Among billionaires, one utopia chases another. Following libertarian Peter Thiel's secessionist islands, a floating (tax) paradise that never got out of the water, there's the urban dream of investor Michael Moritz, 69, Silicon Valley's man of the moment. Originally from Wales, Sir Michael Moritz – he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2013 – was for almost 40 years one of the poster boys of Sequoia, the investment firm with a portfolio valued at $53 billion (€49.67 billion). A former journalist, in 1984 he published the first history of Apple (The Little Kingdom: The Private Story of Apple Computer). He's no stranger to crazy projects.
In 2017, the billionaire had a vision of a new city, northeast of San Francisco. It was another possibility for the suburbs: a city built not for the car but for pedestrians and for living together as a community. At the time, the capital of new tech was in its heyday, but the first signs of disenchantment were appearing. Opinion was rumbling against the Google Bus, a private shuttle that took programmers to the office at the expense of public transport. Today, employees are reluctant to return to their workspaces more than twice a week, despite sushi bars and vinyasa yoga sessions. The commute bores them and traffic stresses them, even in a Tesla.
Moritz and his friends spotted an ideal setting in eastern Solano County, 140 kilometers from Silicon Valley. The techies would find peace and quiet among the cows, sheep, barley and wheat, on the banks of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a haven for migratory birds. The region is mostly agricultural. All they had to do was buy the land. Grouped under the name Flannery Associates, investors acquired plot after plot at well above market price from farmers bound by confidentiality agreements. Farmers who refused to sell faced prosecution from Flannery Associates for illegal collusion to drive up prices.
In early August, the group dropped the curtain and went public with the project. In addition to Moritz, they include some of the biggest names in technology: LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, venture capitalist John Doerr, Stripe founders Patrick and John Collison, Steve Jobs's widow Laurene Powell Jobs and investor Marc Andreessen. In five years, the partners acquired 22,000 hectares at a cost of $800 million. Their aim is to facilitate home ownership in a state where property prices are undermining the American dream.
The plans, made public at the end of August, show pedestrian streets, Mediterranean architecture, sheep under wind turbines, kayaks on the Sacramento River, shops, schools, and residences. Everything within walking distance. "California's best days are ahead," said the developers, in response to those who see the state's current population downturn as the beginning of its decline.
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