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fflint
Aug 29, 2006, 8:55 PM
The old "tidbits" thread exceeded the 2,000 post limit; you may find it in the forum's "archive" section.

Please post here your snippets of information on interesting Bay Area projects that don't quite deserve their own threads.

fflint
Sep 1, 2006, 1:05 AM
Check out the PDF!
---

S.J. Skyline to Get Makeover
Developers Rushing to Fill Up the Gap in Luxury Housing

By Katherine Conrad
Mercury News
August 29, 2006

http://www.mercurynews.com/images/mercurynews/mercurynews/15390/236864133980.jpg
An artist's rendering of Axis, a 22-story condo project planned for downtown San Jose.

Graphic: Planned Residential High-Rises (PDF) (http://www.mercurynews.com/multimedia/mercurynews/news/highrise.pdf)

Bucking a nationwide trend, developers are on track to build high-rise condominiums that will dramatically alter downtown San Jose's skyline.

As builders in Southern California and along the East Coast pull back from condominium construction, developers in San Jose remain bullish about a market they say is eager for their product -- luxurious urban condos offering views, spas and concierge services. Such housing, they say, appeals to those with six-figure incomes, no children and a desire to be downtown.

Even more important, banks are showing confidence. Two weeks ago, Fremont Investment & Loan agreed to lend KT Properties of San Jose and Spring Capital of Eugene, Ore., $128.5 million to build the Axis, a 22-story tower on Almaden Boulevard and Santa Clara Street. Construction on the 320-unit project has begun.

``The loan closing speaks for itself,'' said Lesley Love, vice president for Fremont. ``We believe in the underlying market fundamentals of San Jose. We think San Jose is the next candidate for what we've seen in other markets.''

Mike Kriozere, who paid $28.6 million for 1.5 acres of prime property in June, agrees. Saying he is not fazed by declining numbers in either sales or builder surveys, Kriozere prepared to write a $130,000 check Monday for city-imposed fees on his high-rise 670-unit development, City Front Square.

``Everybody is talking about a big housing slowdown, but this is a community that is completely, totally 100 percent under-served in this product,'' said Kriozere, of Urban West Associates.

``If you live in Santa Clara County and you've got money, what's your choice? A lot of people don't want a 5,000- or 6,000-square-foot house in Woodside.''

While he does not yet have the financing for the two towers of 670 units, estimated to cost $300 million, he is confident he'll secure a loan. When that happens, he hopes to push the start date for construction from the end of 2007 to spring next year.

``We're on track,'' Kriozere said. ``We're not slower, we're trying to make it go faster.''

Condos for sale

Chicago-based Mesa Development just opened its West Coast office in San Jose and named Rick Friedman, formerly of eBay, to run it. As development manager, Friedman will oversee the sales office for 360 Residences, a 22-story condo project at 360 S. Market St., at the corner of San Salvador Street, scheduled to open in January. Mesa also announced that it will build 360 Residences with Kimball Hill Homes.

And Barry Swenson Builder is hoping to finish construction on City Heights, a 16-story, 124-unit development on San Pedro Street next spring, even as the company considers converting Vendome Place from apartments to condominiums. The first phase of Vendome is just 76 units, but the entire development calls for 500.

``One of the differences between San Jose and other markets is there's not an overabundance of condos. If you go to Las Vegas and Miami, they've been building a mass amount of condos for some time,'' said Jessie Thielen, a development project manager for Barry Swenson Builder.

Barry Swenson Builder, the first to offer San Jose a high-rise project, is taking ``tons of calls'' from buyers, Thielen said. ``It's the product that the San Jose buyer is looking for.''

John Weiss, the city's redevelopment deputy director, is not surprised that developers are moving ahead in San Jose.

``We're beginning to have job growth -- the most encouraging in five years,'' Weiss said. ``My observation is that there certainly is a substantial slowdown in Southern California and on the East Coast, but they were substantially overbuilt.''

To keep the fires going, the city is considering whether to extend the incentive program, begun in 2004, that waived the affordable housing component.

``If we stop where we are today, we end up with four projects and about 1,000 units. We really need 5,000 units, and we'd love to do 10,000,'' said Joe Horwedel, the city's interim planning director. ``Should it be a period of time or a number of units? Our goal is to get units downtown. We want that high-rise market to be really strong.''

While some preliminary proposals have stalled, other developers are forging ahead and even scouting around for more sites to build. Meanwhile, the city is grappling with another question: How much housing is too much?

Housing deficit

The Bay Area has a housing deficit that is expected to worsen as the economy improves. According to the Association of Bay Area Governments, the shortfall is expected to reach more than 150,000 units by 2010, while Santa Clara County is expected to generate 95,000 jobs in 2006 and 2007. Yet the city also has an obligation to provide places to work.

KT Properties proposes to build a high-rise on another site downtown at Market and Santa Clara streets that San Jose had eyed for a BART station/office tower.

``We're having a debate: Are there sites worth preserving for office rather than residential?'' Horwedel said. ``How do you balance a BART portal to accommodate a major investment in downtown? Do you say `no' to somebody ready to go, in favor of someone who could take another 15 years? We're taking that question to the city council in the next month or so.''

San Jose may not have BART, but Paul Zieger, president of Pacific Marketing Associates and a spokesman for Axis, Tower 88 on Second Street and City Heights, said the city has plenty of other attractions.

``They have a hockey team, light-rail system, a children's museum, an adult museum, the symphony -- all these things that most cities get after everybody moves into downtown. It's a suburban community supported by a rich business community,'' he said.

The true test, however, is how quickly the units sell once they hit the market. And for high-rises, which take 20 to 24 months to build, that's still a year or two away.

rocketman_95046
Sep 1, 2006, 3:46 AM
SJ will really be changing over the next few years. If the office market ever gets going look out.

BTinSF
Sep 1, 2006, 6:44 AM
SJ will really be changing over the next few years. If the office market ever gets going look out.

There's good news. See http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=114432

EastBayHardCore
Sep 1, 2006, 6:52 AM
That's a great PDF. Question though, what's up with those single family houses between 280 and the Convention Center? Will that be rezoned once these lots start to fill up? It seems odd to have those houses caught in between the freeway and some nice new towers.

fflint
Sep 1, 2006, 10:46 AM
There used to be twice as many of those single-family homes (although I think most are apartment houses these days) in that area before they built the convention center via eminent domain. I remember driving on the streets there, lined with such homes, after I had read they would disappear--just so I'd remember the old downtown SJ. I was a teenager then, living a few miles west, but I do remember the old downtown SJ. I hope they don't rip out the remaining blocks of homes, if only for history's sake.

EastBayHardCore
Sep 1, 2006, 6:18 PM
fflint: If I'm thinking about the same area aren't those houses just some boring old single story suburban style homes? BTW, what was OLD downtown SJ like?

BTinSF
Sep 2, 2006, 12:22 AM
A number of interesting articles in this week's SF Business Times and I'll try to post them Sunday evening when they become available on the web site.

Among them:

- Pat Kuleto is breaking ground on a pair of $10 million restaurants in Rincon Park (that's the gravely vacant space on the Embarcadero across from the Gap Building). One will be called Waterbar, run by Mark Franz of Farallon, feature floor to ceiling aquaria and sell "exotic fish that has been responsibly harvested or farmed". The other will be called Epic Roasthouse, be run by Jan Birnbaum (once head xchef at Campton Place), and sell grass-fed beefsteaks, Kobe beef and Argentine steaks. Also on-site will be food kiosks selling to go items for people to eat while sitting out along the Embarcadero.

- Eddie DeBartolo (!!) is taking over development rights for the cruise ship terminal project from lend Lease of Australia.

- "Oakland's condo mania is now single-family home frenzy" discusses plans for 816 houses at the Oakland Naval Hospital site and another 61 houses ranging up to $2.5 million on a site bounded by I-580, Lake Chabot Golf Course and Knowland Park.

- UC Berkeley is about to open Stanley Hall, a 285,000 square foot, $162 million building which is to be part of the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research, a partnership between Berkeley, UCSF and UC Santa Cruz. UCSF's contribution to the Institute is Byers Hall, a building at the Mission Bay Campus.

coyotetrickster
Sep 2, 2006, 7:10 PM
A number of interesting articles in this week's SF Business Times and I'll try to post them Sunday evening when they become available on the web site.

Among them:

- Pat Kuleto is breaking ground on a pair of $10 million restaurants in Rincon Park (that's the gravely vacant space on the Embarcadero across from the Gap Building). One will be called Waterbar, run by Mark Franz of Farallon, feature floor to ceiling aquaria and sell "exotic fish that has been responsibly harvested or farmed". The other will be called Epic Roasthouse, be run by Jan Birnbaum (once head xchef at Campton Place), and sell grass-fed beefsteaks, Kobe beef and Argentine steaks. Also on-site will be food kiosks selling to go items for people to eat while sitting out along the Embarcadero.

- Eddie DeBartolo (!!) is taking over development rights for the cruise ship terminal project from lend Lease of Australia.



It'll be truly interesting to see how folks (Read the NIMBY Brigade and the Bay Guardian 'Progressive' types) react to DeBartolo taking over such a crucial development project.

rocketman_95046
Sep 3, 2006, 5:39 AM
Nvidia in talks to move to S.J. tower
DOWNTOWN BUILDING REMAINS VACANT AFTER FOUR YEARS
By Katherine Conrad
Mercury News
John Sobrato confirmed Friday he is negotiating with chip maker Nvidia to move its headquarters from Santa Clara to his downtown San Jose office tower, vacant now for four years.

Negotiations began about four months ago, Sobrato said, because the leading graphics chip maker is outgrowing its 500,000-square-foot Santa Clara campus.

The two sides, however, remain far apart on what could be a billion-dollar deal.

``They need space and we have an existing relationship,'' Sobrato said. ``As you might guess, we've made them a very aggressive proposal. But they have so many less-expensive suburban options.''

Sobrato should know. With 9.5 million square feet of commercial real estate across the South Bay, Sobrato Development is Silicon Valley's largest owner of commercial real estate. Nvidia, which just leased an additional 47,000 square feet across the street from its headquarters, is one of Sobrato's tenants, as are Apple Computer, Advanced Micro Devices, Applied Biosystems and Yahoo.

``We have not made any decisions in regards to new office space. We are evaluating several alternatives,'' said Nvidia spokeswoman Calisa Cole.

Nvidia, which has 3,000 employees worldwide, will be the last maker of stand-alone graphics chips for personal computers once AMD completes its acquisition of Canada's ATI Technologies. The company's chips command the highest prices in the highest-end gaming computers now. Nvidia also designed the RSX, the graphics chip in the upcoming Sony PlayStation 3 video game console.

If the chip maker is looking for a downtown high-rise for its headquarters, the 380,000-square-foot Sobrato building is the only game in town.

Sobrato planned it that way when he broke ground on the 17-story tower in 2000, just as the torrid commercial real estate market had hit its peak. And he remains determined to wait for a single tenant to take the entire building. He said the 7-million-square-foot downtown office market with its 22 percent vacancy rate already has plenty of smaller spaces, including the 60,000 square feet recently vacated by Knight Ridder.

Other large spaces on the scale of the tower on Almaden Boulevard, however, do not exist in downtown San Jose.

``It's been four years since we built that thing. Our timing was awful in early 2001 -- that's when the Internet bubble burst,'' he said. ``That's been part of our problem. And it's an expensive building, but we've been willing to be aggressive on rents.''

Asking rents for full-service, Class A office space downtown are about $2.50 a square foot per month, but Sobrato said, ``We're well below that.''

The developer would not disclose the financial terms of a downtown deal, but a 15-year lease at the current asking rate of $1.95 a square foot a month for the Almaden tower would be valued at almost $1.4 billion. A lease in a suburban location would be about two-thirds that amount.

The developer said he is considering appealing to the city's redevelopment agency to determine whether San Jose could make up the difference.

Nancy Klein, the city's economic development manager in charge of commercial real estate, would not speculate about how the city would react to such a request. While she said it's important to the city both psychologically and financially for the building to have a tenant, she does not believe the city would be willing to subsidize a company's move to downtown when the construction is already complete. In the mid-1990s, San Jose subsidized Adobe Systems' downtown move with a $35 million grant and gave the same amount to the Fairmont Hotel.

Klein acknowledged, however, that the city is eager to see the tower at 488 Almaden Blvd. filled with workers.

``We have long desired to have another corporate entity name to invest in San Jose. That's a huge value to us to have a company along the ilk of an Adobe,'' Klein said.

Once the building is leased, San Jose's downtown office vacancy would drop from 22 percent to about 15 percent, according to Ritchie Commercial. The city would gain about 1,100 employees.

``We would get a whole lot of people in that building and on the street thinking about downtown housing, and we would get retail patrons,'' she said. ``This would make downtown hum and attract other additions to our daytime and nighttime pop.''

If the deal falls through, Sobrato said he will sit tight. He has resisted so far, plus he can afford to hold out, since his company built the $100 million glass-and-granite structure with its own cash.

``We're willing to wait,'' Sobrato said. ``The current thinking is we have the ability to do that and we probably will.''

FourOneFive
Sep 3, 2006, 7:20 AM
If Nvidia is in fact looking for new offices, it's a shame they haven't looked north to San Francisco. I think we can all think of an office tower they could occupy.

ahem...

http://www.rendimage.com/images/full_size/555mission_full.jpg

rocketman_95046
Sep 3, 2006, 10:05 PM
^yea, but if Sobrato is worried about his building being priced to high I doubt that Nvidia is even in Tishman Speyer's ballpark.

BTinSF
Sep 3, 2006, 11:21 PM
Nvidia in talks to move to S.J. tower
DOWNTOWN BUILDING REMAINS VACANT AFTER FOUR YEARS
By Katherine Conrad
Mercury News
John Sobrato confirmed Friday he is negotiating with chip maker Nvidia to move its headquarters from Santa Clara to his downtown San Jose office tower, vacant now for four years.



Here's the building Nvidia is negotiating to move into:

488 Almaden Blvd.
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/PR-AA808_BLUEPR_20060829195959.jpg

BTinSF
Sep 3, 2006, 11:27 PM
If Nvidia is in fact looking for new offices, it's a shame they haven't looked north to San Francisco. I think we can all think of an office tower they could occupy.



Seriously, if they had any desire to be in SF, here's what they could do. The original plan for Foundry Square was to have buildings on all 4 corners at 4th & Howard. Two of the corners are presently built and the 3rd is now going up, the whole building leased to CIBC World Markets. The Southwest corner, however, remains a parking lot. I think the site is already entitled for the 4th building and I bet the developer (Equity Office) would be happy to put up the 4th building if they were sure it would be leased. It would look more or less like this (except each of the 4 buildings were to have different color panels--this one is reddish):

http://www.webcor.com/auto_images/large/foundry1lr1064352820.jpg

BTinSF
Sep 4, 2006, 6:01 PM
The return of Eddie:

DeBartolo back with deal for piers
Former 49ers owner set to take over $400M cruise terminal
San Francisco Business Times - September 1, 2006
by Eric Young

Former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. is poised to take over development of the city's new cruise ship terminal, despite the project's skyrocketing costs.

The current developer, Lend Lease Corp. of Australia, wants out of the project. Lend Lease defaulted in April on a $150,000 payment required by the Port of San Francisco to maintain exclusive negotiating rights on the $400 million deal on Piers 30-32. Port officials gave Lend Lease several months to find another developer interested in buying rights to the project, which includes an office building and a park.

Lend Lease said it decided to drop the project after estimates of retrofit work needed on the piers rose to $80 million from $40 million when it first got involved in the project several years ago. The sharp increase in cost is attributed to higher materials prices and continued deterioration of the piers.

But the higher price tag apparently is not scaring off DeBartolo, who helped turn the 49ers into an NFL powerhouse that won five Super Bowls between 1981 and 1994.

A Lend Lease executive said the company is close to a deal with DeBartolo's real estate company to sell the development rights. "We essentially reached an agreement" with DeBartolo Development LLC, said Paul Osmundson, development director with Lend Lease Corp. Osmundson said Lend Lease has talked with several developers. But talks with DeBartolo, whose interest is "pretty strong," were the most advanced, he said. He declined to provide details of the agreement.

A DeBartolo spokesman did not respond to calls for comment.

With its roots in shopping mall development, DeBartolo Development is also involved in building community centers, mixed-use developments and grocery-anchored centers .

In 1997, DeBartolo turned control of the 49ers over to his sister, Denise DeBartolo York. At the time, federal prosecutors were probing DeBartolo's connection to an alleged extortion plot by the former Louisiana governor involving a riverboat casino license. DeBartolo pleaded guilty in 2000 to failing to report a felony, agreed to pay up to $1 million in fines and was placed on two years' probation.

Rising costs
Commissioners with the Port of San Francisco will meet Sept. 12. It is not yet known whether they will take action on the Piers 30-32 project. A spokeswoman said Port Executive Director Monique Moyer hasn't yet decided whether commissioners would simply be briefed on Lend Lease's efforts to sell development rights, or asked to vote on giving Lend Lease more time to negotiate its exit from the project.

The costs of fixing San Francisco's aging piers has bedeviled other projects.

Consider a proposed development on Piers 27-31. Shorenstein Properties, which wants to build office and recreational space there, estimates that the cost to repair and seismically upgrade the area has increased to between $60 million and $65 million. That is double the amount estimated by a previous developer, Mills Corp., which pulled out of the project amid neighborhood opposition.

At least one other development has been scuttled due to high costs. Last year, the International Museum of Women decided against locating on Pier 26. Board members of the nonprofit said costs of renovation proved higher than they expected.

Ongoing challenge
San Francisco's port, which controls much of the city's waterfront, lacks the money to fix its many rotting piers and other structures in need of repair. So port officials want to line up deals with developers willing to pay for infrastructure improvements before they bring new projects to the waterfront.

The port's interest in a new cruise ship terminal comes as the cruise ship industry in the city is expanding. San Francisco's cruise ship business has doubled since 2000 to about 80 dockings, bringing about $20 million to city coffers annually. A new cruise ship terminal would double the capacity of the current cruise ship terminal at Pier 35.

The development at Piers 30-32 is not just for a cruise terminal. The project also involves a new office complex and a park on Brannan Street. The first phase of the overall project, construction of a condominium tower, was completed this year. Eighty of the 135 condos have been sold.

Eric Young covers government for the San Francisco Business Times.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2006/09/04/story1.html?t=printable

BTinSF
Sep 4, 2006, 6:08 PM
More food on the Embarcadero:

Kuleto sets new table
Bold venture shocks S.F. restaurant vets
San Francisco Business Times - September 1, 2006
by Ryan Tate

Restaurateur Pat Kuleto and his partners have just finalized an unprecedented gamble, putting down $18 million on a new restaurant project in San Francisco.

Kuleto and his investors, including landlord JMA Ventures LLC, about two weeks ago began excavation for two large restaurants at Rincon Park, on the northeastern waterfront across from Gap Inc.'s downtown headquarters. A formal groundbreaking is scheduled next week.

It's the biggest-ticket new restaurant launch anyone can remember, and industry players regard the project with awe. Amid fast-rising labor costs, higher food prices and shrinking profit margins, Kuleto is doubling down on a game more and more top chef-owners are walking away from entirely: the fancy San Francisco restaurant.

"I don't know of any restaurateur who would have the cojones to do that," said Daniel Scherotter, owner and chef at Palio d'Asti in the financial district. "It runs counter to the trend of chefs opening restaurants that are low-labor, downscale. San Francisco has been shrinking in population and the (business customer) hasn't come back to the way it was."

The project has been on the drawing board for four years, following the scuttling of a previous deal on the same Port of San Francisco-owned parcel by restaurater Reed Hearon. Landlord JMA has a 60-year lease with the Port and has been making minimal ground lease payments over the past two years, payments that will grow after the restaurants are built and begin to make money.

Kuleto has a 25-year lease from JMA. JMA will spend about $8 million to construct the buildings, while Kuleto and his investors will spend $10 million on the interiors of the restaurants.

"I think you have to go to Las Vegas to see money spent with that level of aggressiveness," said Ed Levine, CEO of restaurant chain Left Bank and of an accounting company serving 40 Bay Area restaurants. "These are big budgets now, what are they going to be when they actually get done?"

Long history in the city
Kuleto is a 35-year veteran of San Francisco's restaurant scene, both as a designer and an entrepreneur. He has been involved with everything from the Fog City Diner to Postrio, and his own restaurant ventures include highly regarded eateries like Boulevard, Farallon and Jardiniére.

Kuleto is conservatively estimating just over $20 million in revenue for the first year for both Rincon Park restaurants combined.

But each restaurant has a peak capacity of about 200 diners, with the average dinner table expected to turn two-and-a-half times. Then there's the lunch business, where special menus for the business crowd indoors will be supplemented by sales through outdoor food kiosks Kuleto is planning. Entrees are in the $20-35 range, at least at dinner, and Levine said the average check could easily be around $80.

Those factors could push Kuleto's annual sales closer to $30 million. It's not an unrealistic number given how well casual restaurants in the nearby Ferry Building have been doing. Charles Phan has built a $12-million-a-year business there with his 230-seat restaurant Slanted Door. Though most of his street-food entrees cost less than $20, Phan often sees his tables turning three times, even during lunch, plus brisk drinks business.

Other restaurants in the building do anywhere from $1,000 to $3,500 per square foot. For example, Traci Des Jardins' Mijita does more than $1 million per year out of 300 square feet; MarketBar does close to $6 million out of around 3,000 square feet.

Two visions
Kuleto's restaurants are each about 9,000 square feet, and serving pricier fare.

The seafood restaurant, Waterbar, will be run by Mark Franz of Farallon and anchored by floor-to-ceiling aquariums. Kuleto bills it as "the Monterey Bay Aquarium meets Tadich Grill," with exotic fish that has been responsibly harvested or farmed.

The meat restaurant, Epic Roasthouse, will be run by Jan Birnbaun, once head chef at Campton Place. Kuleto said dishes would include grass-fed beef steaks, Kobe beef and Argentine steak cuts. The upstairs bar is named Quiver, a nod to the nearby public art installation.

A large plaza will separate the two restaurants and Rincon Park will surround them.

"We see these as timeless, forever restaurants," Kuleto said. "I sort of looked at the crystal ball and tried to pick two things I felt would be an asset to the city."

Kuleto also wanted the restaurants to be completely distinct from one another -- and to not compete with his other restarants like Farallon or, particularly, Boulevard, which is just three blocks away.

Restaurant industry insiders said Kuleto's biggest problem won't be winning diners from competitors but controlling costs and earning enough on each check to turn a profit. Labor costs have spiked in restaurants thanks to San Francisco's minumum wage increase, which went into effect in 2004 and has been climbing each year since. Unlike New York and other states, California does not allow restaurants to credit tips toward workers' minimum wages, keeping costs for restaurant owners especially high.

Restaurateurs with more than 20 workers also face city-mandated health care spending for health care coverage starting at $1.06 per worker per hour. A ballot proposal would, if passed, also require restaurants and other businesses to offer each worker nine sick days per year, or six if they have less than 10 workers.

"People from other areas hear so much negativity about San Francisco, they don't want to open heavily capitalized restaurants in the area," said Kevin Westlye, head of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, which just awarded Kuleto a lifetime achievement award. "So we celebrate when a local restaurateur wants to make an investment."

Kuleto said the scale of the new venture may be more of an asset than a liability.

"The restaurant industry is, unfortunately, being caught in the crossfire," Kuleto said of the city legislation. "The margins, frankly are somewhat smaller than they used to be, and you have to do pretty impressive volume, or you're dead."

Ryan Tate covers hospitality for the San Francisco Business Times.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2006/09/04/story2.html?t=printable

BTinSF
Sep 4, 2006, 6:13 PM
Houses in Oakland:

Oakland's condo mania is now single-family home frenzy
San Francisco Business Times - September 1, 2006
by Ryan Tate

After eight years of high-density, downtown condominium development, Oakland is seeing a return to single-family home construction.

The countertrend began with SunCal Cos.' plan for 816 homes, some in a stand-alone configuration, at the site of the former Oak Knoll naval hospital in the Oakland Hills. SunCal bought the 167-acre site for close to $101 million in November.

Now another landowner is peddling his own plan for 67 acres in the hills. Edward Patmont and his Chabot Dunsmuir LP would construct 61 single-family homes ranging from $900,000 to $2.5 million. They range in size from 2,100 to 4,610 square feet. The land is bounded by Interstate 580, Lake Chabot Golf Course and Knowland Park.

The development needs city approval for a subdivision of legal lots but falls within density allowed by existing zoning as well as allowed uses under the city's general plan.

The land and planned development, at 3421 Malcolm Ave., is for sale at $8.5 million through Gary Robinson of Coldwell Banker.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2006/09/04/newscolumn6.html?t=printable

BTinSF
Sep 4, 2006, 6:21 PM
New biomedical research institute going up at UC Berkeley and Mission Bay:

Cal's nano-bio center about to open its doors
San Francisco Business Times - September 1, 2006
by Sarah Duxbury

The brave new world is almost here.

In January 2007, Berkeley's Stanley Hall is scheduled to open. The 285,000-square-foot, $162 million biosciences and bioengineering facility is Berkeley's contribution to QB3, the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research -- a partnership between the University of California, Berkeley; UCSF; and UC Santa Cruz.

Stanley is Berkeley's answer to Byers Hall, UCSF's QB3 home in Mission Bay. It will house about 40 research labs and up to 10 specialized core research support facilities like the Biomolecular Nanotechnology Center, as well as administrative offices and the bioengineering department.

QB3 is one of four California Institutes for Science and Innovation approved by then-Gov. Gray Davis to encourage scientists from a range of disciplines to collaborate and apply quantitative sciences like chemistry and engineering to biomedical sciences. The goal of the QB3 institute is to speed technology transfer to private industry.

The institute has an industrial advisory board of close to 20 private sector folks, each of whom pays an annual membership fee. QB3 doesn't do any proprietary work for these companies, though they do have ground-floor access to the research being conducted within the ivory tower, said Clayton Heathcock, chief scientist of QB3 Berkeley.

According to Heathcock, Berkeley and UCSF will each account for 40 percent of QB3's research and budget. At Berkeley, research will build on its core strengths of engineering and the physical sciences. Santa Cruz, known for its engineering and math faculty, will focus its research in those areas while UCSF's work will center around medicine.

Lab on a chip
Berkeley's Biomolecular Nano technology Center is where biology and nanotechnology collide. It will occupy 11,000 square feet of Stanley Hall and do work that has strong chances of transferring to the private sector.

Like its Silicon Valley forebears, BNC will manufacture chips. These, however, are designed for biochemical and medical applications, like disease detection at the cellular level, something that is currently impossible.

"It's using the technology of Silicon Valley to make tiny reactors, a lab on a chip, where we can carry out chemical analysis and biochemical analysis on chips like in your cell phone or computer," Heathcock said.

The engineers in the center will know how to design and make such chips; the biologists will know how to use them.

For example, the work could include tracking how a protein changes in a cell, thereby allowing scientists to detect cancer years before they can through existing methods.

"Now, technicians are looking at cancer cells, which means you already have cancer and you're counting it," said Luke Lee, director of the BNC. "Instead, can you develop a sensor to detect early conditions of cancer patients a few years before, so you can get preventive treatment?"

All this happens at the biomolecular level, and Lee said it has huge implications in terms of the future of preventive and personalized medicine. Technology coming out of BNC could be used to build home diagnostic systems that are less expensive and faster than current medical techniques.

Lee said that his lab will be the first that is custom-designed to do this kind of research.

Applied Biosystems, Intel and Samsung are some of the companies that, before the center has even opened, BNC is talking to.

Lee is also turning to industry to raise the $10 million he needs to equip his lab. Fundraising is underway. Lee declined to say how much he has already raised, but said that he needs at least $6 million to get the center running.

Lee is not alone in raising money to outfit his lab.

Davis approved QB3's mandate and provided sufficient funds to build its buildings on the three campuses, but not to operate them, Heathcock said. The state provdes just $1 million to run Stanley Hall, and Heathcock estimates the actual cost will reach $4 million annually. An anonymous donor has pledged $1 million a year; the school must fundraise for the other $2 million it needs each year.

Collaborative power
QB3 and Stanley Hall were founded on the principle of multi-disciplinary collaboration.

"We're seeing a new kind of scientist being born ... becoming a generalist instead of a specialist," Heathcock said. "That's what this new building is about, bringing the different disciplines together again."

The same collaboration is happening on a smaller scale in the BNC.

BNC will serve more than 30 faculty from the departments of molecular and cell biology, chemistry, physics, bioengineering, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. Over 100 Ph.D. students will also work there.

"We're not only in the process of creating the basic science and engineering tools to lay the foundation of a new industry, but also train the people who will be the workers in that industry," Heathcock said.

And Heathcock and Lee both have high hopes that biomolecular nanotechnology is a nascent industry.

"I think this nanobiology, which is at the intersection of Silicon Valley and the Bay Area biotech alley, can become its own industry. It can spawn new companies just like Silicon Valley and the biotech community have," Heathcock said. "When they invented the integrated circuit chip, they were not sure what they would use them for. We're at the same juncture for the bionanotechnology area."

Sarah Duxbury is a staff writer for the San Francisco Business Times.

http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2006/09/04/focus4.html?t=printable

rocketman_95046
Sep 6, 2006, 3:44 AM
Small sports arena possible addition to Candlestick Point development
Phillip Matier & Andrew Ross

Wednesday, September 6, 2006
The San Francisco 49ers and their building partners are wrapping up a long-awaited megaplan for a new, 68,000-seat stadium at Candlestick Point -- as well as a possible last-minute addition, a 12,000- seat arena.

"It is part of the uses being considered,'' said Adam Alberti, spokesman for Lennar Corp., which is handling a development that the 49ers also envision including housing, stores and a hotel.

Chances are slim that an arena with 12,000 seats would be big enough to attract the Golden State Warriors basketball team or any other major sports franchise. The Oakland Arena, where the Warriors play, has 20,000 seats, and San Jose's HP Pavilion holds 17,000 for the Sharks hockey team. Even the ancient Cow Palace in neighboring Daly City has a bigger capacity than the Niners' arena would.

But Lennar thinks a midsize venue could be just the ticket for second-tier sports such as indoor soccer and arena football, along with big-name musical acts and other entertainment.

The idea is to bring people out to Candlestick Point on more than just the 10 days or so per year that the Niners play there and to put cars into a massive garage that the team would build.

In other words, the idea is to make money year-round.

In addition, Lennar is negotiating with Forest City Enterprises -- builder of the downtown Bloomingdale's development -- to develop the retail portions of the Candlestick Point project.

"No doubt there is going to be a significant commercial partner in this venture, and Forest City would be a great addition and capable partner, but no agreements are in place,'' Alberti said.

Lisa Lang, spokeswoman for the 49ers, would say only that the team was awaiting a final feasibility study from Lennar. "The hope is we are close,'' she said.

But she cautioned that "there are still some areas that we have to work through, and we are waiting for these issues to be resolved.''

Lang also put some distance between the team and the arena scheme, saying it's "just an idea, and it isn't really connected to the Niners.''

But she did not rule out the possibility that the team could lease the arena if Niners owners John and Denise York exercise their rights to an Arena Football League team -- something on which the couple have put a down payment.

Word of the arena bubbled up when Lennar added the idea to a poll it commissioned to test the Candlestick plan with San Francisco voters.

In addition to the arena, the plan outlined in the poll included a 68,000-seat football stadium, 6,000 units of housing, and open space and parks -- all to be "privately financed," with an eye toward using the sports venues for the 2016 Olympics, should San Francisco win the Games.

If the Games come here, the stadium would temporarily be expanded to 75,000 to 80,000 seats -- the minimum required to host the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as track-and-field events.

While he declined to give details, Alberti said the poll of more than 400 registered voters was "quite encouraging for the land plan and the private financing of the stadium.''

Given that public land would be involved in the deal, however, the exact meaning of "privately financed" is open to interpretation.

Lang said the Yorks were ready to put "hundreds of millions'' of their own money into the deal. Any tax increment financing, which allows a public agency to issue bonds to help finance development and to repay the debt with new real estate taxes generated by the growth, would go toward infrastructure improvements in the area, Lang said.

The Niners are also counting on the city providing land for the stadium and development rights to surrounding Candlestick Point -- terms that voters approved in 1997 as part of a now-discarded stadium-mall deal.

Michael Cohen, who has been helping direct the development from the mayor's office, said the Niners' plan would satisfy the city's goals of creating jobs in the Bayview, adding affordable housing and providing a "tremendous" waterfront park.

As for signs that the housing market is starting to weaken -- even across the channel at the old Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, where Lennar is developing 1,600 units of housing -- Cohen insisted that wasn't a factor.

"The notion that the economics won't support these projects is just wrong,'' Cohen said, noting that the 6,000 units of housing in the Niners' project would be phased in over several years.

Testing the voters' appetite was one of the last pieces of business before the Niners and Lennar go public with their plan, which could be any day now.

"People wanted to feel comfortable about what they were undertaking before they ran off and showed it to the world,'' Lennar spokesman Alberti said.

However, he emphasized, "It's a draft plan, and it's subject to change.''

Mayor Gavin Newsom has said that any revision of the 1997 stadium-mall plan would probably have to go back to the voters, but our sources say the 49ers still hope to avoid that.

"We need to look at the final proposal and make a determination at that point,'' Lang said.

Page B - 1

FourOneFive
Sep 6, 2006, 4:00 AM
right on! now we won't have to shelp to oakland or san jose to see big time musical acts! let's hope they finish it before madonna retires. i want to see her live on SAN FRANCISCO soil. ;) :D

San Frangelino
Sep 6, 2006, 4:38 AM
In addition to the arena, the plan outlined in the poll included a 68,000-seat football stadium, 6,000 units of housing, and open space and parks -- all to be "privately financed,"

Correct me if I am wrong but that would make the residential component equal in size to Mission Bay's at 6,000 units final build out? Not too bad at all, hopefully it will be good, dense and well planned. Does anyone know what the unit count and Hunter's Point is to be at final Build out?

BTinSF
Sep 6, 2006, 5:25 AM
right on! now we won't have to shelp to oakland or san jose to see big time musical acts! let's hope they finish it before madonna retires. i want to see her live on SAN FRANCISCO soil. ;) :D

Naw. You'll have to schlep to Candlestick Point--with no public transportation of significance. That thing should have been built across McCovey Cove from AT&T Park where it was talked about for so long.

J Church
Sep 6, 2006, 5:34 AM
BT is right. At least the Coliseum is by BART.

rocketman_95046
Sep 6, 2006, 5:42 AM
BT is right. At least the Coliseum is by BART.

and the Shark Tank in SJ is next to Caltrain, and VTA.

tuy
Sep 6, 2006, 6:03 AM
And don't forget all the Commercials running about taking Capitol Corridor to the Coliseum.

EastBayHardCore
Sep 6, 2006, 6:05 AM
How many trains per day actually stop at the Coliseum? I can't imagine anyone would brave Amtrak to or from an A's game.

SFBoy
Sep 6, 2006, 6:11 AM
I'll have no problem getting to the arena in my car. But they really should go for 20,000 to get the Warriors back in the city.

dimondpark
Sep 6, 2006, 6:40 AM
Houses in Oakland:


Oakland's condo mania is now single-family home frenzy
San Francisco Business Times - September 1, 2006
by Ryan Tate

After eight years of high-density, downtown condominium development, Oakland is seeing a return to single-family home construction.

The countertrend began with SunCal Cos.' plan for 816 homes, some in a stand-alone configuration, at the site of the former Oak Knoll naval hospital in the Oakland Hills. SunCal bought the 167-acre site for close to $101 million in November.

Now another landowner is peddling his own plan for 67 acres in the hills. Edward Patmont and his Chabot Dunsmuir LP would construct 61 single-family homes ranging from $900,000 to $2.5 million. They range in size from 2,100 to 4,610 square feet. The land is bounded by Interstate 580, Lake Chabot Golf Course and Knowland Park.

The development needs city approval for a subdivision of legal lots but falls within density allowed by existing zoning as well as allowed uses under the city's general plan.

The land and planned development, at 3421 Malcolm Ave., is for sale at $8.5 million through Gary Robinson of Coldwell Banker.

my friend a prominent realtor in that particular area expects this development to become the bay area's black Bel Air. If it'll keep some wealthy blacks considering Elk Grove and Antioch in The Town-then thank goodness!:tup:

dimondpark
Sep 6, 2006, 5:14 PM
Fox Theater billed as key to new downtown area
Oakland takes up restoration of 1928 theater in attempt to create a downtown arts district
By Chris Metinko
STAFF WRITER

Nearly 80 years after its doors first opened, city officials are hoping the rebirth of the long-silent Fox Oakland Theater will be a key to sparking the development of a new arts and theater district downtown.

The Oakland City Council unanimously approved the $53 million rehabilitation plan for the theater late last month and construction is on schedule to begin in September. The renovation plan includes a theater, space for the Oakland School for the Arts and the development of a new bar and restaurant on the theater's ground floor.

"We're very excited about this," said Phil Tagami, managing general partner of California Commercial Investments, who is leading the rehabilitation project. "When I first saw this place, my first thought was 'Let's fix this up.'"

Tagami has experience restoring old buildings -- his résumé includes redoing the Rotunda Building in downtown Oakland -- and it's hoped this project also will breathe life back into the city's downtown.

The Oakland Redevelopment Agency purchased the Fox for $3 million in 1996 with the intention of restoring the historic building and trying to encourage investment in the city's Uptown district. While efforts to rehabilitate the Fox moved slowly, the neighborhood has seen other development, including construction of 655 apartments by the firm Forest City Inc. next to the theater. It's hoped the Fox will help contribute to the night life in the area and create an arts district downtown has lacked.

"It's very fortunate that Oakland still has the Fox," said Daniel Vanderpriem, the redevelopment agency's director. "In 1963, the Fox Theater in San Francisco was demolished. That was a terrible mistake. It's good fortune Oakland was able to hold onto its Fox Theater."

A large portion of the project will be paid for by a $25.5 million loan from the Oakland Redevelopment Agency -- money that will be raised mainly through issuing bonds -- with other money coming from a combination of tax credits and grants.

The redevelopment agency already had spent more than $6.5 million in costs related to the project, including a much needed $1 million roof replacement in 1999.

"There was mold at least an inch thick in some areas," Tagami said. "It needed some work."

The leaky roof and grimy interior represented quite a fall from grace for the old theater. The Fox opened in 1928 -- three years before the Paramount in downtown Oakland -- and operated as a first-run movie house until 1962. After that, theater ownership changed hands several times, as did the movie house's direction. For a few months in 1962, the theater showed adult-themed movies, and in 1965 the Fox closed for the first of what would be many times. By 1975, the city's public works agency wanted to demolish the shuttered theater to make room for a parking lot, but the proposal lost steam and in 1979 the theater was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

After that, the theater played host to only a few special events and eventually closed permanently in 1984.

Tagami is hoping to reopen the doors in September 2008, when the theater is expected to make its triumphed return to the city's arts stage.

Seating in the theater will be movable, allowing for as few as 500 people and as many as 2,300. The project also includes remaking the second and third floors of the building that wrap around the theater for use by the Oakland School for the Arts. The ground floor is planned to have restaurant/retail space opening both to the street and to the interior lobby of the theater. The theater will be managed by Another Planet Entertainment, which also runs the Greek Theatre in Berkeley.

The plans seem to please those who have been fighting for years for the Fox to take what they feel is its rightful place as one of the city's crown jewels in the Uptown district.

"I think this (plan) makes a lot of sense," said Patricia Dedekian, a founding member of the Friends of the Oakland Fox, a group that has been trying to save the theater. "I think the Uptown district needs the Fox. There are a lot of interesting things happening there with new restaurants and things, and with the Paramount and now the Fox you could have a thriving arts and entertainment district."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reach Chris Metinko at 510-763-5418 or cmetinko@cctimes.com.

tuy
Sep 6, 2006, 5:35 PM
double post...

tuy
Sep 6, 2006, 5:48 PM
How many trains per day actually stop at the Coliseum? I can't imagine anyone would brave Amtrak to or from an A's game.

The newest schedule now has 9 Eastbound and 11 Westbound weekday trains daily that either begin, end or make a stop at the Coliseum station. However, the last Eastbound train of the day leaves at 8:10 pm, so it is a little late for a night game. Day games however, it would work.

They promote going to A's games on the Capitol Corridor website.

http://www.capitolcorridor.org/promotions/oakland_athletics.php

Maybe they run a late special train on game days, but I didn't see any indication that they do.

BTinSF
Sep 6, 2006, 6:06 PM
my friend a prominent realtor in that particular area expects this development to become the bay area's black Bel Air. If it'll keep some wealthy blacks considering Elk Grove and Antioch in The Town-then thank goodness!:tup:

With Piedmont and Montclair in existence for a very long time, why would this development make such a difference? I'm not saying it wouldn't; just wondering.

dimondpark
Sep 6, 2006, 10:00 PM
Only a small number of wealthy blacks live in Piedmont or Montclair-the majority overwhelmingly live further east along 580 around and above the eastern hill areas. As you may know, California-especially the coast, is losing blacks at a steady pace. If these projects have the ability to attract upper class blacks who might otherwise move to the central valley or out of state-then Im all for it.

FourOneFive
Sep 7, 2006, 9:53 AM
from today's san francisco examiner:

Condos planned north of zoo

Melanie Carroll, The Examiner
Sep 7, 2006 2:00 AM (44 mins ago)
Current rank: # 34 of 6,984 articles

SAN FRANCISCO - Condominiums proposed for construction just north of the San Francisco Zoo will offer views of the Pacific Ocean, but those views won’t come to fruition before the demolition of three buildings where a motel, surf shop and café make their homes.

The proposal for the 2800 block of Sloat Boulevard, between 46th and 47th avenues, calls for three new mixed-use five-story buildings standing 60 feet, dozens of condominiums and 26,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

Eighty-two off-street parking spots are also in the blueprints.

“That whole block is kind of decrepit,” said Buffy Maguire, co-owner of the Java Beach Café on La Playa and Judah streets. “We really are due for revitalization. We are trying to revitalize our little nook.”

Plans call for tearing down three buildings totaling 21,000 square feet along with the existing 30-space parking lot. The developer aims to provide space for two of his commercial tenants, city planner Susan Mickelsen said. John’s Ocean Beach Café and the Aqua Surf Shop are expected to get retail space in the new development.

The café has been open for nearly three decades and the rent is affordable, said Tony Batshon, the son of the café’s namesake.

Batshon said the future of the café is unknown since it is unclear what the rent will be in the new building.

“The issue is how much” will it cost to stay, he said. “Anything that’s overpriced would have to push us out.”

The plan has yet to go through the public approval process. The soonest demolition could take place is in about a year, Mickelsen said.

Aqua Surf Shop intends to stay near Ocean Beach, co-owner Aleks Petrovich said. But he was reluctant to discuss further details since he doesn’t want his competition to know his plans.

The third tenant, Robert’s At The Beach Motel, won’t be given a chance to relocate into the new space.

Owner-manager Andy Patel said he’s not sure where he will move once he has to leave his oceanside motel.

“I want to stay in the hotel business,” Patel said. “I may look in another city or state.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

overall, this looks like a great project. i was never a fan of that ugly motel. it's a shame we couldn't go taller on that lot though. it wouldn't block any views, it's close to transit (the 18, 23, and L-Taraval are right outside), and it's on an "edge", so it wouldn't be a huge monstrosity sticking out of the middle of the neighborhood. the urban design plan of the 1960s once called for buildings at tall as 160' for this site. maybe it's something we should revist? :yes:

coyotetrickster
Sep 7, 2006, 2:46 PM
from today's san francisco examiner:

Condos planned north of zoo

Melanie Carroll, The Examiner
Sep 7, 2006 2:00 AM (44 mins ago)
Current rank: # 34 of 6,984 articles

SAN FRANCISCO - Condominiums proposed for construction just north of the San Francisco Zoo will offer views of the Pacific Ocean, but those views won’t come to fruition before the demolition of three buildings where a motel, surf shop and café make their homes.

The proposal for the 2800 block of Sloat Boulevard, between 46th and 47th avenues, calls for three new mixed-use five-story buildings standing 60 feet, dozens of condominiums and 26,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

Eighty-two off-street parking spots are also in the blueprints.

“That whole block is kind of decrepit,” said Buffy Maguire, co-owner of the Java Beach Café on La Playa and Judah streets. “We really are due for revitalization. We are trying to revitalize our little nook.”

Plans call for tearing down three buildings totaling 21,000 square feet along with the existing 30-space parking lot. The developer aims to provide space for two of his commercial tenants, city planner Susan Mickelsen said. John’s Ocean Beach Café and the Aqua Surf Shop are expected to get retail space in the new development.

The café has been open for nearly three decades and the rent is affordable, said Tony Batshon, the son of the café’s namesake.

Batshon said the future of the café is unknown since it is unclear what the rent will be in the new building.

“The issue is how much” will it cost to stay, he said. “Anything that’s overpriced would have to push us out.”

The plan has yet to go through the public approval process. The soonest demolition could take place is in about a year, Mickelsen said.

Aqua Surf Shop intends to stay near Ocean Beach, co-owner Aleks Petrovich said. But he was reluctant to discuss further details since he doesn’t want his competition to know his plans.

The third tenant, Robert’s At The Beach Motel, won’t be given a chance to relocate into the new space.

Owner-manager Andy Patel said he’s not sure where he will move once he has to leave his oceanside motel.

“I want to stay in the hotel business,” Patel said. “I may look in another city or state.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

overall, this looks like a great project. i was never a fan of that ugly motel. it's a shame we couldn't go taller on that lot though. it wouldn't block any views, it's close to transit (the 18, 23, and L-Taraval are right outside), and it's on an "edge", so it wouldn't be a huge monstrosity sticking out of the middle of the neighborhood. the urban design plan of the 1960s once called for buildings at tall as 160' for this site. maybe it's something we should revist? :yes:


Yes, that area is full of ugly....

J Church
Sep 7, 2006, 4:12 PM
I don't know, I'm surprised the neighbors aren't already apoplectic about 60' by the beach. Is there anything taller out there? The condos where Playland used to be out at the end of the Richmond, by the Cliff House--four stories?

dimond, that's an interesting piece of information.

coyotetrickster
Sep 7, 2006, 6:19 PM
I don't know, I'm surprised the neighbors aren't already apoplectic about 60' by the beach. Is there anything taller out there? The condos where Playland used to be out at the end of the Richmond, by the Cliff House--four stories?

dimond, that's an interesting piece of information.


A) The plot is two streets east of the Great Highway. There are already several 35/40' foot buildings on the access street parallel to the highway, so there is not a lot of view blockage. Plus, the housing stock in the immediate vicinity is pretty run down (not proof of non-owner occupancy in this city, but anything would beat the craptastic structures there already.

rocketman_95046
Sep 8, 2006, 6:47 AM
SJ greater downtown infill continues... 1,904 units under construction...2,925 units in planning/permit phase.

The SJ Redevelopment Agency has a great monthly update.

http://www.sjredevelopment.org/monthlyReports/housing.pdf

I know we all make fun of SJ from time to time. but SJ was ranked as one of the best in the Bay Area to promote infill and prevent sprawl.

dimondpark
Sep 8, 2006, 12:55 PM
These people are unbelievable

REFERENDUM
Oakland throws out Oak-to-9th signatures
Christopher Heredia, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, September 7, 2006

A referendum to block Oakland's largest housing development in decades should be invalidated because organizers failed to provide accurate information when they approached potential voters, Oakland City Attorney John Russo said Wednesday.

Russo said the signature gatherers -- among them members of the Oakland Heritage Alliance, the League of Women Voters of Oakland and the Sierra Club -- failed to present to voters with the final ordinance approving the 3,100-unit Oak-to-Ninth project, which was adopted by the City Council on July 18.

They also did not include attachments delineating public access to some 30 acres of open space associated with the 64-acre project along Oakland's estuary. Petition gatherers said they opposed the project as approved by the council for, among other reasons, a lack of open space.

The referendum committee submitted 25,000 signatures Aug. 17 seeking to either have the council overturn its approval of the project or put Oak-to-Ninth before voters.

Russo directed Oakland's city clerk to toss out the referendum once the Alameda County registrar of voters finishes validating signatures later this month.

"Under state law, it was not done properly," Russo said. "I don't know whether it was their intent or by inadvertence. It doesn't matter."

Stuart Flashman, an attorney for the referendum committee, said the group will appeal Russo's decision and is confident the referendum will pass muster in court. Flashman said the group went to great lengths to verify with the city clerk that it had all the documentation needed to go forward with its drive.

Russo said that argument is moot because state law supports the public's right to know the full facts of any law being petitioned.

E-mail Christopher Heredia at cheredia@sfchronicle.com
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/07/BAG8LL0HK714.DTL

J Church
Sep 8, 2006, 4:07 PM
False petitioning is a serious problem. A woman came up to me last week asking me to help "stop the city from taking away homes in the Bayview."

craeg
Sep 8, 2006, 4:46 PM
I'm surprised to hear that this is even an issue. I dont think I have ever talked with a signature gatherer in SF who represented the facts accurately.

J Church
Sep 8, 2006, 6:41 PM
Today's Biz Times reports that 222 19th St.:

http://sfcityscape.com/forum/lake_merritt_tower.jpg

... has grown 10 stories, to 420'.

You might not be able to read about in the Times, but you can read NIMBYs whining about it (and a few folks fighting back) here:

http://grandlakeguardian.org/index.php/schiff/2006/09/02/40_story_skyscraper_planned_at_lake

A couple of interesting twists in the Times story. One, because it's a controversial site, there may be the possibility of a land swap for something closer to the downtown core. And two, the developer describes it as "an obelisk ... Oakland's answer to the Transamerica building." Unless it's been redesigned, that sure doesn't seem to describe the structure rendered above.

Anyway, this would be 370 condos with no retail.

dimondpark
Sep 8, 2006, 6:55 PM
Isnt the building in that rendering closer to 600'? How tight would that be?

About swapping locations, I think it would go nicely on Broadway@11th or Broadway@17th-but anywhere is nice, beggars cant be choosers.

J Church
Sep 8, 2006, 7:14 PM
No, that's the 318' version. I think. It always seemed a bit tall, though.

I doubt the swap will happen. The idea was raised by a neighborhoodie opposed to the project. But she acknowledged it would be difficult to stop. Nancy Nadel doesn't like it, but what else is new. For buyers, and by extension for the developer--what a location.

dimondpark
Sep 8, 2006, 7:23 PM
Nancy Nadel? That's not even her district is it?

J Church
Sep 8, 2006, 7:28 PM
Has that ever stopped her?

J Church
Sep 8, 2006, 7:44 PM
Important point here: The project is no longer on the architect website. I suspect it may in fact have been redesigned.

It is a sensitive site and those are some beautiful old buildings right next door. It would be a shame for something highly visible yet ordinary to be built there.

San Frangelino
Sep 8, 2006, 8:54 PM
Glad to hear some news on the building, when I noticed it wasnt on the architects site, I thought possibly the entire project was canceled. At its current design it sort of reminds me of the semi-new Shaw Tower on Vancouvers waterfront. Even this image on the oak to 9th website has a faint resemblance to the site of 222 19th St Tower on Lake Merrit... dont you think?

http://www.oakto9th.com/images/open7l.jpg

dimondpark
Sep 8, 2006, 10:12 PM
True about Nadel. Isnt there some crack house in West Oakland she should be attending to?

Thanks for the update. Let's hope its as tall as it looks in the pictures*drools*

BTinSF
Sep 8, 2006, 11:08 PM
You might not be able to read about in the Times,

If you wait until Sunday evening or Monday morning you will be able to.;)

BTinSF
Sep 8, 2006, 11:12 PM
Spent a few minutes today watching them pour the ground (1st) floor at The Millenium Tower.

And The Infinity now has lots of emerald green glass curtain wall in place. I think it's really going to look a lot nicer than the rendering. It's worth going by to take a look.

San Frangelino
Sep 9, 2006, 3:47 PM
Does anyone have any information on the current status of this Oakland Tower?

23rd AND VALDEZ
Description: Luxury Urban High-Rise
Location: Oakland, CA
Developer: Pacific Properties
Homes: 237
http://www.pmateam.com/communities/23rd_valdez.htm

http://www.pmateam.com/im/communities/23rd_valdez.jpg

dimondpark
Sep 12, 2006, 4:15 PM
I dont know, but Peter Wang(the author mistakenly wrote "Wong") apparently is still planning his 63-story tower on Broadway!-GO TOWN:D At least that's what this article says-interesting this penthouse mania that seems to be sweeping the city

S.F. penthouses offer rooms with a view
Wave of luxury condo towers means hot addresses moving skyward

San Francisco Business Times - September 8, 2006by Steve Ginsberg

When real estate mogul Victor MacFarlane bought all three units atop the St. Regis Hotel late last year, it triggered a new era of penthouse buying and living in San Francisco.

Spectacular penthouses have been a staple of New York's and Chicago's residential markets for decades, but are a recent phenomenon in San Francisco. Before MacFarlane's record-smashing $30 million purchase on the 40th floor, anything over $10 million or $1,000-a-square-foot was considered exorbitant, but the St. Regis deal set a new standard. The bar could be raised even higher over the coming decade as luxury condo towers soar over 40 stories in new projects south of Market Street. These buildings will reshape San Francisco's skyline and their competing rooftop palaces are likely to usher in a new era in penthouse design and cost.


Despite the downturn in the housing market, the penthouse market has held up because so few of them exist and they attract rich people who aren't as affected by rising mortgage rates as most buyers.

The prestige and snob appeal of owning the top floor of a signature building is part of a buyer's incentive. Sweeping bay and city views are the aesthetic draws, but there are also more practical advantages in opting for a penthouse. Space is a consideration, especially in San Francisco where it's difficult to find three-bedroom condos. Even though most penthouse buyers are not moving in with large families, the extra bedroom is often converted to a home office. A penthouse's unique floor plan, its upgrades and limited supply add to its resale value. Both new and resale penthouses that come on the market often sell before less expensive units on lower floors, sales agents said.

Range of offerings
For developers, a quick sale of a penthouse unit can have a trickle down effect.

"At the Watermark we sold a penthouse for between $2 million and $3 million and it established a great price point for the rest of the building. It sets the benchmark," said Alan Mark, whose the Mark Co. is a consultant and marketer for upscale condo projects, including the Infinity and the Brannan in San Francisco. In Santa Clara County, Mark was involved in several $4 million rooftop villa sales at Santana Row, an upscale retail and residential development.

At 15,000 square feet, MacFarlane's deal was extraordinary, and by far at the top end of the trend, but penthouses can be bought for as little as $650,000 in smaller developments in the East Bay. The Lansing in San Francisco's SoMa offers spectacular city views from outdoor roof decks for $1.6 million.

Tishman Speyer's Infinity project on Folsom street recently sold a unit on the 37th floor for over $5 million, more than double the $2 million the luxury 3,365-square-foot units on the top 10 floors start at. Another unit still available on the 37th floor will likely fetch over $5 million. Perks for Infinity's penthouse buyers include an extra parking space, jets in the oversized tubs and 10-foot ceilings instead of the standard nine feet. The project is now under construction and a contiguous 42-story tower will be built in the future. The project's architect, Miami's Arquitectonica, has been used to promote the project. Arquitectonica's projects include the Westin New York and the opera house in Dijon, France.

Buyer's perspective
Penthouses are bringing a new level of luxury to the city and neighborhoods where they're located are increasingly vibrant. For the first time in San Francisco, they are also luring some high-end buyers away from mansions in the suburbs.

MacFarlane is a good example. His purchase of three penthouses makes a lot of sense to anyone who has followed his career. He has been a champion of urban renewal through his San Francisco-based MacFarlane Partners, building mixed-use projects that stretch from the Bay Area to Washington D.C. With his St. Regis purchase, he melded career with lifestyle. For years MacFarlane has preached the benefits of urban renewal while living in Hillsborough. He plans to move into the St. Regis when his shell is built out.

"We like what has been happening and is going to happen around there (the Yerba Buena neighborhood). The museums, restaurants and retail etc. and, of course, the services and quality of the St. Regis," MacFarlane wrote in an email.

MacFarlane didn't specify how he would build it out. "Ask me again when we finish building it out," he said.


While MacFarlane wants to build out his property, other buyers are enticed with promises of upgraded finishes.

Dr. Michael Hornberg and his partner Chip Brian Jr. bought a penthouse with upgraded cabinetry, a fireplace and sub-zero refrigerator. Other penthouse buyers have been lured with hardwood floors, expensive curtains and wine refrigerators.

Hornberg and Brian canvassed the penthouse market before settling on their $1.4 million, 1,400-square-foot unit atop the Lansing. With spectacular city views and a large patio, the couple was also attracted to the convenient downtown location, and the posh upgrades. The Lansing is built on bedrock and its seismic stability was a factor. Ultimately, it was the view that won over Hornberg.

"I lived in Twin Peaks before and had a fabulous view. I came from Chicago and always had a water view so this was important for me. You can't get the view we have on a lower floor," he said. "If we eventually resell, our unique floor plan will be a big advantage."

Penthouse pioneering
In Oakland, a recent burst of highrise proposals downtown is expected to result in a slew of new penthouses .

Top-shelf pads are expected not only in condominiums, like Las Vegas-based Molasky Pacific's 15-story tower near Lake Merritt, but also in rental apartment buildings, in particular Essex Property Trust's 100 Grand, which will rise 22 stories. Penthouse units are also a key feature of most development options Peter Wong is considering for his proposed 63-story tower at 1930 Broadway.

Oakland's existing towers along Lake Merritt include penthouses. Oakland Warriors basketball player Andris Biedrins, 19, spent $1.2 million for a penthouse at the Essex last year.

Building penthouses wasn't always a big advantage. Developer Rick Holliday was among the local pioneers when he built three penthouses atop his Fourth and Brannan streets project in 1988.

"We were pioneers and we ended up with arrows in our back when we sold them as shells. We ended up having to redo the roof twice. It was also a hassle when the tenants below the penthouses complained about the construction," Holliday said.

Holliday has gone on to build penthouses in Emeryville, but is not doing penthouses in his latest West Oakland development because it's higher risk in a new neighborhood, he said.

Today's penthouses are seldom built as shells, but rather as finished products. Major projects such as the Beacon, Infinity and Lansing have in-house design centers to help buyers pick out floors, lighting and other amenities.

"Many of our clients have hit 50 and have gone through renovating at least one house. They know it can take two to three years, but with their penthouse they want to move in the day they close," Mark said.

New York-based developer John Tashjian of Centurion Real Estate Partners likes the penthouse concept so much that he bought one himself, at his own Beacon project. Although he has yet to move into the unit, Tashjian is convinced the penthouse has selling power. Of the Beacon's 20 upper-floor units, just three are left and those that sold have generated $19 million.

"In the first week of sales, 25 percent of the penthouses sold because we had a very appealing price that was approachable," Tashjian said. "The Beacon is not the Four Seasons or the St. Regis where some of the residents spend 10 days a year or vacation there. It's a place to live."

Steve Ginsberg is a frequent contributor to the Business Times.

http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2006/09/11/focus5.html?page=1&b=1157947200^1342963

BTinSF
Sep 12, 2006, 4:59 PM
If you wait until Sunday evening or Monday morning you will be able to.;)

Sorry I'm late:

Oakland eyes tallest tower, Willie Brown Builder: The city's 'answer to the Transamerica building'
San Francisco Business Times - September 8, 2006
by Ryan Tate

A San Francisco builder and architect are proposing Oakland's tallest-ever tower on Lake Merritt, 42 stories of condominiums rising 420 feet.

The builder, David O'Keefe, said the tower will go in next door to another San Francisco export, former mayor Willie Brown's political institute, although the institute's executive director said she was aware of no such plans.

The roughly $140 million tower has already come under fire from at least one community group for its size and location, but is not expected to face significant legal hurdles. An extension of an earlier plan by O'Keefe for a 32-story tower, it would be by far the tallest building in the city, surpassing the 28-story Ordway Building. O'Keefe and architect Ian Birdsall see the height as an asset.

"(The) building, slender like an obelisk, will be Oakland's answer to the Transamerica building in S.F.," O'Keefe said. "You couldn't ask for a better site."

The building would be located at 222 19th St., near Lakeside Drive. Skyscraper-filled downtown Oakland is on one side, and on the other is Lake Merritt, home to a variety of towers of about 20 stories.

The site has several ties to Willie Brown, who is part-owner of a neighboring 20-unit apartment building and who, with the other owners of that building, sold 222 19th St. to O'Keefe. Brown's wife lives in the apartment building, as does Brown's former planning department chief, Gerald Green, according to O'Keefe.

Green's name was listed as the applicant in O'Keefe's filing with the city. However, O'Keefe said that is only because Green volunteered to drop off the application and the city insisted on the name of an applicant. Green is not involved in the project, he said.

O'Keefe said Brown is planning to open an office of the Willie Brown Institute on Politics and Public Policy in the carriage house connected to the apartment building. But institute executive director Eleanor Johns said there are no plans to vacate existing offices in San Francisco's Ferry Building and no plans she is aware of to open an expansion office in Oakland. Plans to locate the institute on the UC Berkeley campus were scuttled years ago, she added. Brown did not return a call seeking comment.

Not all Oaklanders are happy about the San Franciscans' plans on the lake. Naomi Schiff, head of preservation group the Oakland Heritage Alliance, said the building would demolish an historic garden that should be converted to a park. She is also concerned it will block views to the lake from a chunk of downtown.

Schiff has some support in city hall. Councilmember Nancy Nadel has scheduled a hearing on the site for next week. But the project does not appear to Schiff to violate any landmarks laws, and O'Keefe said city staff, with whom he and Birdsall have been working for the past nine months, told him the building's height and density are allowed under the city's General Plan.

Still, Schiff is hoping the developer can be persuaded to swap his land for something closer to Broadway, downtown's spine. Since the city earlier passed on an opportunity to accept the site as a donation -- a now-contentious decision -- she is also hoping the city can be persuaded to help finance such a swap.

Schiff hopes that "perhaps, if people are very upset, then in the interest of expediting his building process" O'Keefe will agree to a move.

Architect Birdsall said the building would fit in with the location. Its narrow, 12,000-square-foot floor plates are designed to compress the building away from nearby Alice Street, preserving a view corridor to the lake. The slender design is also intended to keep the structure from overwhelming neighboring buildings.

"There are precedents throughout the world for contemporary, elegant, sleek towers nestling next to historic buildings that are 300-400 years old," said Birdsall.

Despite the cooling housing market, the tower would be built for 370 for-sale condominiums. O'Keefe is not planning any ground-floor retail, citing existing retail space in neighboring buildings.

When originally reported in the San Francisco Business Times in April, O'Keefe's tower was only 32 stories. News of the expanded tower first surfaced in the Grand Lake Guardian, an online publication.

Ryan Tate covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2006/09/11/story2.html?t=printable

J Church
Sep 12, 2006, 5:02 PM
I forgot, Matier & Ross had more on this yesterday:

Jerry Brown, Barbara Boxer -- watch out. Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown has become the latest big-time pol to buy into Oakland -- and as usual with Willie, he's landed right in the middle of a controversy.

The mayor-turned-talk show host and lobbyist has purchased a 20 percent investment in an 11-story, 22-unit apartment building overlooking Lake Merritt. Brown doesn't actually live there -- it's for his wife, Blanche, who for decades has led a separate life and moved to the East Bay after the couple sold their longtime San Francisco home.

Fact is, there are all sorts of San Francisco connections to this Oakland building. One of them is Roy Guinnane, a former member of the San Francisco Building Inspection Commission, real estate investor and racehorse owner, who recently made headlines when it came to light that he once made a short-term, no-interest loan of $58,000 to the city's inspections boss, Amy Lee.

Guinnane, it turns out, is a co-owner of the building with Brown. A co-owner who has teamed up with San Francisco builder David O'Keeffe to develop a garden lot adjacent to the apartment building into a 42-story condo tower, which would be the tallest building in Oakland.

But this is not just any garden. It's a 30,000-square-foot historic garden -- put in by Schilling Spice founder August Schilling in the late 19th century -- that until recently was part of the property belonging to Brown and his fellow tenants-in-common.

Brown and the other owners had hoped to donate the garden to Oakland in exchange for tax credits, though they insisted it remain closed to the public and limited to weddings and the like. But the cash-strapped city wanted Brown and his partners to fork over $750,000 to pay for disability-access improvements and to help maintain the spot.

The talks broke down, so instead Guinnane and O'Keeffe -- minus Brown -- came up with the high-rise idea. They soon bought out Brown's and the other partners' interest in the garden for $3.6 million, according to Guinnane.

Well, it turns out the plan for a towering complex isn't going over too well with the neighbors. And one of the NIMBYs is none other than Brown, who fears that an adjacent high-rise will hurt the value of the building he bought into.

"I ain't in that deal,'' Brown said.

Now, O'Keeffe's longtime friend and business associate, Residential Builders Association boss Joe O'Donoghue, has started popping up around the Lake Merritt neighborhood as O'Keeffe's unpaid adviser.

"I lean on Joe for his experience,'' O'Keeffe said. "His focus is to get the neighbors involved and bring everybody to the table.''

As for where the high-rise discussions are headed, O'Keeffe tells us preservationists are floating the idea of a land swap -- something to which he says he and his partners are "very open-minded.''

In the meantime, City Councilwoman Nancy Nadel has jumped into the fray. She has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday to find out just why the city staff turned down the garden donation in the first place, and without consulting with the council.

"I think the city should have taken the deal,'' she said. "I'm very upset.''

She should be, said Brown, complaining that the officials who rejected the land donation "ought to pay the price for their stupidity.''

dimondpark
Sep 12, 2006, 5:54 PM
In the meantime, City Councilwoman Nancy Nadel has jumped into the fray. She has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday to find out just why the city staff turned down the garden donation in the first place, and without consulting with the council.

"I think the city should have taken the deal,'' she said. "I'm very upset.''

She should be, said Brown, complaining that the officials who rejected the land donation "ought to pay the price for their stupidity.''

LOL......love that. the price being a new highrise! yes.


and The Oakland Heritage Alliance never fails to irk the hell outta me.

slock
Sep 13, 2006, 3:10 PM
Did anyone read the articles about the Cruise Terminal in the Examiner and Biz Times? They seem contradictory. The Examiner implies that they are looking for other uses, while the Biz Times implies that they still want to move forward with a Cruise Terminal but alter design and implimentation. ( I trust the Biz Times).

Either way, the Port's current financial structure is not working. It is one thing to have an agency that is autonomous and financially independent, but when you burden that agency with over 1 billion in retrofits, before projects can even start, you'll never make progress. This is the second major project to back out, and I'm still unconvinced that 27/31 or the Exploratorium can pull it off. With some of the most prime land in one of the most expensive cities in the world, this agency struggles on a daily basis to make ends meet. Something has to change, this setup is obviously failing.

sf_eddo
Sep 13, 2006, 5:43 PM
Cal Stadium news...

Cal's stadium work remains on schedule
- Jake Curtis, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Click to View

The first phase of Cal's three-phase stadium renovation project remains on schedule, with construction set to begin Dec. 2, pending approval by the UC Board of Regents in November.

Phase I calls for the construction of the Student Athlete High-Performance Center adjacent of Memorial Stadium. Cal has raised about $95 million of the $125 million required to begin work on the two-story structure, which will house locker rooms, coaches' offices, weight rooms and a study center. Football coach Jeff Tedford had said Cal needed such a facility, and the administration made a commitment to provide it.

Cal published a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) in the spring and is addressing issues raised in response. Athletic director Sandy Barbour acknowledged some representatives of the City of Berkeley have voiced concerns about the project, but she is confident Cal will satisfy those concerns.

The DEIR as well as the plans and financing for the center then must be approved by the UC regents at their Nov. 15-16 meetings. If approval is granted and the $125 million is raised, Cal can begin building, with a target date of Dec. 2.

Construction of the performance center is scheduled to take about two years, but as soon as construction begins, Cal will develop a fundraising plan and a seating-plan design for Phases II and III, which are the seismic retrofitting and renovation of Memorial Stadium.

Phase II deals with work of the west side of the stadium, and Phase III the east side. Stadium renovation will take about three years, but Cal is expected to be able to play all its home games at Memorial Stadium during construction.

All three phases could be completed within five years, a timetable Barbour calls "ambitious" but not impossible.

Cal's project differs from the $100 million renovation of Stanford Stadium that was completed in 10 months, in large part because Cal is a public institution.

In July, Cal hired Jim Bartko as its senior associate athletic director for development to head up fundraising. While at Oregon, Bartko led funding efforts for the $91 million renovation of Autzen Stadium and developed strong ties with Nike boss and prominent Oregon donor Phil Knight.

E-mail Jake Curtis at jcurtis@sfchronicle.com.

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URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/09/13/SPGGPL4GS61.DTL

sf_eddo
Sep 13, 2006, 5:44 PM
Stanford Stadium news...

Time to take off the bubble wrap
Stanford Stadium ready for unveiling
- Michelle Smith, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 13, 2006

http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/09/13/sp_stanford2.jpg

http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/09/13/sp_stanfordstadium058cs.jpg

In the span of 42 weeks -- dating from the late-November night when backhoes ripped into the turf at Stanford Stadium -- an 84-year-old facility with worn-out bleachers, aging restrooms, a chasm separating fans from the field and tens of thousands of empty seats, has been transformed.

The reincarnation of Stanford Stadium is a remarkable achievement of time, money and the dogged vision of a university benefactor with the clout to match his contributions.

Stanford's $100 million remodeling project, one the athletic department hopes will revitalize its foundering football program, opens Saturday night with what is expected to be a near-capacity crowd as the Cardinal take on Navy at 7 p.m.

It is a shinier, noisier, smaller version of its predecessor that took a Herculean effort to complete, an effort that began minutes after Stanford's 2005 football season ended with a dramatic home-field loss to Notre Dame.

A daily work force of 300, including crews brought in by 25 to 30 sub-contractors, worked 16 hours a day (in two shifts), seven days a week since Nov. 26 to build Stanford a football stadium that could live up to the rest of its world-class athletic facilities.

"It's nothing short of a miracle, what's happened here in the last nine months," said Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby, who has only been at Stanford since July after leaving his job at Iowa, which just completed a remodel of its own football stadium. "I can tell you without any hesitation whatsoever that if this project was undertaken at a public university, that it wouldn't have gotten done in 10 months and it would have been $300 million, if it was a penny."

Instead, Stanford spent a third of that, financing the project largely through the Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation (DAPER) Investment Fund with donations from alumni and "friends" of the university. The facility is, in effect, paid for, leaving the athletic department to reap the benefits of increased ticket sales -- season ticket sales are up 136 percent from 2005 -- and concessions from the get-go.

The mover and shaker (and, at $30 million, the largest donor) of the project is, once again, billionaire developer John Arrillaga, the alum who also shepherded the sixth-month, under-budget remodeling of Maples Pavilion two years ago. Arrillaga was heavily involved in both the design of the football facility and in establishing the abbreviated time line for its completion, working closely with contractor Vance Brown Builders.

"If it wasn't for John, nobody would have believed we could do this," said Bill Walsh, the former Stanford coach and current athletic department administrator who has been the face and voice of this project, touting the new stadium (and ticket sales) in ad campaigns since last spring. "We'd still be talking about it, but when he starts something, he makes it work."

Former athletic director Ted Leland called Arrillaga "the godfather" of the stadium project and said the developer initially needed some convincing to take it on.

"I think he was a little skeptical about spending that kind of money on something that's only going to be used seven times a year," Leland said. "But when he finally decided it was something he wanted to undertake, in my mind, we were already 70 percent done."

Leland said Arrillaga's stamp is everywhere.

"The design of it, the double decks, the concourse all the way around, the new press box, two scoreboards, all that stuff is his," Leland said.

To call Stanford Stadium a remodeled facility is to undersell the breadth of the changes. The Stadium has been downsized from 85,500 to approximately 50,000 seats, a nod to the reality of decreased attendance over the years, as well as a hope to create what Bowlsby calls "pent-up demand."

The stadium bowl has been completely enclosed, and with the elimination of the track, seating has been brought significantly closer to the field. At the 50-yard-line, the first row of seats in the new stadium is 70 feet closer to the field than the first row of usable seats in the old stadium.

The second deck seating is made of aluminum bleachers which will increase the noise level during games. Restroom and concession space has doubled throughout a concourse area that has an open view to the field, which remains natural grass after brief conversations about installing artificial turf. A new three-story press box has been constructed to include seven luxury suites.

All that remains from the previous facility is the dirt berm that surrounds the stadium and the main elevator structure that leads to the press box.

"Each time I go in there it blows me away," said Dave Tipton, the Stanford defensive line coach who has been with the program since 1989, working under five head coaches. "People are going to be shocked. The pictures don't do it justice. Our fans have gotten so used to the cavern and being so far from the field. Now they are going to be right on top of things."

Dave Schinski, Stanford's associate athletic director for facilities operations, said he's never seen a project of this scope and size completed this quickly. University officials ended up pushing the opening back just one week past its original date.

"You'd come out here some days and say 'There's absolutely no way we are going to get this done,' and you'd come out two days later and say, 'Oh, this looks good, I think we're going to get there,' " Schinski said. "I'd wake up in the middle of the night panicked about something and come to work the next day and it's all resolved. But there would always be something else."

Record-breaking rains in March threatened to put construction behind schedule.

"We had to abandon the stuff that was rain-dependent and switch to other things," Schinski said. "If you had come out here in April and May, you would have seen the whole upper bowl and the upper seats done, but the field was completely mud."

Former running back Darrin Nelson, now a senior associate athletic director at Stanford, said he believes the stadium project shows the university has made a big commitment to the success of the football program, which hasn't had a winning season since 2001.

"With this stadium, our university is telling us to go for it," Nelson said. "We can do this. We've been good to great in almost every sport we've had here. And we've gone up and down in football. Now it's time to focus on football a little more and try to turn things around."

Jim Plunkett, whose 1970 season ended with a Heisman Trophy and a Rose Bowl win, isn't so sure that's the message.

"They committed to doing it, but they were only willing to spend a certain amount of money, and they only put in 50,000 seats. I would have preferred a larger stadium," Plunkett said. "What impact does that have on the program? In a sense, that's a concern for me. But as much as I loved that old place, a new stadium was certainly needed."

Stanford could certainly use a home-field advantage. The Cardinal come into Saturday's game with an 0-2 record, on the heels of last week's 35-34 loss at San Jose State. There are still nearly 10,000 tickets available.

"We don't want to see this big stadium, be selling all these season tickets, put our pictures on the sides of trains and get everybody all excited and then go in there and not perform," junior wide receiver Evan Moore said. "It adds a little pressure, but we'll take it. We'll welcome it."
Group seating

(3,101 seats)

Family seating

(7,074 seats)

Varsity level seating

(912 seats)

Alumni seating

(2,656 seats)

Faculty and staff

(2,806 seats)

Touchdown level seating

(1,362 seats)

Visiting team seating

(3,863 seats)

Student seating

(3,322 seats)
By the numbers

100

million dollars to complete

22

donors who gave at least $2 million

85,500

seating capacity of old stadium

50,000

seating capacity of new stadium

29,000

season tickets sold

41,000

tickets sold for Navy game

30

price in dollars of new "cheap seat"

12

price in dollars of general admission ticket last year

7

luxury suites

100,000

cubic yards of excavated earth

14,000

yards of concrete poured

300

workers on-site daily

16

hours a day crews worked in two shifts

294

days between first day of project and grand opening

115

feet from first-row seat to sideline (at 50-yard line) in old stadium

45

feet from first-row seat to sideline in new stadium

240

women's toilets in remodeled stadium

154

women's toilets in old stadium

5

games to be played in Stanford Stadium this season

0

Stanford band members who will be performing at the Navy game. The band is still serving a university-imposed suspension.

.

John Blanchard / The Chronicle

E-mail Michelle Smith at msmith@sfchronicle.com.

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BTinSF
Sep 13, 2006, 5:52 PM
Did anyone read the articles about the Cruise Terminal in the Examiner and Biz Times? They seem contradictory. The Examiner implies that they are looking for other uses, while the Biz Times implies that they still want to move forward with a Cruise Terminal but alter design and implimentation. ( I trust the Biz Times).

Either way, the Port's current financial structure is not working. It is one thing to have an agency that is autonomous and financially independent, but when you burden that agency with over 1 billion in retrofits, before projects can even start, you'll never make progress. This is the second major project to back out, and I'm still unconvinced that 27/31 or the Exploratorium can pull it off. With some of the most prime land in one of the most expensive cities in the world, this agency struggles on a daily basis to make ends meet. Something has to change, this setup is obviously failing.

I don't think you've quite got the problem identified. There are a couple of different problems, as I see it. One is the public policy that maritime uses have to be given priority for port land. Everyone understands that you could take this land and build condos on it or office towers and you would have developers lined up to do those projects. But San Francisco decided decades ago that it doesn't want to be walled of from the Bayfront by private towers (there's also another policy that slopes height limits down toward the Bayfront). Therefore, the struggle is to find projects for the Bayfront that not only pencil out financially but could only be done at the water's edge--in other words that involved water uses like ships or fishing.

You are correct that it is a struggle but most people think we'll eventually have a more liveable city than if we just put up whatever some developer wanted to build there.

However, there are other issues as well on which I think we clearly should change policy. We have allowed far too much politcal interference from everybody from Willy Brown (as Mayor) to Aaron Peskin (current Board of Supervisors President). Brown wrecked the Chelsea Piers project by nixing it at thr last minute in favor of something undoable by his buddies at Mills Corp. and Peskin throttled a hotel development on Port land (on the land side of the Embarcadero roadway) because his constituency in Telegraph Hill thought it might block a few of their views.

The bottom line here IMHO is that it isn't the retrofit costs that are the real problem. It's that the politicians and the NIMBYs get together to so restrict every proposal on port land that it either becomes uneconomic or the developer backs out in frustration.

coyotetrickster
Sep 13, 2006, 6:52 PM
I don't think you've quite got the problem identified. There are a couple of different problems, as I see it. One is the public policy that maritime uses have to be given priority for port land. Everyone understands that you could take this land and build condos on it or office towers and you would have developers lined up to do those projects. But San Francisco decided decades ago that it doesn't want to be walled of from the Bayfront by private towers (there's also another policy that slopes height limits down toward the Bayfront). Therefore, the struggle is to find projects for the Bayfront that not only pencil out financially but could only be done at the water's edge--in other words that involved water uses like ships or fishing.

You are correct that it is a struggle but most people think we'll eventually have a more liveable city than if we just put up whatever some developer wanted to build there.

However, there are other issues as well on which I think we clearly should change policy. We have allowed far too much politcal interference from everybody from Willy Brown (as Mayor) to Aaron Peskin (current Board of Supervisors President). Brown wrecked the Chelsea Piers project by nixing it at thr last minute in favor of something undoable by his buddies at Mills Corp. and Peskin throttled a hotel development on Port land (on the land side of the Embarcadero roadway) because his constituency in Telegraph Hill thought it might block a few of their views.

The bottom line here IMHO is that it isn't the retrofit costs that are the real problem. It's that the politicians and the NIMBYs get together to so restrict every proposal on port land that it either becomes uneconomic or the developer backs out in frustration.


Don't forget the California Coastal Commission (or is the a board???) and it's mandate to ensure the state's water fronts are preserved for public access/recreations/etc. with a maritime emphasis. BTinSF has mentioned this in other threads, and the Port having to serve two masters (SF Voters/Board of Supe NIMBYs) and the commission all but guarantee gridlock...

Sometimes, an enlightened dictator could be a blessing. Look at the Renaisssance:-) More towards topic, the Examiner story threw me for a loop. What about deBartolo's interest in taking over the project.

How about a port infrastructure bond issue???

munkyman
Sep 13, 2006, 7:50 PM
Regarding the Renovation of Cal's Memorial Stadium:

I am a little bit confused by the term "renovation." How is it possible to renovate a stadium that perfectly bisects the Hayward fault, and that will (with 100% certainty) undergo catastrophic ground rupture during a Hayward fault earthquake? I mean the stadium will essentially split in half down the middle, with an offset by as much as 6 feet (if each side moves 3 feet in opposite directions)...how do you "renovate" for something like that? Or are they renovating to ensure it doesn't suffer a total collapse during the earthquake? Just curious if anyone here knows the details about that.

coyotetrickster
Sep 14, 2006, 4:53 AM
On my way back from practice last night, I rode past the future site of the development formerly know as One Polk/One Bovet Place. It's totally leveled now and I could tell in the dark if it was backhoe or bigger excavation equipment inside the fenced area. Looks like the australian developers do have funding and will be building the condos.

BTinSF
Sep 15, 2006, 9:06 PM
Yes, if what you want is ultra-lux in the skies over Rincon Hill, hold your wallet before writing a down payment check for a pad at One Rincon because Turnberry has paid $30 million for the parcel at 45 Lansing St. and they are coming to town with "exotic" marble baths, Italian Snaidero cabinetry, Gaggenau appliances, jacuzzi hydrotherapy tubs with built-in TV's, individual security systems and 12 ft penthouse cielings--or so says the SF BizTimes whose headline today reads "Miami cash to produce skyline flash"

As usual, we'll have to wait until Sunday evening when the entire article becomes available online, but for now they are apparently sticking with the existing and city-approved design for a 40-story tower.

This is apparently Turnberry's first venture into California.

coyotetrickster
Sep 15, 2006, 9:15 PM
Yes, if what you want is ultra-lux in the skies over Rincon Hill, hold your wallet before writing a down payment check for a pad at One Rincon because Turnberry has paid $30 million for the parcel at 45 Lansing St. and they are coming to town with "exotic" marble baths, Italian Snaidero cabinetry, Gaggenau appliances, jacuzzi hydrotherapy tubs with built-in TV's, individual security systems and 12 ft penthouse cielings--or so says the SF BizTimes whose headline today reads "Miami cash to produce skyline flash"

As usual, we'll have to wait until Sunday evening when the entire article becomes available online, but for now they are apparently sticking with the existing and city-approved design for a 40-story tower.

This is apparently Turnberry's first venture into California.

Does that mean the original developer is bailing? Oh, doh, guess it does..

BTinSF
Sep 15, 2006, 9:23 PM
Does that mean the original developer is bailing? Oh, doh, guess it does..

If you want to call $30 million bailing, I guess so, but I view this as unequivocally good news. Turnberry would not have bought the parcel if they didn't plan to build and they have the resources to proceed come H*ll, high water, bursting bubbles or economic downturn: Check out some of their existing projects at http://www.turnberryltd.com/ . So far, their main markets have been Florida, Las Vegas, Paradise Island (Bahamas) and suburban Virginia.

craeg
Sep 15, 2006, 9:31 PM
Yeah, I hardly see this as the tower not getting built. They've already excavated the site.

BTinSF
Sep 18, 2006, 8:18 AM
As promised:

Miami cash to produce skyline flash
Turnberry to pump $230M into 'exotic' condo tower
San Francisco Business Times - September 15, 2006
by J.K. Dineen
Turnberry Associates, a name synonymous with the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas and Miami's South Beach, is planting its flag on Rincon Hill.

The South Florida-based developer has paid $30 million for 45 Lansing St., a parcel near First and Harrison streets entitled for 305 units.

Turnberry President Bruce Weiner said the project would cost $230 to $240 million, including land, and would be the most upscale development the new neighborhood has seen, with "exotic" marble baths, Italian Snaidero cabinetry, Gaggenau cooking appliances, Jacuzzi hydrotherapy tubs with built-in TVs, Individual security systems, and 12-foot penthouse ceilings. He said prices have not been set, but compared it to the Turnberry Ocean Colony project in South Florida, which is priced between $1.8 and $4 million per unit.

Weiner called the emerging neighborhood at Rincon Hill a natural fit for the deluxe builder, which has developed or owns more than $5 billion worth of hotels, resorts and condominiums in Florida and Las Vegas, including the Residences at MGM Grand in Las Vegas and Fontainebleau in Miami Beach.

The Rincon Hill marks Turnberry's first venture in California -- but not the last, according to Weiner. The company has a history of investing heavily in select markets, and Weiner said San Francisco would be no exception.

"We have big plans for California overall and San Francisco fits our model," he said. "We like world-class cities and San Francisco is certainly one of them."

Weiner said the company had been searching for sites in San Francisco for a while and was drawn to the Rincon Hill location as well as the fact that the site already had planning approval from the city for a 40-story tower.

"We liked the design, the views, and the neighborhood is really coming along," he said. "It's going to be a great place to live and work."

The seller was Jackson Pacific Ventures, a San Francisco firm headed by developer and architect Ezra Mersey, who co-designed the project with Chuck Davis of EHDD.

Mersey said he picked Turnberry because the company has the means and experience to pull the project off.

"Their entry into San Francisco is very good for Rincon Hill's continuing evolution, and another vote of confidence in highrise, downtown residential -- near transit, jobs and amenities," said Mersey. "Turnberry has shown the experience, skills and resources to successfully implement the project Jackson Pacific has created at 45 Lansing St."

A work in progress
Located next to a Union 76 gas station and a block from the Bay Bridge on-ramp, it would be hard to confuse 45 Lansing -- or any site on Rincon Hill -- with the neon energy of the Vegas strip or South Beach's mix of surf and celebrity. But the neighborhood is evolving quickly. The residential tower planned for 45 Lansing is one of seven approved highrises expected to sprout on Rincon Hill during the next three to four years. In addition to the 45 Lansing development, the emerging neighborhood will include Tishman Speyer's 656-unit the Infinity; Urban West Associates' 709-unit One Rincon Hill; Fifield Development's 432-unit the Californian; and a site at 340-350 Fremont St. entitled for 380 condos, also owned by Jackson Pacific.

Of the seven, construction has begun on the first tower of the Infinity and One Rincon projects. Both will ultimately have two towers. While neither building will be ready for occupancy until early 2008, sales offices for both developments opened in the spring and are reporting phenomenal business, with One Rincon nearly selling out and the Infinity with 100 reservations and 75 condos in contract.

Weiner said Turnberry was already sold on Rincon Hill before hearing numbers from the Infinity and One Rincon Hill. "That was good to hear, but we were in the process of acquiring the site before those sales offices opened up," he said.

A softening market
Yet despite the robust sales at the two Rincon Hill projects, San Francisco's real estate market is seeing a noticeable softening. Since Labor Day active listings for condominiums in the city have jumped 21 percent, according to Adam Koval, who tracks the market on the real estate web site SocketSite. Weiner said the slackening is fully expected and healthy. He said the 15 percent to 20 percent price increases of the last three years were "unnatural" and that "unless interest rates are in the double-digits, business will be good." He also said that 60 percent of Turnberry buyers pay cash for their units.

"We have been through this before over the past 40 years. Our end of the market, the upper tier, is usually the last to slow down and the first to pick up," he said. "You have to look at these things as long term propositions. If you're looking six months out it's hard to take our business very seriously."

He said Turnberry owners in Las Vegas and Miami have already expressed a desire to own in San Francisco.

"We're selling a lifestyle and we're selling service found in a four- or five-star hotel," he said.

Carl Shannon, a managing director at Tishman Speyer, said Turnberry's investment is "testament to the market's depth."

"They are an outstanding organization. We know them well and welcome them to town," said Shannon.

He added that the fact that so many buyers are willing to make hard deposits 18 months before the Infinity will be delivered speaks for itself.

"You can read all the press you want about how national housing market is slowing down but in San Francisco, we continue to see strong fundamentals," he said.

Planning Director Dean Macris said Turnberry executives have yet to come in and talk to the city. He said the Mersey/EHDD design had "a nice modern look to it that works well with the other design emerging on the hill."

Weiner said the design's exterior would not change, but the interiors would be revised somewhat. In particular, he said Turnberry market research has indicated a higher demand of two- and three-bedroom units than the plan currently calls for. "There is a niche that is not being filled right now," he said.

Mersey said Jackson Pacific would continue to focus on developing other projects, including its 200-unit tower at One Hawthorne St. in the South Financial District.

J.K. Dineen covers real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2006/09/18/story1.html?t=printable

dimondpark
Sep 19, 2006, 3:01 PM
Last updated: September 17, 2006 11:06pm
Brandywine Exec Talks NorCal Strategy
By Brian K. Miller Email this story | Printer-friendly | Reprints

OAKLAND, CA-When Brandywine acquired Prentiss Properties earlier this year in a $3.3-billion transaction, it inherited a dominant position in Oakland’s Lake Merritt submarket. Prentiss owns four buildings there totaling about 1.4 million sf that is currently all but full, with just 40,000 sf of vacancy.

In an interview with GlobeSt.com, Brandywine SVP and Northern California managing director Daniel Cushing says Brandywine will focus on maintaining its dominant position in Oakland and building on its relatively new presence in the I-680 corridor.

The tight situation in its Oakland portfolio--2101 Webster, 1901 Harrison, 1333 Broadway, One Kaiser Plaza--has Brandywine following through on a speculative project Prentiss broke ground for in late 2005. The 215,000-sf office building is rising at 2150 Franklin St., which is a piece of land that came with its acquisition of 2101 Webster.

“We did it for a handful of reasons, not the least of which is that we are struggling to meet the expansion needs of our existing tenants,” says Cushing, who prior to Brandywine was in charge of Northern California for Prentiss. “With the dot-com boom Oakland experienced a run-up, but only at about 60% of what occurred in San Jose and San Francisco; the highs weren’t as high and the lows weren’t as low and, as a result, our recovery came first.”

The building at 2150 Franklin will be complete in about 12 months. Steel starts going up at the end of the month. “We’ve got good activity; there’s not a ton of big user blocks available, especially in the East Bay,” Cushing says.

Over Labor Day weekend, Brandywine relocated and expanded its local office to 9,000 sf at 2101 Webster. The move filled up some vacant space there while freeing up ground-level space at 1901 Harrison that will be repositioned as retail space, Cushing says.

Looking further out, Brandywine has two other development sites in Oakland that are capable of supporting a combined 900,000 sf of built space. Both are near existing Brandywine properties. One of the sites is near its 1901 Harrison building and the other is near One Kaiser Plaza, also known as the Ordway.

“They are not quite entitled or planned,” Cushing says. “They are maybe mixed-use opportunities.”

As part of its acquisition of Prentiss, Brandywine sold to Prudential Real Estate Investors a $753-million portfolio of Prentiss assets. In Northern California, that included one of Prentiss’ Oakland buildings (155 Grand) and its only Silicon Valley asset, 5500 Great American Parkway, which is better known as 3Com’s old campus. As part of the deal, Prentiss retains the management assignment for the properties.

From an ownership perspective, Brandywine’s only non-Oakland assets in Northern California now are a pair of buildings in Concord, CA, known as Concord Airport Plaza A and B. After some recent expansions there, Wells Fargo now occupies the majority of the space. “Right now it’s a very stable asset; there’s not much value to be added,” he says. “But it gives us a little bit of a foothold in that market.”

Overall, Brandywine’s situation is pretty stable in Northern California at the moment. “We’ve got a solid base with good occupancy and not a lot of distractions,” he says. “There are no huge tenant rollovers on the horizon and no credit problems.”

Looking ahead, Cushing says that along with entitling its other Oakland development sites he will continue to seek out value-add opportunities elsewhere in the Bay Area. “None of the markets are off limits,” he says.

http://www.globest.com/news/720_720/sanfrancisco/149094-1.html

San Frangelino
Sep 20, 2006, 1:43 AM
I found this architects website http://www.sb-architects.com/ and thought I would share it with those who haven't seen renderings/ descriptions of the projects listed below. Just look under "Portfolio" and search thru the catgories "Urban Mixed Use" and "Residential" to see these projects:

72 Townsend Street in South Beach/Mission Bay
74 Residential Units
5,000 Sq. Ft. Retail

Mission Bay 4 West along 4th street Southg of the Channel
192 Residential Units
10,000 Sq. Ft. Retail

One Henry Adams across from the Design Center
212 Residential Units
15,000 Sq. Ft. Retail

Bryant Square in the Mission
76 Units

As well as bigger and more plans for Central Place and The Globe projects in downtown San Jose

FourOneFive
Sep 20, 2006, 5:44 AM
so i checked out steve's site today, and it says 631 folsom AND the argenta are now under construction? is this true? if so, rock on san francisco!

i can't wait to see these towers rise on the skyline!

http://www.malcolmproperties.com/images/631folsom_04a1.jpghttp://www.handelarchitects.com/mediatedspaces/images_uploaded/38777.6714997917exterior2.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/70/202228755_ea5d794066_o.jpg

dimondpark
Sep 20, 2006, 1:22 PM
Officials with the City of Oakland are meeting with a developer next week for a site at 11th and Broadway.. an empty site(directly behind UCs HQ). I think they are interested in building a 330,000 to 400,000 sq. foot building or about 30-35 stories.

Also, the highrise condo tower at 3rd and Broadway has broken ground.

more info to come.

coyotetrickster
Sep 20, 2006, 3:17 PM
so i checked out steve's site today, and it says 631 folsom AND the argenta are now under construction? is this true? if so, rock on san francisco!

i can't wait to see these towers rise on the skyline!

http://www.malcolmproperties.com/images/631folsom_04a1.jpghttp://www.handelarchitects.com/mediatedspaces/images_uploaded/38777.6714997917exterior2.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/70/202228755_ea5d794066_o.jpg

I was directly across the street from 631 yesterday and saw no signs of construction. Still looked like a parking lot to me.

J Church
Sep 20, 2006, 4:05 PM
dimond, are you sure 3rd & broadway is u/c? And where did you hear about 11th & Broadway?

Re: 631 Folsom, I got an email from a guy. I did not go over to personally confirm, but he was pretty specific:

The parking lot where the building will be is now emptied and is surrounded
by construction fences. I would guess that surveying is underway and
groundbreaking will take place in the next week or two.

BTinSF
Sep 20, 2006, 5:58 PM
dimond, are you sure 3rd & broadway is u/c? And where did you hear about 11th & Broadway?

Re: 631 Folsom, I got an email from a guy. I did not go over to personally confirm, but he was pretty specific:

The parking lot where the building will be is now emptied and is surrounded
by construction fences. I would guess that surveying is underway and
groundbreaking will take place in the next week or two.

I walked by the 1 Polk Argenta site a couple weeks ago and there were also fences and some heavy equipment and it looked like they were preparing to demolish the small restaurant and other structures on the site, but once they clear it there still could be a long delay before they build anything.

J Church
Sep 20, 2006, 6:06 PM
Yeah, I'm putting a bit of faith in both those projects.

coyotetrickster
Sep 20, 2006, 6:45 PM
I walked by the 1 Polk Argenta site a couple weeks ago and there were also fences and some heavy equipment and it looked like they were preparing to demolish the small restaurant and other structures on the site, but once they clear it there still could be a long delay before they build anything.

Nope, the demolition on the Argento site is complete. I posted here??? hhmmm , that excavation equipment was visible behind the fencing. Australian developers are still relatively flush from the Melbourne/Sydney condo boom (now slowing according to bud in Melbourne), so they've got the capital to build withouth pre-sales.

briankendall
Sep 20, 2006, 8:17 PM
The 3rd and Broadway project has at least demolished all the buildings and cleared everything. A property owner I am working with is in negotiations to build out three storefronts across the street on 2nd Street to house their construction and sales office so it looks like a go to me.

BTinSF
Sep 20, 2006, 9:38 PM
Nope, the demolition on the Argento site is complete. I posted here??? hhmmm , that excavation equipment was visible behind the fencing. Australian developers are still relatively flush from the Melbourne/Sydney condo boom (now slowing according to bud in Melbourne), so they've got the capital to build withouth pre-sales.

Whaddaya mean "nope"? So they've cleared it as I said they appeared about to--any signs of actual construction? Demolition and construction require two different permits in SF. I saw only a demolition permit posted when I went by (and I looked pretty hard).

coyotetrickster
Sep 20, 2006, 10:50 PM
Whaddaya mean "nope"? So they've cleared it as I said they appeared about to--any signs of actual construction? Demolition and construction require two different permits in SF. I saw only a demolition permit posted when I went by (and I looked pretty hard).


True, true, true. Plus it was evening and all I saw was the earthmoving equipment. No construction permit, though, you are correct.

San Frangelino
Sep 21, 2006, 9:17 PM
Images/Description of Jack London Square Towers

Download the PDF to see the Images

Proposed
444 Embarcadero
http://static.flickr.com/79/249330652_d5e91cad4b.jpg?v=0
Image:
http://www.oaklandnet.com/government/ceda/revised/planningzoning/MajorProjectsSection/ISpublished.pdf
Information:
Project name
Jack London Square Residental Tower
Address
444 Embarcadero St
Developer
Jack London Towers LLC
Construction company
-
City info
Catherine Payne, Major Projects, (510) 238-6168
Number of Residential Units
257
Retail/commercial space
7,650 sf retail
Building height
Up to 310'
Building stories
Up to 26
Expected Start date
Late 2007 or later
Expected Completion
Late 2009 or later
Current status
Pre-application filed, environmental scoping underway

-
Other notes
This is an "Emabarcadero Canyon" contributing project. May be several years before started, another likely candidate for sale of development rights as the planning application appears to be largely speculative.

Apparently Under Construction
200 Broadway
http://static.flickr.com/79/249330647_72be9282d9.jpg?v=0
Image:
http://www.oaklandnet.com/government/ceda/revised/planningzoning/MajorProjectsSection/Title%20Page_5-30-02.pdf

Project name
200 Broadway
Address
200/210/228 Broadway
Developer
The Enterprise Group (owned by Molasky Pacific Properties)
Construction company
?
City info
Heather Klein, Projects 238-3659
Number of Residential Units
134
Retail/commercial space
11,000 sf retail
Building height
around 200'
Building stories
18
Approved
01/18/06
Start date
August 2006
Expected Completion
Early/Mid 2008
Current status
Site has been fenced off and current buildings demolished 8/17/06. Pile driving is expected to start the week of August 21st.

Project entitlements acquired from previous developer. Will be the tallest building in JLD until 444 Embarcadero is built

More Infor : http://www.oaklandnet.com/government/ceda/revised/planningzoning/MajorProjectsSection/ER01-0008_final.html

Other Projects Proposed and Under Construction in Jack London Square go here http://jlda.org/development/

J Church
Sep 21, 2006, 10:49 PM
http://sfcityscape.com/forum/jack_london_towers.jpg

San Frangelino
Sep 21, 2006, 10:59 PM
Thanks J!!

fflint
Sep 21, 2006, 10:59 PM
^What is that?

J Church
Sep 21, 2006, 11:14 PM
Details are in San Frangelino's original post, but these are the Jack London Square condo towers. The one in the black-and-white sketch is 200 Broadway--which apparently just broke ground--and the color rendering is 444 Embarcadero, which may or may not happen.

San Frangelino
Sep 21, 2006, 11:19 PM
And to go along with the Oakland Towers....another one for San Jose. At least according to this architects website http://www.amaa.com/portfolio/html/?page=1

1 S. Market Street San Jose, CA
http://static.flickr.com/80/249824068_aa184dbf0f.jpg?v=0

DESIGN RESPONSE: Located in the heart of downtown. The building is adjacent to the San Pedro Square dining and entertainment district. New retail space at street level and the addition of permanent residents will strengthen and improve the district. The building design utilizes traditional materials in a modern curtainwall skin at the base and rises to a modern glass and stone tower that will offer residents views of downtown and the surrounding Santa Cruz and Diablo Mountain ranges.The residents of the 300 luxury condos can enjoy amenities including a landscaped elevated plaza deck with lap pool and spa. Bus and lightrail access is only one block away.

San Frangelino
Sep 22, 2006, 12:48 AM
Oak to 9th Video:slob:

One more discovery for today guys. On the Oak to 9th Website there is a new video up promoting the project. It has computer animated renderings and all.

http://www.oakto9th.com/

dimondpark
Sep 22, 2006, 1:52 PM
San Frangelino,
WOW...great finds

fflint
Sep 22, 2006, 11:00 PM
Oak to 9th seems too good to be true.

dimondpark
Sep 23, 2006, 12:56 AM
Oak to 9th is really going to change the whole dynamic of that part of town.

J_Taylor
Sep 23, 2006, 6:34 PM
To bad I don't have the money or else I would move there, when its built.

San Frangelino
Sep 25, 2006, 11:55 PM
San Francisco Business times via http://mattlanning.com/blog.html

Tenderloin developer puts down $5.5 million on site for 80 units
San Francisco Business Times - September 22, 2006
by J.K. Dineen


Most Emailed
Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corp. is snapping up a Mission Street parcel for $5.5 million and plans to develop 80 units of affordable family housing there.

The 15,000-square-foot site, 1036-1040 Mission St., sits between Sixth and Seventh streets, a long-depressed part of the Mid-Market neighborhood that has seen considerable investment over the past two years. It was owned by Skyline Investments, a company owned by the Lembi family, which is being sued by the city for violating housing laws.


Nick Griffin, a senior project manager with nonprofit TNDC, said it's getting increasingly difficult to tie up development parcels for below-market projects. In addition to the SoMa Grand, a high-end 22-story highrise AGI Capital and TMG are developing at Mission and Seventh streets, national developers Crescent Heights and Forest City are looking at condo developments in the neighborhood.

"It's competitive and sites are scarce," said Griffin. "We feel that when someone like Skyline gives us the opportunity to tie up a site, we don't have the luxury to dicker around with it. We need site control as quickly as possible."

About 20 percent of the project will be set aside for the formerly homeless. The project will include 13 one-bedroom, 50 two-bedroom, and 15 three-bedroom units. Rents will be pegged at 30 percent of median income.

Griffin said the TNDC scaled back the number of three-bedroom units.

"We have found that even for larger families, unless they are subsidized, three bedrooms are too costly," he said.

TNDC, which mostly develops in the Tenderloin, has made family housing a priority in recent years. The nonprofit is developing a 110-unit senior development at 999 Polk St. (with Citizen Housing Corp.) and an 83-unit project at 650 Eddy St. (with Community Housing Partnership).

J.K. Dineen covers real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

fflint
Sep 26, 2006, 1:14 AM
Major props to Anshen + Allen, my former employer!
==

SAN FRANCISCO
New S.F. General plan will save old buildings
Constructing secret: Put part of hospital under the ground

Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, September 25, 2006

After many failed attempts, architects have come up with what initially seemed like a magical sleight of hand: building a new San Francisco General Hospital on the same campus without demolishing any parts of the existing facility.

The new plans -- to be unveiled today at a Board of Supervisors committee meeting -- involve building the new hospital between the two gargoyle-decorated red-brick buildings on Potrero Avenue and deep into the ground. The acute care hospital will remain in place just behind that space, toward Highway 101.

"It's the first truly feasible option we've had to rebuild San Francisco General Hospital," said Dr. Mitch Katz, the city's public health director. "We think we have figured out a smart way to do it."

Greenery now fills the space between the two red-brick buildings on a plot of land that previously wasn't considered big enough for a new hospital. Under state law, the new hospital and the red-brick buildings have to be 40 feet apart so the brick buildings don't crumble onto the new hospital in an earthquake, Katz said. The height of the new building is limited by zoning regulations.

But architects at Anshen and Allen have come up with what they call a "super-floor," which will be a huge basement underneath the 90-foot-high new hospital. The super-floor won't be bound by the 40-foot rule and can expand underground all the way to the edges of the surrounding structures.

That would give the city a seismically safe, acute care hospital with space for 230 beds and leave all the current buildings -- even the historic gargoyles -- in place.

Under state law, all acute care hospitals in the state must be deemed seismically safe by 2013 or shut by 2008. The matter is of particular urgency for San Francisco; a county civil grand jury's report in May concluded that San Francisco General, the city's only major trauma center, is vulnerable to collapse in an earthquake.

There have been many ideas for how to rebuild San Francisco General while keeping the hospital up and running throughout construction, but none of them has been deemed workable until now.

Some of the discarded ideas included purchasing pricey property in Mission Bay for a new hospital, building in the parking lot of the current hospital, tearing down a building adjacent to the current hospital that's used for outpatient care -- or even knocking down one of the red-brick buildings.

The cost of designing and building the new hospital is now estimated at $622 million; it had been more than $800 million in previous plans. City officials expect to put a facilities bond for the project on an upcoming ballot, which will need two-thirds approval to win.

The new plans are garnering support from the city officials who've seen them. Mayor Gavin Newsom, who paid for the feasibility study with $12 million in city funds this year, said the new plans show the rebuilding can have minimal impact on the current hospital and surrounding neighborhood.

"This is good news for San Francisco," he said.

Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, whose district encompasses the hospital, called the plans "a great attempt to try and satisfy a lot of parties."

Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who will chair the committee hearing on the rebuilding today, said he will support the bond measure campaign. "At first blush, it looks pretty good," he said. "It looks like they're really doing their homework."

Katz said he believes the bond to raise the $622 million for the project will go before voters in either June 2008 or November 2008 -- when high-interest presidential primaries or a presidential election will be decided.

"You want large turnout elections," he said in explaining the political calculations that go into deciding whether to go to the ballot. "Special elections tend to bring out more conservative voters."

The city also would need $157 million for furniture, fixtures and equipment, which cannot be paid with a facilities bond and instead would come from city general funds or private donations.

Under the new plan, the hospital will keep its 120 beds for psychiatric patients and patients needing advanced nursing skills. Those patients aren't bedridden or connected to ventilators or intravenous lines and therefore can be more easily evacuated in the case of an earthquake, Katz said.

The hospital may also become the site of administrative offices that are now rented by the city on Howard Street.

Katz said the new hospital probably wouldn't be completed until 2015, but he expects the city will have no problem getting a waiver from the state to go beyond the 2013 deadline. He said that he feels "incredibly jazzed" by the potential for building a new hospital without dismantling the old one.

"General Hospital has a special place in people's hearts," Katz said. "A lot of people's lives have been saved there."

sf_eddo
Sep 26, 2006, 1:58 AM
Opponents of Oak to Ninth waterfront development sue Oakland
- Jim Herron Zamora, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, September 25, 2006


(09-25) 17:44 PDT OAKLAND -- A group that wants voters to decide the fate of the proposed 3,100-unit Oak to Ninth development on the Oakland waterfront sued the city today, claiming that Oakland officials improperly excluded the referendum from the ballot.

The lawsuit is the latest tussle between supporters and opponents of what would be the largest new development in Oakland in about 50 years.

The project -- on largely unused, uninhabited waterfront land belonging to the Port of Oakland -- would stretch 64 acres from Oak Street to Ninth Avenue, hence its name.

Opponents want the development to include more open space and better public access to the shoreline and obtained 25,000 signatures in an effort to force a referendum.

But on Sept. 6, Oakland City Attorney John Russo issued a legal opinion that the petition for referendum should be invalidated because signature-gatherers failed to present voters with some attachments in the final ordinance.

The Oak to Ninth Referendum Committee, which includes the Sierra Club and League of Women Voters among other groups, is asking in its lawsuit that an Alameda County Superior Court judge overturn that decision and reinstate the referendum, which would appear on the ballot in 2007.

Stuart Flashman, an attorney for Referendum Committee, said today that signature-gatherers acted in good faith when they received a version of the ordinance from the Oakland City Clerk on July 21 -- three days after the City Council voted to approve the project.

Opponents who wish to put an ordinance before voters must do so within 30 days of the City Council vote. But Flashman said that the city attorney's office and lawyers for the developers made changes in the ordinance 45 days after it was approved by the council -- creating a Catch-22 for opponents.

"By the standards used by the city attorney it would be impossible for voters to challenge this ordinance," Flashman said. "If something is not available for a month and half and you only have 30 days to (challenge) the document, then your right of referendum is denied."

Erica Harrold, spokeswoman for Russo, said the city attorney's office was simply upholding state law governing the initiative and referendum process.

"We haven't seen the lawsuit yet, but we're defending the transparency of the process, and it's ironic that the League of Women Voters is challenging this opinion," Harrold said. It's unfortunate they've chosen to go this route."

E-mail Jim Zamora at jzamora@sfchronicle.com.


URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/09/25/BAGIFLCH006.DTL

fflint
Sep 26, 2006, 2:15 AM
I wonder how many Sierra Club and League of Women Voter members live in the flats of Oakland?

sf_eddo
Sep 26, 2006, 7:24 AM
This is not development news, but I still think it's super cool. Hayes Green is the centerpiece to the Octavia Plan, and they opened it with much fanfare with David Best's Burning Man temple, and now are planning something else for it.

from sf metroblogging:

Golden Gateway at Hayes Green
posted by Nancy McClure at 3:00 AM on September 25, 2006

image courtesy of SF Arts Commission
http://sf.metblogs.com/archives/images/2006/09/GOLDENGATEWAY.jpg

As an active advocate for the development of urban public spaces, I've delighted in the spacious Octavia Boulevard that now graces what was once the underbelly of the eye-sore Central Freeway ramp. The ambitious project boasts a gracious open setting for rotating public art, which currently stands a bit vacant - but not for long.



The SF Arts Commission's Public Art Program is soon to commence construction of a new, temporary art installation on the green by Oakland artist Seyed Alavi. The proposed structure's visual imagery appears to reference icons both historic and new - the Arc d'Triomphe in Paris, and the 2005 The Gates installation in NYC's Central Park by the artists Cristo and Jeanne-Claude. The three-dimensional arch will be constructed of scaffold framework with bright orange, semi-opaque fire-retardant nylon ensconcing it, and lit from within by halogen floodlights. (Thanks to SFAC's Jill Manton for a preview of the project).

The installation is the latest in an ongoing partnership of public and private funding, aimed at bringing more temporary public art to San Francisco. Hayes Green also boasts a permanent installation by Berkeley sculptor Wang Po Shu, of 12 kaleidescope sculptures of unique combinations of mirrors and lenses, devised both to be works of art themselves, and to visually engage with the rotating art centerpieces.

The site previously held the lacey framed temple sculpture by famed Burning Man artist David Best. The temporal theme of the sculpture and the plywood construction led many visitors to leave their own mark on the piece - multi-colored graffiti graced the interlocking surfaces and added to the theme of intricate decoration. I, too, added a ballpoint pen inscription, which like the Hindu practice of lekhapraratha havana 'written prayer burning rite', would be floating to the heavens, as with many of Best's structures, the temple was purported to be sacrificed during 'the burn' in 2005.

While Alavi's piece may not garner the active public participation that the temple did (and is likely not desired to), the flowing scrim and ethereal glow of the sculpture is sure to enliven the Green, and give new cause to celebrate this recent addition to SF's collection of artful, and art-full, public spaces.

dimondpark
Sep 26, 2006, 12:55 PM
I wonder how many Sierra Club and League of Women Voter members live in the flats of Oakland?
exactly.

also,
how many of them gave a rat's ass about this stretch of real estate prior to the project coming along? It sat in decay forever but suddenly the future of life in Oakland hinges upon their ability to walk freely on an historically industrial waterfront:rolleyes:

I think the judge will side with the city hence their opposition will be squashed by their own deliberate misinformation-poetic justice.:D

dimondpark
Sep 26, 2006, 1:11 PM
drove by this yesterday, its really coming along nicely

Development drawing retailers Uptown
Massive Oakland project pulls in stores, bars, restaurants
San Francisco Business Times - September 22, 2006by Ryan Tate

With Oakland's large Uptown housing project now under construction, retailers and developers are scrambling to fill up the surrounding blocks.

Development firm Metrovation plans to renovate and add retail to the office building it recently acquired at 2201 Broadway, just two blocks away from Uptown. Rick Mitchell, owner of bustling Luka's Taproom, recently agreed to lease space for a wine bar across Broadway from Luka's near West Grand Avenue.

Directly across the street from Uptown, where 665 units are being built, the restaurateurs behind high-end Oakland Mexican restaurant Doña Tomas are planning a new bar and restaurant. A new Italian-themed cafe, Lenza, opened earlier this year near 17th Street and Telegraph Avenue.

Signature Properties of Pleasanton earlier this year added 10,000 square feet of retail to its Broadway Grand project, now under construction at the site of the former Negherbon auto dealership and across the street from Luka's, for a total of 17,000 square feet. Brandywine Realty Trust is building an Uptown-area office tower with 15,000 square feet of retail.

Developer Andrew Brog is in discussions with multiple firms to rent 5,300 square feet of retail space he has available at the Cathedral Building where Telegraph Avenue meets Broadway.

"The retail is beginning to grow, but organically," Susan Smartt, the Forest City executive in charge of leasing, said at a recent forum convened by San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, a public policy group. "It's not like San Francisco or Emeryville, where there's a big shopping center."

Metrovation, the real estate firm started by retail pioneer Merrit Sher, in February paid close to $22 million for the 187,000-square-foot office building at 2201 Broadway. The company plans to renovate the lobby and new entrance and upgrade the office space, said Chris Curtis, who is managing the project for Metrovation.

The company is also planning to add retail on its ground floor, now home to nonprofit tenants taking up 6,000 square feet, and is considering eventually re-opening the building's original entrance onto Broadway, which is now locked in favor of a side-street entrance.

The idea is to integrate 2201 Broadway more closely with the community, which includes the Fox Theater, now being restored, and the Paramount, a hub for smaller concerts and old movies.

"I want to get us into the community in some sort of cultural way," Curtis said.

Brog said the office building he bought in May at 1755 Broadway has about 97 percent of its 110,000 square feet leased, and rents are rising.

"I'm very happy with what's taken place -- this has become the hottest area in Oakland," Brog said.

Ryan Tate covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

rocketman_95046
Sep 27, 2006, 5:18 AM
A few SJ updates from Webcor.

AXIS (SAN JOSE CONDOMINIUMS)
The excavation of the site is proceeding with placement of tiebacks and the ongoing dewatering process. We are currently 25 feet into the excavation and intend to reach the 40 foot mark by mid-October. All of the tiebacks on the top two rows have been installed and as of September 12th, 45 tiebacks have been post-tensioned on the second row. We expect to start drilling the third and final row of tiebacks the week of September 18th.

Due to our proximity to the San Jose Airport, a special “flat head” tower crane was ordered from Italy to comply with FAA height regulations. The Comedil 561-20A tower crane arrived at the Port of Oakland on September 11th and will be erected on October 16th.
http://www.webcor.com/auto_images/large/rendering1152225134.jpg
http://www.webcor.com/auto_images/large/axisseptember2006e1159296155.jpg
http://www.webcor.com/auto_images/large/axisseptember2006b1159296087.jpg

CENTRAL PLACE, SAN JOSE, CA
September 2006

We completed our first successful mat slab pour on September 23rd. Beginning at 1:00 AM, it took approximately 19 hours to deposit 6,135 cubic yards of concrete. We have begun to pour columns on the west mat and will continue to build-up the west side. The pouring of the east foundation is scheduled for 1:00 AM on September 30th and will require approximately 4,000 cubic yards of concrete.

http://www.webcor.com/auto_images/large/centralplacefinal1152222427.jpg
http://www.webcor.com/auto_images/large/centralplaceseptember2006matslabpourb1159295287.jpg
http://www.webcor.com/auto_images/large/centralplaceseptember2006matslabpour1159295300.jpg

fflint
Sep 28, 2006, 8:43 PM
SAN FRANCISCO
Treasure Island development plan

Robert Selna
San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, September 28, 2006

City officials and private developers unveiled a preliminary development plan Wednesday for a new community on Treasure Island that would include 6,000 homes, a school and 300 acres of open space.

Michael Cohen of the mayor's Office of Base Reuse and Chris Meany, who represented a group of developers, described to the Treasure Island Development Authority a plan that would be funded with taxes generated by increased property values and as a result would take no money from the city's budget.

The lead developer is Kenwood Investments, controlled by Democratic lobbyist and fundraiser Darius Anderson. Kenwood will work with Lennar Corp. and Wilson Meany Sullivan, which led the Ferry Building restoration.

The plan, which places an emphasis on sustainable "green" living, includes a ferry terminal, retail center, marina and eight neighborhoods, each with townhouses, flats and a 14-story residential tower.

Most housing units -- 1,800 of which will be priced below market rate -- will be clustered within a 10-minute walk of the ferry.

The plan calls for paid, central parking to encourage foot traffic, as well as a free intra-island shuttle. A congestion pricing scheme would levy an estimated $5 fee on motorists driving on and off the island during commute times.

The project will be reviewed by the development authority board and a citizens group, and will probably go to the Board of Supervisors for a vote by the end of the year, Cohen said. Building could begin in early 2009, he said.