm's acquisitions have led them to become the principal proprietors of land in Solano county, positioned around the Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield. This city of approximately 120,000 residents is notable for housing the Anheuser-Busch Co brewery and the Jelly Belly jelly bean factory.
Recent reports suggest that Flannery has been conducting meetings with local representatives and officials. Additionally, the firm has been distributing public opinion surveys to gauge the sentiments of local inhabitants regarding an initiative that could potentially appear on the ballots of Solano county voters, as documented by SF Gate.
One excerpt from the survey reads, "This project would encompass a novel city featuring tens of thousands of new residences, a substantial solar energy farm, expansive orchards incorporating over a million new trees, and an excess of ten thousand acres dedicated to parks and open spaces."
Notably, the survey queries whether residents would endorse the project if it were situated within an area characterized by "unproductive soil contributing only 5% of the county's agricultural output," according to a Facebook post by Catherine Moy, mayor of Fairfield - the city in closest proximity to Flannery's acquisitions.
Despite the ambitious aspirations outlined by Flannery, the group confronts a formidable uphill struggle that could potentially impede every phase of creating a new city from scratch. Notably, the firm is contending with legal actions initiated by farmers who sold their land to Flannery. These farmers allege the existence of an "illegal price-fixing conspiracy." Achieving success necessitates obtaining approval from local and state authorities, securing the support of residents, and adroitly navigating the complexities of environmental and zoning considerations, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
硅谷精英被确认为购买了价值8亿美元的土地，用于建设乌托邦城市
经过几周的本地猜测，北加利福尼亚地区5.5万英亩土地的购买者终于揭晓。据《纽约时报》报道，由硅谷投资者支持的Flannery Associates公司秘密购得了总值8亿美元的农业和空地。他们的主要目标是建立一个理想的新城镇，为居民提供可靠的公共交通、城市生活设施和完全清洁的能源基础设施。
该项目由Jan Sramek领导，他是一名36岁的前高盛交易员，得到了硅谷的知名人士的支持。这些杰出人物包括风险投资家Michael Moritz、Linkedin的联合创始人Reid Hoffman、慈善组织Emerson Collective创始人兼史蒂夫·乔布斯的配偶Laurene Powell Jobs、投资者和软件开发者Marc Andreessen、支付处理器Stripe的兄弟创始人Patrick和John Collison，以及创业者Daniel Gross和Nat Friedman。
尽管Flannery在过去五年里一直在积累农田和空地，但他们与地方官员和居民的互动直到最近才开始。该公司的收购使他们成为Solano县的主要地主，环绕着费尔菲尔德市的特拉维斯空军基地。这座约有12万居民的城市以安海斯-布希啤酒公司酿酒厂和果冻贝利果冻豆工厂而闻名。
近期的报道表明，Flannery一直在与当地代表和官员会晤。此外，该公司还在向当地居民分发舆论调查，以了解他们对可能出现在Solano县选民投票中的倡议的看法，正如SF Gate所记录的。
调查中的一段摘录称：“该项目将包括一个新城市，其中有成千上万的新住宅，一个大型太阳能发电场，超过一百万棵新树的果园，以及一万多英亩的公园和开放空地。”
值得注意的是，调查询问了居民是否会支持该项目，如果该项目位于一个“只贡献该县农业产值5%的贫瘠土壤地区”，正如费尔菲尔德市市长Catherine Moy的一篇Facebook帖子中所述，该市是离Flannery收购地最近的城市。
尽管Flannery制定了雄心勃勃的目标，但该集团面临着一场可能会阻碍从零开始创建新城市的艰巨斗争。值得注意的是，该公司正在应对农民提起的诉讼，这些农民声称他们将土地出售给Flannery时存在“非法价格操纵阴谋”。要取得成功，需要获得地方和州当局的批准，赢得居民的支持，并在环境和分区方面娴熟地航行，正如《旧金山纪事报》所述。
Alice Tao 报道
