6 MAY 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO NINTRODUCTIONSAN JOAQUIN COUNTY INTELLIGENCE REPORTHumans are underrated.”Th at’s what Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk said in a tweet this spring when he admitted to pursuing too much automation at Tesla’s plant in Fremont, California. But part of the secret sauce for Tesla and other companies is the human-driven region on the other side of the Altamont Pass, where San Joaquin County anchors the triangle formed by the Bay Area, Stockton and Sacramento.It’s in San Joaquin that Tesla operates a foundry, castings and machining center where 450 humans and their machines produce parts and components for Tesla’s speedy and sporty vehicles. Th e company this spring was hiring for dozens of positions in Lathrop, a town of 23,000 that boasted the fi fth largest percentage of household population growth in California last year.Th at’s just one bright spot among many: In Stockton, CT Realty has broken ground on one of the biggest spec industrial development projects in northern California history. Just three years after the city went bankrupt, Stockton is one of the most fi scally healthy big cities in the United States in the last two years, ranking No. 18 among cities with at least 200,000 people, according to California Policy Center research. Th e Milken Institute’s 2017 Best-Performing Cities Index rankedStockton-Lodi 68th among the nation’s 200 large cities.Th e San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority and San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission were just awarded a $500-million grant from the California State Transportation Agency for their Valley Rail Project, a proposal to expand passenger rail service via the Amtrak San Joaquin and Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) services, including new stations in Manteca and Ripon — two of the seven municipalities in the county that also include wintery capital Lodi and Escalon, the stepping-stone to central California.In Tracy, the company roster reads like a who’s who of logistics, as the area has welcomed a 24 million sq. ft. of industrial space in the past four years. And two major highway interchange projects in the city have been recommended for up to $13 million in SB 1 Trade Corridor Funding through the California Transportation Commission.Humans from the staggeringly expensive Bay Area have been fl ocking to San Joaquin for some time. It’s almost as if the region’s famously fertile by ADAM BRUNSadam.br uns @ site s ele c tion.c om6 MAY 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO N“Banner Island Ballpark, Stockton, CaliforniaPhoto courtesy of Visit StocktonINSIDE THE TRIANGLE, OUTSIDE THE BOXSAN JOAQUIN COUNTY INTELLIGENCE REPORTagricultural fields were producing a quality of life equal to the quality of its produce. The assets include San Joaquin General Hospital, just recognized among the top 20 percent of hospitals nationally in quality patient care. CEO David Culberson could be speaking for the whole region when he writes in his welcome note, “We encourage you and your family to get to know us … We are here for you.”The challenge now is to bring the high tech of the Bay Area to the area where the sector’s people and their families started migrating long ago. The Milken Institute’s Minoli Ratnatunga, director of regional economics research, tells me housing costs indeed are pushing people and businesses outward from the Bay Area and Silicon Valley: “The Stockton-Lodi metro area has seen solid job growth” in the past year and over the five years ending in 2016, she says, “but still has very low high-tech concentration, at less than half the national average,” she says.When the companies get there, they’ll find out what a crossroads of commerce San Joaquin is for reaching the 14.5 million consumers within the mega-region, and beyond. It’s why the area’s slogan — “Grow It, Make It, Ship It” — is not only catchy, but accurate.Michael Amman is president of the San Joaquin Partnership, a public-private economic development organization whose mission includes the belief that quality of life starts with a job. He sees his home territory as the place where “the world’s greatest food valley” stretching up the 300 miles from Bakersfield is colliding with the world’s greatest technology valley in Silicon Valley, where so much of the nation’s and world’s venture capital and innovation gestates. Some think that could mean strong potential for small-to-medium high-tech growth in such areas as agri-tech, not to mention autonomous vehicles and other mobility solutions currently creating their own innovation map across northern California.San Joaquin is a valley too. But from the looks of things, it’s ready to peak. Adam Bruns, Managing Editor,Site Selection magazineEvery day, more than 80,000 well-trained workers cross the Altamont Pass from San Joaquin County to work in Silicon Valley and Bay Area jobs. Now you can take advantage of this thriving work pool, and move your business quickly, efficiently and affordably to the most Bay Area-convenient corner of San Joaquin County, at River Islands in Lathrop.River Islands is the county’s premier mixed use master planned community, with a shovel-ready business park, a range of housing types and price points and an array of amenities for recreation, health and wellness.At a time when businesses are seeking to attract and retain trained employees, moving a business to River Islands accomplishes many of the key goals of a successful relocation by offering a wide selection of homes that are priced for every level of the business team, great on-site schools and an easy commute. For employees living within River Islands, commuting could be as simple as a bicycle ride. Housing opportunities for the management and executive staff includes customizing a pre-designed home or building a custom home oriented toward the San Joaquin River.The owner and developer of River Islands is the privately-held Cambay Group, which has invested almost 30 years into the assembly of approximately 5,000 acres of pristine land on the San Joaquin River into a fully-entitled setting for corporate innovation, within an hour of the San Francisco Bay Area, the Silicon Valley and Sacramento.The 5 million square foot greenfield business campus is shovel ready, and will connect with River Islands’ collection of residential neighborhoods, its extensive recreational backbone, protected ecosystems, school campuses and public transportation services, as well as provide access to three major freeways—I-5, I-99, and I-205. Among River Islands unique attributes:A SITE—AND A CITY—THAT IS READY TO ROLL:• 5,000 acres of already-entitled land, under single, private ownership;• An approved employment center site for 5+ million square feet of office, campus or R&D space, ready for development NOW;• Pristine land for development—no toxic water or land cleanup required;• Lathrop is a City that is comfortable in its role as a home for major corporations, such as In-N-Out, Ghirardelli Chocolate and Tesla Manufacturing ;• An example of streamlined permitting in Lathrop, a City “that can get things done”, is the approval of Tesla’s plant plans in 48 hours!HOMES FROM THE AFFORDABLE TO THE EXECUTIVE LEVEL:• 11,000 units of residential housing, now under construction, providing housing starting in the $400,000s—about HALF the price of Bay Area homes;• Custom home sites along the San Joaquin River for executive livingTRANSPORTATION SOLUTIONS IN THE MAKING:• A proposed BART-ACE station with direct platform access to trains bound for the Silicon ValleyFINANCIAL INCENTIVES:• $55 million total in economic development fees available from master developer;• State of California Enterprise Zone tax incentivesGREEN, CLEAN AND FUTURE-FOCUSED:• Parks, playing fields, lakes and trails for everyday recreation and fitness;• Advanced green, water and energy saving construction and amenities;• Connectivity within the River Islands community, so people can walk or bicycle from their homes to their jobs, shopping, restaurants and to their children’s schools.The Cure for the Silicon ValleyJobs-Housing Imbalance:RIVER ISLANDS BUSINESS PARKA D V E R TI S E M E N T8 MAY 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO NNext >