Paragon realtor Jennifer Rosdail has created a new neighborhood called The Quad, and it will make you want to rip off your eyelids. But before you start tearing off ribbons of your own flesh, it's important to note that she's not entirely off the mark.
What is the Quad? According to Rosdail, it's the area from 17th & Market to Market & Valencia to 25th & Shotwell to 25th & Church and back. People who live in the area will heretofore be known as "Quadsters."
She writes in graphic detail:
Quadsters are young - under 40 anyway. They like to hang in the sun with their friends. They work very hard - mostly in high tech - and make a lot of money. They value time greatly and want to be in a place where they can get to work quickly, meet up with their friends easily, and walk or bike instead of sitting in traffic. They take the Google Bus, the Apple Bus, or another of the reputedly less well equip shuttles like the eBay Bus. They also like to eat really good food, but don’t often have time to cook it. And since they work on “campuses,” and are the millennial version of the Cow Hollow “Triangle” dwellers of the 70s and 80s, the name “The Quad” seems a good fit.
She goes on to explain that she created the microhood (sorry) because the housing market in the Quad is "crazy high" compared to a few years ago. She's right. She also notes that the area is doing so well because a) it's walkable with b) just the right about of grit that the Quadsters relish. Status symbols, it seems, are a thing of the past for the city's new money. (Although we should point out that fixies, hoodies, and other forms of forced insouciance are elitist asshole status symbols of the very worst kind.)
Why are the values shooting up in an area that was/is kind of edgy? The answer is that the lifestyle provided by the weather, the more walkable & bikeable landscape and the ease of access to both downtown and Silicon Valley is very desirable. A bit of an edge does not detract too much - it may in fact be desirable. Being in a changing area is exciting. You may hate “gentrification” but Quadsters like the mix of lux and grit. It may also be that in a world where clothes don’t matter, and other status symbols are considered irrelevant or even gauche, an address can be a way to differentiate oneself. It can certainly put you at the center of the party.
[via Curbed]
