Lots of them do or at-least require the project to move here. It's not for a nefarious reason but rather to help them. If they need advice, more engineers, a CTO, some PR people, etc the VC has all their connections here so bringing the project here is more feasible.

It's not so much insisting as it is the path of least resistance.

It's just that things tend to happen much more quickly, easily, and serendipitously if you live in the VCs' neighborhood. It's the same thing as why people advocate for being physically in the office, for face-to-face meetings and "passing in the hall" moments.

VCs have some set percentage invested in commercial and residential real estate there as well as a hedge