As our region continues to evolve, the East Bay cities of Hayward and San Leandro stand out for how they have navigated economic cycles and industry transitions to effectively position themselves and our region for future success. Centrally situated within the Bay Area, these two neighboring cities have concurrently been listening to and supporting the needs of businesses and residents alike, with each city embracing a vision that strategically supports the growth of legacy and newer companies and industries while also ensuring they accommodate and support the construction of much-needed new housing for residents.
Nearly three years ago, the East Bay Economic Development Alliance identified a group of growth industries to watch based upon its own original research of the East Bay economy, a list that includes the biomedical, cleantech, creative design and manufacturing sectors. We see a strong presence of companies in these sectors in both of these cities: battery companies like Blue Current (Hayward) and Cuberg (San Leandro) have each been around for about 10 years, developing new technologies that show the promise of newer and cleaner sources of energy. These two companies are far from the only ones in the rapidly growing cleantech space, with Coreshell Technology, Inlyte Energy, Quino Energy and Zelos Energy all clustering in the industrial areas of San Leandro. Not to be outdone, the city of Hayward has a lot of strength in the biomedical, cleantech and manufacturing sectors, with companies such as Endiatx, Lithos Energy, Reflexion Medical and Zoox all calling Hayward home.
In addition to creating the conditions that support the attraction and growth of businesses in their cities, Hayward and San Leandro have strategized about how to support the growth of new housing within their borders and are moving to make their plans a reality. Each city is home to two BART stations that provide significant opportunities to expand housing in transit-oriented development (TOD) areas. Over time this will add to the region’s supply of housing in denser neighborhoods, places that will make walking, biking and public transit the best and most convenient transportation choice for many residents. Given our region’s challenges around the affordability and overall supply of housing, this a welcome development for businesses (which struggle to attract and retain workers due in part to exceptionally high housing prices) as well as residents (who must compete with one another to find the best and highest-quality housing as possible in one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets).
While perhaps it may seem obvious that the growth of new businesses and housing should not be a zero-sum game, the cities of Hayward and San Leandro deserve much credit and recognition for modeling how to concurrently balance and support a pro-business and pro-housing agenda. By embracing their respective histories and location as the geographic epicenter of East Bay manufacturing, they have retained and supported companies that have had a longstanding presence in the region while also creating opportunities for emerging companies and industries, offering a blueprint for how other Bay Area cities can embrace and implement similar strategies. As numerous studies have shown, the continued economic success of the entire Bay Area region is inextricably connected not only to our ability to continue to support new and emerging innovation industries, but also to the extent that our region can find more affordable and sustainable ways of producing housing for those who live and work here.
The cities of Hayward and San Leandro have positioned themselves for continued success by promoting strategies that create a supportive environment for existing businesses as well as the innovative companies and industries that are shaping the future. In so doing, they have also been clear about the importance of developing new housing, understanding that it is essential that our region embraces housing growth to support and sustain our economic prosperity. As we look ahead, it will be interesting to see how the approach taken by these two cities helps to shape and support their continued growth and success.
This article was originally published in the San Francisco Business Times for the East Bay Business News series. Read the article here.