[BTinSF]

The south tower is the one on the right.

http://www.vox.com/library/item/6a00b8ea0674f2dece00c11414c75a5af5-pi

And here's a webcam of the site: http://www.onerinconhill.com/webcam.html

At 550 ft and 54 stories, this is NOT a supertall building, but the reason I thought it worthy of a thread here is that its slender shape and other features make it quite pretty from my perspective, but also it is sited on top of Rincon Hill. I'm not sure of the hill height, but it could be as much as another 150 ft above the Bay putting the top of the structure at more like 700 ft in the air above the Bay. Also, it sits right next to the Bay Bridge approaches and 80/101 freeways. It will dominate them and make a very impressive entrance to the city.

[Hoodrat]

Very nice...San Francisco's really on a roll right now.

[BTinSF]

Very nice...San Francisco's really on a roll right now.

Yes. I've even read that a few projects have been delayed or put on hold just because there's not enough labor/concrete/steel for more construction right now and they'll have to wait until one or more of the present projects are finished before starting anything new. Aside from the buildings, the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge is going up and it's a HUGE project:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d6/ProposedSFOBBEasternSpan.jpg

Note the single "cable-stayed" tower that was a source of intense debate (the Governor just wanted a cheaper viaduct with no tower but the tower's going in).

[J Church]

Alright, we got an official height for this tower from the architects: 641'/63 stories. That is structural top from the main entrance.

[fflint]

Yep--I changed the title of the thread to reflect the true height given by the architect.

641', 63 stories for Tower One and 541' for Tower Two:

http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/06/14/ba_tower.jpghttp://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/06/14/ba_rincon2_056_ls.jpg

[J Church]

I'm iffy on the floor count. Fact sheet still lists it at 55, although the architect's representative told me there are 63 levels (?).

[fflint]

^That's what Eddo saw on the blueprints as well, 63 stories.

At this point, with the fact sheet being almost 100' off on the building height, I'm not sure we should stick with 55--but we can always edit as more info comes in.

[ltsmotorsport]

What ever the stories, it'll look nice from the bay bridge.

[J Church]

Well, the fact sheet says 641' and 55 stories. I'm generally less concerned with the floor count than the actual size of the thing, although it would be nice to have a "60-story building" around here. I've seen both 60 and 58 for 301 Mission.

[fflint]

Ah--now, see, I thought the 55 number was coming from an older fact sheet. If the new one says 641' and 55 then I'll change the thread title to 55.

[sf_eddo]

Tall, skinny ... stable
Using novel technology, S.F. tower should resist quakes, gales - Carl Nolte, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, July 2, 2006

http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/06/14/ba_rincon_133_ls.jpg

http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/06/14/ba_rincon_088_ls.jpg

When the San Francisco building inspectors looked at what the architects and engineers had in mind for a 55-story condominium tower on top of Rincon Hill, they were intrigued.

The first of two buildings was a tall, slim tower, a building developer Michael Kriozere said was designed to change the city's skyline.

It would be built on a narrow site right where the Bay Bridge comes into San Francisco. Because of its location, it would be an instant landmark. "It will have simple, strong lines. It is meant to be seen at a distance,'' Kriozere said.

But under the skin, the building is a startling departure from anything the city inspectors have seen before.

"There is not another building like this in the world,'' said Ron Klemencic, the structural engineer for the One Rincon project.

From the outside, the taller building, 641 feet from the street to the top, looks simple enough -- a tall glass tower, round on three sides. It won't be another Transamerica Pyramid, or a black monolith like the Bank of America building, which are not only taller, but more massive.

What's inside and on the top of the Rincon Hill tower is what makes it different. The engineering, Klemencic said, "is on the cutting edge.''

It is always a challenge to build a high-rise on top of a hill in earthquake country, particularly in San Francisco, which still harbors dark memories of the great quake and fire that destroyed the city 100 years ago. Now the city has complex building codes, and putting up a tower on the top of a hill has special challenges -- not just earthquakes, but strong winds that blow off the Pacific in winter, sometimes over 75 miles an hour, hurricane force on the Beaufort Wind Scale.

Kriozere and his associates picked Klemencic, president of the Seattle firm of Magnusson Klemencic Associates, as the structural engineer. The architect is John Lahey, managing partner of Solomon Cordwell Buenz, of Chicago. Klemencic says the design was "a collaborative effort" among the architect, the engineer and the developer.

Klemencic is 43, a tall man who has worked on tall buildings all over the world. He is the chairman of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, an international industry group that includes among its members some of the top authorities on the tallest buildings in the world.

Back in the 20th century, a skyscraper would be built around a steel frame, the way a human is built around a skeleton. But now, many tall buildings are built around a concrete core, poured around reinforced steel for strength.

Underneath this is a concrete and steel foundation based on bedrock. At One Rincon, the foundation is 12 feet thick. The bedrock on Rincon Hill is serpentine, a metamorphic green rock sometimes called "slickrock.''

Some engineers looked on it with suspicion, but building on serpentine bedrock is not unheard of. The bedrock under the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge is largely serpentine.

At Rincon Hill, the building's core is slowly rising out of the foundation. The core looks like the clasped fingers of a steel hand, with concrete poured on the steel.

Another building using the concrete core method is the Intercontinental Hotel, going up at Fifth and Howard streets, south of Market.

One advantage of the core construction as opposed to the steel-frame method is that the condos in the towers would not have structural members obscuring the windows. This means floor-to-ceiling windows and spectacular views. The better the view, the more the developer can charge.

Outside of the core at One Rincon will be outriggers, tall columns made of steel-reinforced concrete. These provide extra strength. The outrigger design is "tried and true,'' said Raymond Lui, a structural engineer with the San Francisco Building Inspection Department.

But Klemencic introduced another element that interested the building inspectors. These were V-shaped devices called buckling restrained braces, installed between the outriggers and the core. These act something like the shock absorbers in automobiles to provide an extra edge in the event of earthquake.

One of the problems of braces is that they tend to buckle -- fold up and lose all strength -- in the event of some serious shock, an earthquake, for example. But the buckling restrained braces, which are steel, are encased in a sleeve of steel and reinforced concrete designed to prevent buckling.

"This is the first time in the United States that these have been used in this way,'' Klemencic said. Lui agrees. "I don't think anyone has used the buckling restrained braces with outriggers before,'' Lui said. "It is a new structural concept,'' said Hanson Tom, program manager for the city's Building Inspection Department.

The tower has yet another unusual feature -- on the very top are two water tanks holding about 100,000 gallons combined. Each tank will also have two liquid damper screens to control the flow of the water. The purpose of the tanks is to counter the sway of the building in a high wind.

Strong winds can make even the biggest buildings move; this one can sway 15 to 16 inches, which could be upsetting to the residents.

"You would feel the vibration if you didn't have the damper,'' Lui said. But the design idea is that if the wind tends to move the building one way, the water would provide a counterbalance for stability.

This concept has never been used in this country before.

No single element in the design caused a problem, but all of the innovations -- in what Klemencic calls "a performance-based design" rather than a prescriptive design -- meant the city wanted to look carefully at the tower.

It convened a peer review with three eminent engineers -- Jack Moehle, a UC Berkeley professor whom Tom describes as "a world-renowned specialist'' in structural engineering; Ronald Hamburger of Oakland, another famous engineer who has been president of the Structural Engineers Association; and Lelio Mejia, an expert in seismic engineering.

The peer group checked the calculations and the design, and ran tests at UC Berkeley to simulate earthquakes earlier this year. "The biggest quake we had here was 7.8 on the scale on the San Andreas Fault,'' Klemencic said. "We simulated five times that. We simulated 14 different major earthquakes,'' he said. "It performed fine."

The world of top seismic engineers is small. Klemencic had studied under Moehle at Berkeley, so his former professor once again examined his work. "It's like defending your Ph.D. thesis over and over again,'' Klemencic said, "like doing homework over. It's pretty rigorous.''

The panel signed off on the building, and the city inspectors were satisfied; the permit to go ahead was issued after the first of the year, and the concrete pouring began. The first tower is scheduled for completion in 2008. After that, a second, smaller tower is planned. In all, there will be 695 condos and 14 townhouses, nearly all of them expensive.

Klemencic is pleased with how it is coming out. "This is one of my favorite examples of our engineering achievements,'' he said. "The building is fantastic.''

He always wanted to be an engineer, he said. "When I was a kid (in Racine, Wis.), I used to build cities in sandboxes.''

Klemencic's career has been in very tall buildings, but he has a flaw. "I'm deathly afraid of heights,'' he said.

Page B - 1
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/02/RINCON.TMP

[San Frangelino]

Hey just an FYI, the website had a brand new video up. Similar to the orginally but pans out more, also shows some up close scans of the building. Well worth checking out.

[fflint]

New Chronicle graphic on the tower's infrastructure:

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/07/02/ba_rinconstar.jpg

[rocketman_95046]

Crew adores Rincon tower but can't afford to live there
Carl Nolte, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, August 13, 2006
One in an occasional series on the construction of a high-rise on San Francisco's Rincon Hill.

A little more each day, rising steadily on Rincon Hill, where the Bay Bridge lands in San Francisco, the steel-and-concrete core of a new landmark is taking shape.

Just now, it looks a bit like the nest of some giant prehistoric bird, with steel reinforcing bars knitted tightly together like a woven basket. When the "rebar," as it is called in the trade, is all in place, concrete is poured over it, producing the strong heart of what will be a 641-foot condo tower, the first of two high-rise buildings in a project called One Rincon Hill.

Building the tower involves an intricate dance of workers and material, steel and concrete, mixed with the big-bucks economics of a $290 million project. It will also help transform a formerly funky hilltop into a new upscale San Francisco neighborhood.

"We spent 10 months just figuring out how to do this job," said Peter Read, who is in charge of construction for Bovis Lend Lease, the main contractor on the job. It is a project of enormous complexity, involving a slender high-rise of unusual design on a narrow site right next to the Bay Bridge approach.

When it is finished in 2008, the first tower will contain 43,000 cubic yards of concrete weighing 87,075 tons and 6,271 tons of rebar, which, if it were straightened and laid end to end, would stretch from San Francisco to Lubbock, Texas.

There will be 453,000 feet of conduit, and 9,000 electrical fixtures, according to Webcor Concrete, a major subcontractor of the job.

Last week, crews finished the foundation and the base of the tower and started going up.

They are now on the fifth floor of the residential tower; there are 50 more to go. The big construction crane that stands next to the site is 220 feet high. Bovis Lend Lease, the general contractor, says that at the height of construction, on the top of the tower, the crane will be 720 feet above the crest of Rincon Hill.

The work goes on from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., six days a week. There are 98 men and two women on the job -- carpenters, ironworkers ("rodbusters," they are called), laborers and some others. But when the job goes into a higher gear and construction of the condo units begins, there will be hundreds more.

Many of the workers say there is something special about this tower.

"This is one of those great projects you'll be able to tell your grandkids about," said Julie Anne Linsley, who runs a hoist -- a construction elevator -- inside the building.

"You'll be able to see this building from El Cerrito, from Richmond, from Fremont, from all over. I'll say, 'Look at that. Granny got to build that high-rise.' " Linsley, who is 39 and lives in Oakland, doesn't have any grandchildren yet, "but I plan on having 'em."

Sometimes, the workers will simply stand and look at the building going up.

"You know," said Mike McGuire, a construction supervisor, "after a job like this, there aren't too many other projects in the world that wouldn't be happy to take you."

The Rincon Hill project has its ironic side, though.

In the 19th century, the hill and nearby South Park were fashionable neighborhoods, and then, in the 1920s and '30s, the hill went into a gradual decline. There were a number of shacks on the south side.

During the 1934 waterfront strike, considered a landmark in San Francisco's social history, a pitched battle -- the so-called Battle of Rincon Hill -- broke out between San Francisco police and strikers. The strikers threw rocks and other objects at the police, and the police used tear gas on the strikers. It was a full-fledged riot, or series of riots, that moved closer to the waterfront, where police shot and killed two union men, setting off San Francisco's only general strike.

In later years, Rincon Hill became the home for waterfront labor unions, including the Sailors' Union of the Pacific. The union's sleek, white, art-modern headquarters is right across the street from One Rincon.

But the new San Francisco, a city that is growing up south of Market, has not much room for the working class.

The price tag for the luxury townhouses at the foot of the tower and the condo units in the high-rise are in the $1 million range, so almost none of the workers who are building One Rincon can afford to live there.

Construction workers have some of the best-paid blue-collar jobs around: a journeyman carpenter makes $32.25 a hour, with lots of work now and overtime available. But they probably would not have the other financial qualifications to afford a home in the tower.

Fadi Lazkani, a field superintendent for Webcor, works on One Rincon, but economics have forced him into one of those killer commutes -- he lives in Riverbank (Stanislaus County) in the San Joaquin Valley, near Modesto, a 180-mile round-trip six days a week.

Lazkani leaves his home at 4:20 a.m. to arrive at Rincon Hill at 6:15. He spends four hours on the road every day, sharing driving with his brother, who also works on the project.

Why Riverbank? Because he could buy a brand-new house there for his wife and two children for $388,000.

Could he afford to live in the tower he is building now? "What are you talking about?" he said. "I can't afford to live in the Bay Area."

Lazkani was born in Tripoli, Lebanon, 31 years ago and came to the United States in 1991. There was no future for him in Lebanon, he said. "When I came, people warned me about crime in this country. They said it was unsafe. Yeah? You ought to live in Lebanon for a couple of years," he said.

He's been in construction for 14 years. He started as a laborer and worked his way up to carpenter. The standards are strict, he said. "You have to take classes for four years. Every quarter, you go to apprenticeship school for a week.''

He moved up steadily, changing jobs as he went, working on different projects. One was working concrete on San Francisco's Embarcadero light-rail line, an interesting job, he said.

One of his favorite jobs was working on the St. Regis Hotel at Third and Mission streets, one of the cornerstones of the new South of Market district. He liked working on a high-rise building -- "I was up on the 37th and 38th floors, looking down on all the people below," he said. "We built a condo that was worth $4 million."

Construction is a young person's game, it appears. Around the job, most of the men appear to be in their 20s and 30s. It's hard work, pulling and hauling, it pays well, and for now, the work is steady.

But it is also dangerous work. Last month, a construction platform collapsed, and four workmen fell about 8 feet. Three of them are back on the job, but one sustained a broken ankle, and he's still off work.

"Once, I fell four floors when I was working on a job," said Rob Walk, 52, the senior superintendent for Bovis Lend Lease, the principal contractor at One Rincon. "It knocked the wind out of me, but I wasn't hurt. The boss said, 'Get up! Go back to work.'

"I've been in this business 32 years, and I took the tools off 18 years ago," he said. "I'm not sorry."
The skinny on the tower

Units: 376 condos, 14 townhomes

Unit price: Up to $2 million

Materials:

87,075 tons of concrete

6,271 tons of rebar

453,000 feet of conduit

9,000 electrical fixtures

Workforce: 98 men, 2 women
http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/08/13/ba_rincon_010rad.jpghttp://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/08/13/ba_all_tower.jpg

[AK47KC]

A much needed update to this thread (picturewise). Well, the building core is around 5-6 stories high and the framework reaches around three stories. The columns that will support the 14 townhouses in the future are beginning to show themselves, and soon that hole in between the South Tower and Harrison St. will disappear, as well as the view of the massive foundation block.

Pics I forgot to load last week (8/11)

The site and the 220 ft. crane. It will be very hard to capture the entire crane when the building thrusts higher into the sky.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l181/AK47KC/DSCN6100.jpg
Getting closer. You can kind of make out the building's shape.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l181/AK47KC/DSCN6101.jpg
Lower view of the site, crane seems to be placing large pieces of rebar.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l181/AK47KC/DSCN6102.jpg
Closer view of the core and the men working. It seems like they are using the crane to move the concrete, resulting in slowcrete, since I haven't seen a concrete pump yet and the associated rig.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l181/AK47KC/DSCN6103.jpg
The massive foundation of the tower.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l181/AK47KC/DSCN6104.jpg
Closer view again.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l181/AK47KC/DSCN6105.jpg
From the corner.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l181/AK47KC/DSCN6106.jpg
Another pic.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l181/AK47KC/DSCN6107.jpg

8/16

The site on 8/16.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l181/AK47KC/DSCN6110.jpg
The columns are now visible. Pretty soon, they will poke above Harrison St.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l181/AK47KC/DSCN6111.jpg
The crane and work continuing.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l181/AK47KC/DSCN6112.jpg
The ad and worksite.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l181/AK47KC/DSCN6113.jpg

Want more pics? Speak up, because I walk by the site almost everyday.

[BuildDenver4Ever]

this has got to be one of my favorite projects out there. i was in san fran area in early april and remember driving by that zone before getting on the bridge. mighty jealous of that building.

[Urban Zombie®]

Nice, good to see this project moving along. It's going to make a nice addition to SF. However, the name "Rincon" seems like a horrible misuse of the English language--as if someone at engrish.com were trying to say "Lincoln." (although I'll admit I've never actually heard it pronounced before, which could end up being completely different than how it is spelled)

[slock]

Rincon is spanish for corner. Locally the con is pronounced like con-artist, with the emphasis on con. Rin-CON hill.

[BTinSF]

the name "Rincon" seems like a horrible misuse of the English language--as if someone at engrish.com were trying to say "Lincoln." (although I'll admit I've never actually heard it pronounced before, which could end up being completely different than how it is spelled)

I don't get what you're saying. As Slock points out it's Spanish and in SF it's actually a fairly historic place name. I'm not sure when Rincon Hill was named but it was a long time ago. By one historical account ( http://www.spur.org/documents/030101_article_02.shtm ), "In the mid-1840s, when San Francisco was a ragged collection of adobe and frame buildings with a population of little more than 200 residents, Rincon Hill was an isolated shrub-covered landmark, rising 120 feet above the uninhabited sand dunes south of present-day Market Street. That isolation was soon to end."

[kenratboy]

You are right about the height - it may not be supertall, but the location makes it VERY significant if one is familiar with San Francisco (which isn't a tall city, but company, dramatic, and just pretty!)

As it is, driving in over the Bay Bridge, it is a shockingly awesome view, and this will add another layer to it.

[Urban Zombie®]

I don't get what you're saying. As Slock points out it's Spanish and in SF it's actually a fairly historic place name.


I was joking around. In fact I was actually making a South Park reference--where they go to China, and "Lincoln" is pronounced "Rincon" by a pair of obnoxious sports casters. More of an inside joke, I guess.

Back on topic--what's the ETA for this project's completion?

[BTinSF]

what's the ETA for this project's completion?

"When it is finished in 2008". They are rapidly selling the units now. That actually makes it great deal because in CA you can't close until it's finished so you can reserve a unit now at a pretty reasonable price, really (around $1000/sq. ft.) and not have to pay until 2008. Given that, along with the Millenium Tower, it's likely to be the premier address in town for some years (yes, I just think it's prettier and it's certainly taller than The Infinity), I doubt prices will drop over those 2 years no matter how ugly the real estate market gets. So you actually have some chance of some appreciation entirely on credit.

[BTinSF]

I'm iffy on the floor count. Fact sheet still lists it at 55, although the architect's representative told me there are 63 levels (?).

I think just looking at the rendering that there are 55 occupiable floors and the "water tank" on top appears to add considerable height, possibly as much as the equivalent of 5 more floors (it looks to be about 4). Also, because of the slope of the hill, the ground (1st) floor of the taller tower is actually at the same level as the 3rd floor of the adjacent townhouse section. So perhaps the architect is adding in all those "floors". The actual height will be consistent with a taller building of about 62 or 63 floors although only 55 will apparently be both above ground and occupiable. At least that's the way I sort out the confusion in my own head.

[SFView]

How about trying it this way?:

55 above grade tower levels + 7 levels below entry grade level or basement + 1 level for roof "water tank" = 63 levels total

The basement levels are hidden below the tower in the renderings. Take a look at the webcam image. The larger floors below the base of the tower are all basement levels not counted among the original 55.

http://www.onerinconhill.com/webcam.html

[kenratboy]

SFView - I think that settles that.

No matter - this will be a very significant building for the Bay Area and I look forward to seeing it.

[briankendall]

One Rincon Hill is definitely 63 stories. Here is the link to the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection log. Its a spreadsheet of projects. Go over all the way to the right of the spreadsheet columns to "Description" and scroll down 37 lines and everyone will be able to clearly see that its says the building is 63 stories.

http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/dbi/ ... y_reports/bpi/February2006.xls

Also, I catered the marketing events for the Chase Communications and if you go to the sales office there were penthouses for sale on the "60th Floor". So its at least 61 stories (60 floors of condominiums plus the lobby.) This is also claimed at the Project Management Advisor, Inc. website.

http://www.pmainc.com/profile_onerincon.cfm?MFXsr=2&sm=21

What I don't know is if its 61 or 63 floors above ground. I am thinking its 63 because of what's listed on the SF DBI website. It says its 63 stories PLUS the basement levels. So maybe they are counting the 60 floors of housing plus the lobby plus the roof levels. Wish I saw the architectural drawings and I wish I could get Emporis to make the change to 63 stories.

Plus, someone at Emporis needs to change the the second tower to reflect the real height of 541' and 49 stories (perhaps over 50? with the roof levels?)

[kenratboy]

If it is 63 floors above grade (excluding the basement), I would assume the floors are no less than 10' apart, so about 630' tall. It is residential, so ~9' ceilings plus ~1' for the slab may be about right. How thick are slabs usually in a residential building like this? How do they run plumbing and HVAC from the center of the core to the outside?

[LWR]

Ok... I'll say it. "May I have more please"? (photos, when it is convenient)

Thanks.

[SFView]

...Construction photos that show the number of basement levels more clearly, in addition to the tower levels please?

Thanks.

[rocketman_95046]

^i guess we should post this again...

This is the webcam for One Rincon Hill. It updates about once every 15 minutes.

http://www.onerinconhill.com/webcam.html

during the day you can clearly see the basement levels vs. the tower levels.

[J Church]

so about 630' tall.

It's 641'. We were able to confirm that much.

[SFView]

The tower is definately taller at the east side of the building due to the lower elevations and sloping site. Could it be that there are 5 extra lower levels exposed at the east side of the building, raising the height to 60 floors, instead of 55 above the south main entrance?

[ltsmotorsport]

^i guess we should post this again...

This is the webcam for One Rincon Hill. It updates about once every 15 minutes.

http://www.onerinconhill.com/webcam.html

during the day you can clearly see the basement levels vs. the tower levels.
Damn! Why couldn't they have gotten oxblue!

[briankendall]

Ok I have figured out how many floors One Rincon Hill has. I have mentioned in here that I found the permit log from the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection. The permit was pulled by Malcolm Drilling and in the permit it says its 63 stories.

I went to the building site today and spoke to a construction worker working on the site. He told me that there was going to be a ground floor lobby that would double height in the very front of the lobby. Above that was an almost full floor mezzanine that had rooms for events, building managers... for the residents. On top of these two floors are 60 floor of condos. The 63rd floor he said is the level for the water tank. He also cleared up why there is only 61 floors listed on the project manager inc. website. They are just counting the lobby and the 60 floors of condos... not the mezzanine level or the water tank level.

You can see all this from the street... the double height lobby with the second floor mezzanine... on top of these two floors its clear that the condos then officially begin. There seems to be 4 basement levels below the main floor and in back of the main floor there also seems to be parking or something that looks like it.

[EastBayHardCore]

Wow, thanks for the info brian.

[StevenW]

Can't wait till it's complete. :yes:

[craeg]

Wow, SF gets a building over 60 stories!

[SFView]

So, you mean...?

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m96/mrayatsfo/onerinconrenderingB.jpg

All other more recent renderings and model images show 55 stories instead of 62. I am guessing from your latest description, the towers might end up looking something like this. It does seem to work out better. The bottom residential window grouping can now have 6 levels instead of the odd grouping of 5 (see below). The rest of the groupings above are shown with the usual clusters of 6 levels. I altered the rendering to show 10 facade groupings of 6 above a 2 story lobby for the taller tower. The water tank would be on the 63rd level above the ground floor accordingly. I have also increased the shorter tower by 7 stories similarly. I am still somewhat skeptical until we get further into construction.

Also note that the taller tower may already taller by what could be about 4 or 5 exposed basement levels on the east side of the building below the west side ground entry level.

Here is the original official rendering from http://www.onerinconhill.com/ for comparison:

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m96/mrayatsfo/onerinconrendering1.jpg

[SFView]

The new possible height, bulk and floor counts for One Rincon Hill are beginning to look more like this early conceptual rendering for two of the residential Transbay Towers, (http://sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/sfra/Projects/04_Urban%20Form%20Framework.pdf) which were/are also originally "550 and 450 foot" towers.

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m96/mrayatsfo/SOMconceptual.jpg

[rocketman_95046]

http://www.onerinconhill.com/newsletterfall2006.html#onerincon

a nice little update that they sent out by email today.

Q & A
What is the current construction status?
Construction is precisely on schedule. Crews have poured the 10th floor and are forming the 11th floor. The contractor will soon begin pouring a new floor of concrete every three days. On Oct. 1, installation of the glass curtainwall will begin. Concurrently, work will start on the interiors.

When is the topping out of the first tower?
The topping out is anticipated May 2007.

When will Phase I (tower 1) be completed and ready for move-in?
Floors 8-27 will be ready for closing and move-in sometime late 2007. Floors 28-60 will be ready for closing and move-in sometime early 2008 (anticipated).

When will Tower 2 Start?
Construction on the second tower will start sometime in 2008. An official date will be announced in coming months.

When will the whole thing be complete?
Estimated completion for Phase II is mid-2009.

What will be the traffic flow into One Rincon Hill?
The far left lane on First Street will be a designated lane that commuter traffic cannot use. You will be able to drive straight into One Rincon Hill's driveway and parking from there. Also you'll be able to enter from Harrison Street traveling east or west.

What is the availability?
Currently, the 360 initial reservations are quickly being converted to contracts. There are still more than 30 one-, two- and threebedrooms with great views available, ranging in price from $600,000 to $2.5 million, as well as 13 luxury townhomes along Harrison Street, starting at $1.4 million with private entrances and outdoor patios, and all the amenities in the tower homes.

Does the building have air conditioning?
Yes, the building has individually thermostatic controlled heat pumps in home that provides heating and cooling.

What will the noise be like?
Inside each home should be very quiet. Homes have double-paned windows. In addition, the curtainwall has further insulating qualities.

Will Tower 2 block the views of Tower 1?
No. The buildings are off-set from each other on a 45-foot diagonal. They were designed to NOT obstruct the views to the Bay Bridge or the Financial District. Tower 2 will be in the peripheral view.


GEE WHIZ
According to Bovis Lend Lease, One Rincon Hill's construction will feature:

43,000 cubic yards of cast-in-place concrete, weighing 174,150,000 lbs (87,075 tons).

12,543,212 lbs (6,271 tons) of reinforcing steel, which, if laid end-to-end, would be approximately 1,400 miles of rebar (enough to stretch from the construction site to Lubbock, Texas).
http://www.onerinconhill.com/images/pic_bargraph.gif

[SFView]

So what floor level is at the south sidewalk entrance to Tower 1?

[briankendall]

Good question about the floor levels. I had asked a construcition worker about what the floor levels were a couple weeks ago but I am not sure he gave me the right answer. I thought that there was a lobby, mezzanine and 60 floors of housing plus a 63rd floor for the water tank. As you can see earlier in this thread I found the permit from the contractor "to construct 63 floors..."

Its been confusing because there is definitely a 60th floor condominium and you would assume that it would start at the lobby but I think the building might start counting its "first floor" as the floor on Harrison or what would be the ground floor of the townhomes. Technically I guess the building starts on Harrison... only two sides of the building are cut into Rincon Hill... the other two sides face out North and West.

If you go to the site now you can see 4 floors at street level where the townhomes will be. Then there is the obvious lobby floor... then there is the mezzanine floor. Above the lobby and mezzanine in the concept drawings and models there are 9 "bays" and each bay has 6 floors. If this is true then its 4 floors of townhomes, the lobby, mezzanine, 54 floors of condos above that plus 3 floors in the water tower to make a total of 63. Which is probably where the 55 and 54 floor numbers came from. There is 54 floors of condos, plus the lobby for 55 (they weren't counting the mezzanine.) But they never counted the 4 floors of townhomes plus the 3 water tower levels or the mezzanine.

I can't wait till the thing is done to get the final word. I've been speculating here way too long.

[pseudolus]

Isn't the key to this puzzle in "Floors 8-27 will be ready for closing and move-in sometime late 2007. Floors 28-60 will be ready for closing and move-in sometime early 2008 (anticipated)", that is: why do the condos start at floor 8?

[BTinSF]

Isn't the key to this puzzle in "Floors 8-27 will be ready for closing and move-in sometime late 2007. Floors 28-60 will be ready for closing and move-in sometime early 2008 (anticipated)", that is: why do the condos start at floor 8?

I just counted the floors on the rendering. I got 55 from the sidewalk up but the first two have more height suggesting they are not condos, but lobbies and maybe other semi-public spaces. That would fit then--floor "8" is actually the 3rd floor above the street level immediately outside the tower but the 8th floor above Harrison St. There is, of course, height equivalent to another 3 or 4 floors in the water tank on top.

By the way, am I the only one who would be slightly freaked living in the 60th floor penthouse and knowing there's tons of water right over my head?

[fflint]

Isn't every high-rise New York penthouse just beneath tons of water?

[innov8]

I'll be in the city on the 15th... I'll be sure to take some pics to post :yes:

[SFView]

Then it seems the "55" story renderings and model of Tower 1 are still correct. The condo section of the tower is from floors 8 - 60. I suspect that lower floors below the lobby of Tower 1 are common and connected to the rest of the site. The 1st - 5th floors may be the same level for both towers. There appears to be at least 5 below lobby floors to Tower 1, so the Lobby could be the 6th floor, and the Mezzanine is the 7th. If the Mezzanine isn't counted as a floor, but counted as a level, there might be 6 below lobby floors instead. There could be 1 or 2 levels of mechanical between the highest condos and the water tank level. The level just above the condos could be just a buffer level. The Mezzanine may be counted as a level in the total count of 63, but I am not certain if it counted as a floor. At least it now seems we are within 1 floor level away of understanding the actual situation - I hope.

With the confusion over floor levels at One Rincon Hill, I am also beginning to wonder where the 641' and 541' heights of the towers are actually measured. Are they measured from the entrance lobby level to the roof, 1st floor to roof, 1st floor to the top of crown; or as I would most prefer to know, the entry lobby to the top of crown?

:shrug: :koko:

[briankendall]

I could have sworn that there were only 4 levels below the lobby when I've been by the construction site but maybe there was another buried from view.... and that would make it clearer... 5 levels plus 1 lobby, 1 mezzanine then 8-60 condos and 61-63 levels for the water tower.

I am beginning to think that they are counting the 641 feet from the Harrison Street level... which make sense if the first 5 levels are not really below ground just pushed into the hill. The ceilings I don't think are more than 9' when I went into the demo condo at the sales office. So that would be 10 feet per floor 9' + 1' slab. 10 x 63 levels plus the double height of the lobby would bring it to around 641'.

[mczamalek]

Slick- looks great!

[SFView]

From this view I see at least 5 levels below the lobby:

http://www.onerinconhill.com/webcam.html

[LWR]

Question to any/all...

I'm wondering about how that area is zoned in respect to two tall towers sitting right beside the freeway (bridge). Suppose there was a terrible earthquake. Even though the bridge might remain intact, what if the water-damper dumps or even worse... well you know. The bridge would become an impasse. (thoughts?)

Ok... so I do tend to look darkly upon such things. I've lived in California for 48 years... in SF for 30 of those years. Still, I would like to hear your views if it's appropriate in this thread. :whisper:

[SFView]

If we assume a floor to floor height of 10’ and the same for the mezzanine, plus an estimated 14’ height for the lobby we get (54 x 10)+14= 554’ When we subtract from 641’, 554’, we have approximately 87’ left over for 5 floors of parking and 3 floors above the condos. This seems plausible, if we measure 641’ from the 1st floor to the top of the crown. It appears that both the height and the floors are measured and counted up from the 1st floor level, and not the lobby; and the highest occupied floor is officially 60. If this is more likely the case, should all the listings for Tower 1 be changed to 60 floors at 641’?

[rocketman_95046]

Question to any/all...

I'm wondering about how that area is zoned in respect to two tall towers sitting right beside the freeway (bridge). Suppose there was a terrible earthquake. Even though the bridge might remain intact, what if the water-damper dumps or even worse... well you know. The bridge would become an impasse. (thoughts?)

Ok... so I do tend to look darkly upon such things. I've lived in California for 48 years... in SF for 30 of those years. Still, I would like to hear your views if it's appropriate in this thread. :whisper:

If an earthquake is big enough to knock down a modern highrise built on a rocky hill, I doubt half of SF that is old and built on landfill will be standing. Thus, this one highrise would be the least of your worries.;) In most cases it is safer to be in a highrise than a townhome in SF during an earthquake.

[Thefigman]

I thought that all new construction in California had to have earthquake resistant structuring.

[SFView]

I forgot about what J Church said on the first page of this thread:
Alright, we got an official height for this tower from the architects: 641'/63 stories. That is structural top from the main entrance.
If the main entrance is where I am guessing could be the 6th floor, then the condo floor-to-floor heights may be greater than 10'.

For those questioning seismic resistance of One Rincon Hill, also see the first page of this thread.

[briankendall]

I catered all the sales events for One Rincon Hil... with Chase Communications and was touring in and out of the model unit every day for a few days and the ceiling heights were definitely around 9". They didn't seem to be above that. It seems that the height of the building is from Harrison Street. The only floor with tall ceilings is obviously the lobby that you can see under construction from the street.

Also, it seems that there is enough proof now that there is at the very least "60th floor condos" both from the sales office where they are selling 60th floors condos... as well as Project Manager Advisor Inc. website for the building which states it as being 61 stories (the first floor of the water tank above the last floor of condos.) Can someone change that here to "60 floors" and on Emporis? I emailed Emporis with the proof from the PMAInc. website as well as the SF Buiding Inspection website which states that its 63 levels but I never got a response from Emporis.

[SFView]

At risk of being wrong again, here is another speculative attempt resolving the mystery of Tower 1 floor count and building height:

After examinating and scaling the renderings, photographs and information regarding Tower 1 available on this web site, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Rincon_Hill, I have made the following new estimate:

(57 levels x 11' ht.) + 1 level 14' high lobby = 641 feet! The 57 levels includes 53 floors of condos, 1 mezzanine, and 3 levels above the condos, all at the estimated floor-to-floor height of 11'. Counting occupied floors only, it may be still okay to call One Rincon Hill Tower 1 a 55 story, 641' tower based on this assumption. If we include all 58 tower levels, plus 5 levels of parking below, we get a total of 63 levels. The 5 lower levels below the main entrance seem to be more than 60 feet deep, bringing the total height from the first floor to the top of the crown at somewhere around, or greater than 700 feet for 63 levels.

Some additional possibilities: The concrete floor slabs may be somewhere around 11" or 12" thick. It is possible that dropped ceilings of some sort may allow for concealing mechanical ducts, plumbing and electrical in the space between the finish ceilings and the concrete floor slabs. This may result in a clear finish floor to finish ceiling height of anywhere between 9 and 10 feet.

[northbay]

i had to stop by the city to pick up some omanju (japanese sweets)

of course, i also went for a walk with my girl to take a look at some of the construction sites around rincon hill. so ya, heres one rincon. sorry about the poor quality, i just used my cellphone cam:


---
one rincon
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/6716/1013061612jq4.jpg

2 cranes is better then one, even tho caltrans might be using the other one
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/1325/1013061613cn8.jpg

[Reminiscence]

I guess thats why they still have a "55-story, 641 foot tall" discription of the tower. I would imagine that if they used all 63 floors, then they'd have a height of roughly 700+ ft, like SFView said. I dunno, I'm trying to understand it myself but I may still be wrong.

[innov8]

I was in town and took a few photos...

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a132/mz1613/Ricon410-2006f.jpg
Rincons the blue tower on the left.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a132/mz1613/Ricon310-2006f.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a132/mz1613/Ricon210-2006f.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a132/mz1613/Reconfar10-2006f.jpg

[kenratboy]

SWEET!

On the last picture, how high up will Rincon go? To the first tower on the Bay Bridge (leftmost one), to the top of the frame? And I want to go to Shreve and buy a Lange & Sohne.

[FourOneFive]

SWEET!

On the last picture, how high up will Rincon go? To the first tower on the Bay Bridge (leftmost one), to the top of the frame? And I want to go to Shreve and buy a Lange & Sohne.

the first tower of the bay bridge is 525' if i'm not mistaken. one rincon hill (south tower) will reach 641' to its structural tip (plus the 75' stub of rincon hill that its built on), so the tower will easily clear the top of the bay bridge's towers once completed! :D

[BTinSF]

I was in town and took a few photos myself...

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a132/mz1613/Ricon410-2006f.jpg
Rincons the blue tower on the left.

Might as well acknowledge for non-locals that the yellow cranes to the right are putting up "The Infinity" which will be a pretty nice building itself (and apparently its two towers will be topped out before the second One Rincon tower even gets going).


http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a132/mz1613/Reconfar10-2006f.jpg[/QUOTE]

I must say I don't understand this picture. I can't identify either "The Infinity" site or the Metropolitan which is on the downhill block from One Rincon.

[kenratboy]

Wow, so in that picture, the building should reach the top of the image!

[Reminiscence]

Top of the image or at least somewhere close to that. The construction site looks so massive from far away, but in the end, thats going to be one sweet tower from all points of view.

[EastBayHardCore]

I must say I don't understand this picture. I can't identify either "The Infinity" site or the Metropolitan which is on the downhill block from One Rincon.

The Metropolitan is the tallest building on the left of that pic. You can see the Infinity cranes in the background if you look close.

[kenratboy]

Wow, with all these projects in San Francisco AND Sacramento, Nor. Cal. is getting a serious skyline upgrade!

Now we just need something else big in Oakland (San Jose is screwed with the airport I guess).

[SFView]

With a top elevation of 741 feet over sea level, Tower 1 may exceed the shorter 525 foot tall Bay Bridge towers by about 41%.

[kenratboy]

Thats pretty tall. Will be like Hong Kong with the buildings going up the hills.

[Reminiscence]

So I guess its not Manhatanization anymore but Hong Kong ... ization, heh.

[AK47KC]

Rincon Hill is 120 ft. (37 m) above sea level, not 100 ft. (30 m), so the top of Tower One is actually 761 ft. (232 m) above sea level. No doubt about Hong Kongnization happening on Rincon Hill.

[Reminiscence]

And because its 761 feet above sea level, it should resemble its two older brothers (a.k.a. Bank of America and Transamerica Towers), at least when the city is viewed from a place accross the Bay like Emeryville or Albany :)

[SFView]

I believe the 120 foot top of Rincon Hill is just to the Southwest of the main entrance to the tower. According to San Francisco GIS topographic survey maps, the 100 foot contour line is right about where the main entrance to Tower 1 might be. If I also remember correctly, John King (or was it someone else?) mentioned in the Chronical that the tower is set at 100 feet. Otherwise, I do not have any other definite information on the building entry floor elevation. It is not the usual practice to raise the entry floor level another 20 feet to meet level with a point nearly offsite, but I could be wrong. Tower 1 is probably set wherever as high as it is technically feasible on the site.

Anyway, the top of the Rincon building might be somewhere about the 49th or 50th floor of the Bank of America Building that is at 31 feet elevation at ground floor. At 641 feet tall, Tower 1 is the height of the 853 feet tall Transamerica without the 212 foot crown. No matter which way we look at it, One Rincon Hill will be the 3rd highest peak in the San Francisco's skyline for what could be a period of less than 7 years. That depends on if Renzo Piano's tower design starts construction before the Transbay Terminal and Tower begins in 2010 as planned.

[AK47KC]

Since One Rincon Hill will become the third tallest peak in the SF skyline, I hope at night they will put some light effects and eye candy on the tower; at least have it light up like the crown of the St. Regis Museum Tower does. It would really suck for a prominent tower like One Rincon Hill to not have any lighting effects at night.

[Reminiscence]

I havent seen any renderings of the building at night, so I can only hope so :(

[AK47KC]

Oh, I also forgot to mention the first few pieces of glass curtainwall erected on the structure are on the side facing I-80, so if you are a daily commuter into San Francisco and you are stuck in traffic you may be able to see the pieces. They haven't erected any glass facing the other three sides yet.

[Reminiscence]

Heh, for the first time I actually look forward to being stuck in traffic on I-80.

[AK47KC]

^^^ Hahaha, actually, I saw the glass panels from an Amtrak bus on the way home from UC Davis, and obviously, the eye level from the bus is higher than the eye level from a regular car. I don't know if the side wall of the approach maybe blocking the view because the installed panels are ethier on the 3rd or 4th floor.

[LWR]

:worship: At last... I can see it from where I live (Mountain Spring Ave., near Raccoon Dr.) Yea... even without binoculars. That is going to be some high-rise. Today (18-Oct) was a great day for visualizing such, at a distance.

One of these days, I'll send someone a photo; someone who knows how to post it. (All rights relinquished, of course.)

[AK47KC]

^^^You can host the pictures at photobucket or some other image-hosting site for free.

[Reminiscence]

Hopefully I'll be able to see the tower much better in December when I return to SF. And hopefully we have a massive backup on the bridge approach (which is not uncommon anyways) so I can stare at it for hours and hours. :ack:

[AK47KC]

Apparently the webcam is down. The image that it shows is still a nightshot of the site and obviously at the time of this post it is daytime.

[Reminiscence]

The webcam (when its actually running well) I'm sure is a good way to view it, but still, it does not substitute for the first person point of view. :yes:

[AK47KC]

^^^And being able to take pictures of it.

[Reminiscence]

:previous:

And being able to take pictures of it.

Right you are :)

[rocketman_95046]

The webcam is back up, literally.

They adjusted the cam, moving it up with the tower.

http://www.onerinconhill.com/webcam.html

[WonderlandPark]

The webcam is back up, literally.

The adjusted the cam, moving it up with the tower.

http://www.onerinconhill.com/webcam.html

Cool, looks like this one is moving along nicely.

[Reminiscence]

Ahh I see, that explains the techinical difficulties.

Thanks :)

[AK47KC]

Yay, the top of the crane has been out of the image for a while, but now we can see it again. :)

[SFView]

I think that position will last another 15 or so more stories of growth, unless they change the zoom, reposition the camera, or the mount. I think I would otherwise miss seeing the bottom of the tower as the tower and camera moves and pans upward. It isn't a great quality image, but it's much better than nothing.

[Reminiscence]

Hmmm, I wonder how that glass is coming along. Must look pretty nice to those lucky commuters :)

[AK47KC]

Let's hope they put some glass on the side facing the webcam before they move the cam up again and put the lower levels out of sight.

[Reminiscence]

Wow, the tower has grown considerably since the last time I saw it. Its too bad I cant find any detailed progress of how the tower is rising, like they do for 300 Spear. :(

[AK47KC]

I guess the tower will get to level 20-30 before the end of this year.

[Reminiscence]

Level 20-30, wow .... and thats only halfway too. :ack:

[AK47KC]

The south tower is at level 13 right now (from the webcam) and the elevator core is around level 16-17, but I will have to go there for a better count.

[Reminiscence]

If its not too much to ask, and only if its no trouble for you ... you should take some more of your award winning pictures as well :yes:

[AK47KC]

Umm... it depends if I decide to come back to the Bay Area from UC Davis on the weekends, otherwise, I will be studying for most of my time.

[LWR]

:previous:
Study hard first, but...

COME BACK, COME BACK.

[kenratboy]

If I can get some time away from work/school (I work in retail, holidays make me money!), and beat snow over Donner - I will take my Canon 30D for a little skyscraper trip soon I hope.