[Reminiscence]

Ah, Congratulations WildCowboy! Best of luck to you in this new phase of life. Thanks also for all your hard work in keeping the Mission Bay section covered so well.

[WildCowboy]

John King article (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/15/MNOA11F1NC.DTL) about parking garages in which he mentions the two currently under construction in Mission Bay.

The Gensler one, located on Alexandria's West Campus and sandwiched between the Gladstone Institutes building and 280. They're currently pouring piles for this one.

http://i35.tinypic.com/29p7luq.jpg

And the WRNS one (450 South Street), located between Third Street and the Old Navy headquarters building. They're up to the third level in places on this one. I previously provided pics of this when they were pouring the foundation.

http://i37.tinypic.com/2m2f9qr.jpg


And on another note, I apologize for not getting pics of the 1500 Owens façade going up. So I'm linking to one on a SmugMug site (http://ericandbill.smugmug.com/gallery/4266009_Lt9y6#250900026_DEvQk) I've linked to previously. This material wraps around the southern (shown here) and western sides, with a little bit of it wrapping around to the east side as you can see. The remainder of the façade will be glass.

http://ericandbill.smugmug.com/photos/329500913_ppuge-M.jpg

[peanut gallery]

I want to see the glass, but so far I like the random pattern going on there.

[hi123]

Has anything happened at the radiance II site or is it likely that the preject is dead?

[WildCowboy]

No real activity at Radiance II for awhile. There was a portable shed and a porta-potty there for a while with a little bit of activity (guys walking around and some minor digging), but that's gone.

I can't imagine that the project is dead, as they've driven hundreds of piles for it and Bosa has such large and long-term plans for Mission Bay, but I don't know what the timeline is for Phase II.

[peanut gallery]

The Arquitectonica-designed Avalon is now up to the 10th level. They've really stepped up the pace. Just a guess, but maybe the floorplates are more similar to each other than on the lower levels.

Photo from late June for reference:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3083/2612805754_85f0212f7b_b.jpg

[WildCowboy]

Looks like we may be getting close to start of construction for the 455 Mission Bay Boulevard South complex. The area had been used for laydown for the parking garage going up to the south, but that's been cleared and fenced off now, with laydown being moved to the west of the garage.

A double-wide construction trailer (presumably the jobsite office for 455 MB Blvd S) has been brought in and several poles (presumably to bring power to the trailer) have been installed.

[peanut gallery]

In case anyone missed it, they're opening the Arterra sales office and models this weekend.

[Downtown Dave]

Some more of Avalon Bay:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/SanFrancisco/MissionBay/MissionBay-5569.jpg

A reminder of my basketball career. Is that a giant toaster or a big pipe organ in the distance?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/SanFrancisco/MissionBay/MissionBay-5562.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/SanFrancisco/MissionBay/MissionBay-5560.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/SanFrancisco/MissionBay/MissionBay-5550.jpg

[peanut gallery]

Thanks for those views, Dave. I never see Arterra or Avalon from that angle, just from King.

[BTinSF]

What I want to know is when are the HOAs from all those new buildings going to get together to stop further development in the area and complain about anything further being built blocking their views and so on? The Mission Bay Neighborhood Association is ultimately going to be the most powerful group of NIMBYs in the city--putting the Telagraph Hill Dwellers to shame. It's almost inevitable.

[hi123]

I like the new buildings in this park of mission bay. That whole area reminds me of the type of buildings they are building in europe and canada because of the different colors and the whole concept of low rise townhomes .

[BTinSF]

:previous: And I thought we had moved beyond the Bauhaus school.

[nequidnimis]

These new buildings are certainly the type of development that the Telegraph Hill Dwellers and other neighborhood associations are trying to prevent in their backyards, but they do not look out of context in Mission Bay.

[Reminiscence]

I dont know if its the colors in the renderings or the design of the buildings, but I've taken a liking to this design.

http://www.socketsite.com/Radiance%20Phase%20II%20Rendering.jpg

The rendering for Radiance at Mission Bay Phase II is above (for which the site has been prepped and the pilings driven). The full SocketSite scoop on Phase I in the background (literally, not figuratively) is coming soon (as in this afternoon or possibly Monday).

Source: Socketsite.com

[mSeattle]

That's a GORGEOUS project!

[hi123]

^Yeah! I really hope that the larger phase gets built!

[hi123]

Downtown Dave, while you were down in mission bay did you get a chance to see how 330/335 berry were progressing?

[WildCowboy]

I recently asked a Radiance sales rep about plans for Phase II, and he said that they "hope to start coming out of the ground later this year."

Doesn't sound as optimistic as I'd been hoping for, so I don't think that the start of construction is imminent.

[peanut gallery]

^^^^Several months ago a sales manager there told me September/October. They're getting more general in their timeframe.

As for color, the rendering certainly shows much more color than the model:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3012/2422015327_e4b56dd200.jpg

A lot of it is in the glass, but you can see the addition of more color in some of the other material as well.

[rocketman_95046]

I dont know if this is really good news or really bad news for those hoping for the giants plan....

Play ball: Looks like the San Francisco Giants and a group headed by political wheeler-dealer Darius Anderson won't be battling each other for the rights to develop a ballpark village next to AT&T Park after all.

Instead, the two sides appear to be planning a merger.

Although neither side is commenting for the record, sources tell us both groups had doubts about the financial viability of their plans - and that getting into a bidding war wasn't likely to make things any easier.

Hence, we're told the Giants approached Anderson about a merger. That could place them in a stronger position to win concessions from the port, which owns the land.

Stay tuned.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/28/BA4F11VNL8.DTL

[Reminiscence]

I personally dont like the sound of this. That Giants plan was gorgeous, but I wonder what kind of changes, if any, will be made. However, as you say, it could be either really good news or really bad news.

[northbay]

if it means we get something on the site, instead of nothing, thats good news to me

[WildCowboy]

John King on Arterra...

Mission Bay condominium complex stands out
Monday, August 4, 2008

http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2008/08/04_t/dd-place05_ph3_0498859262_t.gif (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2008/08/04/DD2A121IVR.DTL&o=0&type=printable) http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2008/08/04_t/dd-place05_ph4_0498859264_t.gif (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2008/08/04/DD2A121IVR.DTL&o=1&type=printable)

Architecturally ambitious buildings - how can I put this? - tend to be terrible flirts.

They woo us with alluring images, brash and bold or soft and demure, depending on whether they're supposed to turn on the heat or settle into the landscape. Then comes the letdown - real life: The colors are flat, the taut lines sag, and everything that promised to be distinctive looks as generic as can be.

That's why the Arterra condominium complex in San Francisco's Mission Bay redevelopment district is such a welcome surprise. It's not a masterpiece, but it's a stylish newcomer with compact flair. And get this: It looks better in person than in the pictures.

The Arterra's centerpiece is a 16-story tower on Fifth Street designed as two squat interlocking cubes, one white and one dark blue. A six-story wing extends along Berry Street. A nine-story piece lines King Street where Interstate 280 touches down.

These dimensions aren't made for heroic architecture; they're dictated by the overall guidelines for Mission Bay's swath of former rail yards near the Giants ballpark. The guidelines were written to protect neighboring views and ensure well-landscaped streets, but they've spawned a procession of large residential buildings that range from mediocre to mundane.

The difference at Arterra is a mind-set that can be applied to any fast-changing city or suburb where budgets and zoning constraints rule out titanium-plated flamboyance: Keep things simple and make the details shine.

The tower by Kwan Henmi Architecture/Planning for Intracorp San Francisco doesn't fall into the trap of trying to make a stocky form look like a skyscraper - the type of illusion that works only in the make-believe of architectural imagery.

Instead, Arterra is all about solids and voids, notched recesses, contrasts that gleam. Literally. The outer layer of the building's skin is a European product, Trespa, made of resin and recycled paper. The blue is a deep blue. The white has a lacquered shine. Where windows pull back from the outer wall, the shift is accented by orange panels that stop just this side of lurid.

Trespa's green quotient is part of a sustainability push that's emphasized in Arterra's marketing (the roof of the Berry Street wing is covered in grasses, for instance). And by avoiding the district's beige and gray norm - greige? - Arterra is bound to stand out.

But sleek panels wouldn't matter if they wrapped yet another drab slab. That's where the contrasts add a tailored snap. Some of the windows are recessed 18 inches within the blue cube and some aren't. The white portions of the cube all have windows flush with the paneled skin.

The sense of depth is honest: Design architect Faraaz Mirza at Kwan Henmi took the seismic need for a thick concrete frame and treated it as a sort of grid, pulling some rooms out and nudging others back in. But the specific pattern is artifice - "just me playing," Mirza said during a tour of the project last week. "We went back and forth until we weren't allowed any more time."

That spirit is what the illustrations didn't convey. You search for rhythms in the set-back windows, syncopation in the orange strokes. The punched squares of deep blue make the white facades look streamlined rather than flat.

Is there a cost premium to all this? Not much. The Trespa costs more than a coat of stucco but less than precast concrete panels. The recessed windows mean slightly smaller units in terms of square footage, but they add to the individuality that might catch the eye of the target market, which is turning out to be child-free professionals who can afford a building where one-bedroom units with parking start at $587,500.

In other words, this is a 268-unit complex with a budget (and one where the $89 million cost of construction included 550 foundation piles driven as much as 200 feet into the Mission Bay mud). If the Trespa panels aren't as sumptuous as the brushed blue steel on the new Contemporary Jewish Museum near Yerba Buena Gardens, well, donors aren't footing the bill.

"There's a limit to what you can do - that's the reality of real estate - but we see the clear benefit" of making the effort to build something distinctive, said Michael McCone, vice president of development for Intracorp San Francisco. "If I can sell one or two more units a month, even at the same price, that works in our favor."

Ultimately, what sets Arterra apart from too many of its neighbors is a push to create something modest but memorable. Not all of it works - the syncopation gets fussy, and the nine-story wing along King Street is monolithic - but it never seems formulaic.

Arterra may prove to be an aberration, a bright spot amid the bland boxes that typify infill housing in San Francisco and other Bay Area cities. With luck, it will be something else: a signal to developers and architects that they shouldn't settle for something that just looks good on paper.

There's more at stake - the region we hand off to the next generation. We should strive for something that looks good in real life.

Place appears on Tuesdays. E-mail John King at jking@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/04/DD2A121IVR.DTL

[peanut gallery]

I agree with his opinion on Arterra. It's a great building that does look even better in person than it does in pictures. I think its new neighbor by Arquitectonica will look great too.

[BTinSF]

The best I can say about it is "It's not stucco". I'm not much into modern art--on canvas or on buildings.

[BTinSF]

Looks like the San Francisco Giants and a group headed by political wheeler-dealer Darius Anderson won't be battling each other for the rights to develop a ballpark village next to AT&T Park after all.

Instead, the two sides appear to be planning a merger.



Just a guess: With the defeat of Carole Migden last Spring, Darius Anderson lost his sugar momma and has to compromise. I do know he was on her speed dial.

[WildCowboy]

We now have a name to go with the previously-announced commitment for 100,000+ sf at 455 Mission Bay Blvd South: Pfizer. They also hold an option on another 50,000 sf.

Pfizer setting up key unit in Mission Bay
San Francisco Business Times - by Ron Leuty

Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drugmaker, is coming to San Francisco's Mission Bay.

The company will move about 100 employees -- including the headquarters of its new Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center -- into a new structure in San Francisco's growing Mission Bay biotech development.

The move is a coup for San Francisco since Pfizer is staking so much of its future on the Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center, or BBC, headed by biotech industry veteran Corey Goodman.

Pfizer leaders and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom plan to make the move official with an event at 2:15 p.m. today at the site on the east side of Third Street at Mission Bay Boulevard South. The location is across the street from the Mission Bay campus of the University of California, San Francisco.

Pfizer agreed Friday to a long-term lease of essentially the entire five-story, 105,000-square-foot west wing of Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc.'s planned office/laboratory complex at 455 Mission Bay Blvd. South. The only space Pfizer won't have in the wing is about 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.

Pfizer also has an option for 50,000 square feet in the omplex's 105,000-square-foot east wing.

Pfizer will move to the complex starting in early 2010, according to a company spokeswoman.

Full article here: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/08/04/daily12.html?t=printable

[peanut gallery]

^^^^That's great news!

I think this would also qualify as good news: Socketsite says that Radiance has closed on 25% of phase I (http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2008/08/radiance_at_mission_bay_phase_i_update_55_sold_and_clos.html) since mid-July and has another 25% in contract. That's half the development in a couple of weeks. Maybe phase II will get going again soon.

[peanut gallery]

I had to go down the Peninsula today, and took some pictures from the company shuttle as we sped past Mission Bay. They suck, but you can kind of see what's going on.

Here's Avalon Bay (the Arquitectonica building next to Arterra). They are really moving right along on this:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3291/2737135389_059a61cfd8_b.jpg

I tried to get a shot of the progress of the last two Berry projects. For some reason they built a temporary road from King and 5th over to somewhere under the freeway ramps. You can see them working on it in the lower right of this picture. By the time I returned to the city at 4pm, it was paved (this was shot a little after 8am):
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3244/2737972792_3fe8c136c8_b.jpg

This is 1500 Owens. It doesn't look like much has changed since WildCowboy posted an update a few weeks ago:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3136/2737974216_0061c83283_b.jpg

I was trying to capture Radiance and the other developments over that way, but mostly got freeway. Oh well:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3137/2737139855_e9a625056a_b.jpg

[BTinSF]

We now have a name to go with the previously-announced commitment for 100,000+ sf at 455 Mission Bay Blvd South: Pfizer. They also hold an option on another 50,000 sf.


Pfizer needs to do something to get into biotech in a big way. They aren't doing very well otherwise and losing the patents on some of their biggest sellers. Other major drug companies are buying biotech companies (Bristol Myers Squibb is trying to buy Imclone now) but so far Pfizer has not so they'll have to rev up biotech in house. Or maybe they plan to use this space to research which biotechs to buy.

[peanut gallery]

A little more detail in today's Chronicle (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/06/MNDK125K10.DTL), including a photo of the rendering. Unfortunately, this center was poached from SSF, so it's not an addition to the region. But it is a nice move forward for the success of Mission Bay.

http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2008/08/05/mn-pfizer06_ph2__0498880479.jpg

Pfizer moving new biotech research unit to S.F.
Bernadette Tansey, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 6, 2008

(08-05) 19:45 PDT -- San Francisco's drive to become a major hub of the biotechnology industry got a big boost Tuesday when Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drugmaker, said it will move the headquarters of its new biotech research unit to Mission Bay, next door to UCSF's new campus.

The department's move from South San Francisco is a "significant win," said Mayor Gavin Newsom, who has campaigned for years to attract biomedical companies to the city, where the biotech industry's scientific foundation was built more than 30 years ago with early gene-splicing experiments at UCSF.

The city has not yet estimated how much property tax or other revenue could flow directly from Pfizer's presence, officials said. But a greater impact of the move could be to increase interest in Mission Bay among other biomedical companies, said Kelley Kahn of the city's redevelopment agency. "It just really solidifies this biotech cluster we're trying to create," she said.

Pfizer, like most other huge pharmaceutical companies, has been scouting for promising new therapies by forming alliances with university researchers and biotech companies. And like other big drugmakers, Pfizer faces looming patent expiration dates for mainstay products such as Lipitor that contribute billions to its revenues. Pfizer formed its Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center last year, tapping Bay Area biotech veteran Corey Goodman to lead it.

Goodman's mission is to acquire or partner with biotech companies while allowing them to maintain the entrepreneurial culture that can lead to rapid breakthroughs in medical treatment. The move to Mission Bay, Goodman said, will place Pfizer a few steps from UCSF labs and its planned cancer hospital, making it easy for the company to carry out research collaborations, recruit top scientific talent and evaluate scientific advances.

"Every interest is aligned for us to take those innovative discoveries from basic biomedical research, turn them into therapeutics, test them in the clinic, and ultimately take them to the market to help patients," Goodman said. Pfizer had already inked a $9.5 million research collaboration deal in June with UCSF and its unit at QB3, the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, which is based at Mission Bay.

Pfizer's biotech research unit will lease a five-story building under construction next to the new UCSF campus, where a cluster of biomedical companies is sprouting.

Fulfilling the city's vision

The pioneering medical researchers at UCSF have always been a draw for biotech companies looking for new technologies to commercialize. However, in the early years of the industry they sought cheaper, roomier quarters available in outlying towns such as South San Francisco. But UCSF's second campus at Mission Bay is surrounded by vast tracts of open land, and city officials from former Mayor Willie Brown to Newsom have envisioned the university as a siren song for well-heeled biomedical companies that could bring jobs and tax revenues to the city.

"San Francisco offers companies like Pfizer a world-class urban innovation district, anchored by the nation's pre-eminent biomedical university, and unparalleled opportunities for collaboration and access to the very best talent that the United States and the world have to offer," Newsom said.

The gradual arrival of life sciences companies is starting to fulfill the vision of city officials. Redevelopment plans for Mission Bay include 6 million square feet of commercial space for biotech companies. At this point, 3 million square feet have been built, are under construction, or have city-approved plans, said Kahn of the redevelopment agency. With other land claimed for the UCSF cancer center, that leaves 1.7 million square feet still available for expansion.

QB3 director Regis Kelly said Pfizer's move will help create a thicket of personal ties between UCSF and the company, catalyzing research. "There is a huge advantage of the physical proximity of academic scientists and industry scientists," he said.

Pfizer expects to move 100 staffers into 100,500 square feet in the building at 455 Mission Bay Blvd. South by early 2010. That will include employees of antibody therapy developer Rinat, a South San Francisco biotechnology company bought by Pfizer in 2006. The Pfizer bioinnovation center has a 15-year lease with an option to rent half of an adjoining building the same size.

Room to expand

The Pfizer unit will be among the larger private biomedical companies at Mission Bay, which include Sirna Therapeutics Inc., a biotech company acquired by Merck & Co. in 2006; and FibroGen Inc., which will move from South San Francisco in November.

Although Pfizer has room to expand at Mission Bay, it doesn't intend to develop a huge campus of its own, Goodman said. The bioinnovation center is a hub that unites Pfizer collaborators in the Bay Area, Boston and San Diego. The company's base at Mission Bay will help its far-flung research partners form relationships with UCSF scientists, Goodman said.

But the bioinnovation center remains an "independent, entrepreneurial division of Pfizer," Goodman said. "We're never going to grow super-big," he said. "That's what we're trying to avoid."

[peanut gallery]

Curbed SF has the actual rendering posted (http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2008/08/05/pfizers_new_digs_at_mission_bay.php?o=0). I think it looks great. Perhaps my favorite in Mission Bay so far. I'd post them here, but it's not in a format that allows me to pull the URL.

[hi123]

I don't think that 330/ 335 berry can be the last berry street projects because there is still an empty lot across from edgewater , where the new road is being paved

[peanut gallery]

You're right. There is that last little sliver right next to the 280 offramp.

[WildCowboy]

Yes, that's Block N4A, Parcel 3. It's will be a 129-unit condo complex, with 80 of them being below market rate. It's designed by Kwan Henmi and there's some Redevelopment Agency discussion of it here (http://www.bicycle.sfgov.org/site/sfra_page.asp?id=58169). I haven't been able to find any renderings.

[hi123]

Anyone know when construction might start?

[WildCowboy]

That Redevelopment Agency document from April 2007 anticipated a December 2007 start, but clearly that has slipped. I have no additional information on when that might start.

[BTinSF]

Friday, August 8, 2008
How San Francisco caught Pfizer
City, UCSF, old relationships drew drug giant to Mission Bay
San Francisco Business Times - by Ron Leuty


Over a restaurant table at Farallon last fall, Corey Goodman gave his new boss, the CEO of the world's largest drugmaker, his vision of Big Pharma's future.

It was the start of a 10-month journey, one that would lead from the upscale San Francisco financial district restaurant through San Francisco City Hall, UCSF's latest campus and, ultimately, to a dusty patch in Mission Bay -- across from the University of California, San Francisco -- with pilings sticking out of the dirt.

That is where Goodman, Mayor Gavin Newsom and Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. CEO Joel Marcus formally announced Aug. 5 that Pfizer Inc.'s Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center, or BBC, will call Mission Bay home. The center is expected to spearhead the giant pharmaceutical firm's efforts to reinvigorate its drug pipeline through closer collaboration with biotech scientists and startups.

Pfizer will take 100,000 square feet at the corner of Third Street and Mission Bay Blvd. South -- nearly the entire west wing of the five-story complex -- with an option for 50,000 square feet of the east wing. With a 15-year lease, it will start moving 100 employees there in early 2010.

The deal underscores Pfizer's belief in the BBC and Goodman's vision of marrying academia and biotech under the traditionally chemistry-focused canopy of Big Pharma. Goodman is looking at stem cells, peptides, proteins and emerging technologies like RNA interference and new ways of delivering vaccines.

But Pfizer's success with the BBC, like the deal that brought the unit and Pfizer's Rinat Neuroscience from South San Francisco to Mission Bay, may depend as much on longstanding relationships as it does location.

'Hub of action'

Seated at Farallon with Goodman, Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler and other Pfizer officials was Reg Kelly, director of QB3, the University of California's three-campus plan to drive biomedical research off academia's shelves into industry and the bodies of patients.

Goodman and Kelly had been colleagues in and out of the UC system for years. Now -- a mere four days after becoming head of Pfizer's new effort to transform its moribund drug-development process -- Goodman wanted Kindler to listen to Kelly and see how they could forge a brave new drug-development world.

Pharmaceutical companies, Goodman said, must be near academic centers -- physically as well as philosophically. Instead, traditionally, they have sequestered themselves from new ideas while building multibillion-dollar blockbuster drugs.

Academic-industry collaborations typically take nine months just to bring lawyers together, Goodman said. By that time, researchers "don't remember what the heck experiments they wanted to do in the first place."

But at UCSF, Chancellor Michael Bishop and the School of Medicine's executive vice dean, Keith Yamamoto, have promoted new approaches to collaboration. Kelly's Mission Bay-based QB3, the California Institute for Quantitative Bioscience, is evidence of that.

QB3 had already helped UCSF land a master agreement with the granddaddy of biotech, Genentech Inc., and its Garage incubator was helping academic scientists and researchers craft their innovations into businesses. In June, Pfizer and QB3 would finalize a $9.5 million, three-year collaboration deal.

So when it came to finding a permanent home for the BBC, Goodman knew he wanted to be near UCSF.

"We did look around and realized it wasn't about price. The issue is about culture," said Goodman, who is an adjunct faculty member at UCSF and founded Exelixis Inc. and Renovis Inc. in South San Francisco. "We want to be in the hub of action."

City connection

San Francisco city officials were already familiar with Goodman. When Renovis' main stroke drug had a successful Phase III trial, Goodman started scouting locations for what he anticipated would be a much larger company.

Mayor Newsom had already focused economic development policy on biotech and Mission Bay. The 303-acre former landfill, Southern Pacific rail yard and warehouse wasteland started its transformation to a biotech hub under Mayor Willie Brown, but Newsom's team zeroed in on baseline issues like parking and a biotech payroll tax exemption.

Newsom and other city officials met with Goodman in February 2006, but after the failure of Renovis' stroke drug in a late-stage trial by partner AstraZeneca at the end of 2006, the company laid off 40 of its 100 employees.

Goodman worked out a deal, finalized last September, to sell the company to German biotech firm Evotec AG for $152 million. And Goodman, who knew Pfizer leaders as a result of a Renovis research deal, started Oct. 4 at Pfizer.

Jesse Blout, who at the time headed the city's economic development efforts, sent a congratulatory email in November. By March, Pfizer and city officials like Todd Rufo sat down for their first meeting.

"We thought there was a significant possibility that they could stay (in South San Francisco)," said Jennifer Matz of San Francisco's Office of Workforce and Economic Development.

The city outlined the payroll tax exemption Pfizer could use for its 100 employees in Mission Bay as well as state enterprise zone benefits, which could cut the company's state tax on equipment and could give it a sales tax credit of up to $2 million.

City officials said no special incentive deals were pitched to net Pfizer.

Goodman had based the BBC, at least in the short term, at Rinat Neuroscience, the South San Francisco company that Pfizer bought in 2006. He brought in Skip Whitney and James Bennett from GVA Kidder Mathews and Randy Scott from Cornish & Carey Commercial in December, and they began scouting for a permanent home in South San Francisco or Mission Bay.

Among the buildings explored was China Basin Landing, where McCarthy Cook & Co. and RREEF were in the final stages of a unique 175,000-square-foot expansion atop 185 Berry St.

UCSF's epidemiology and biostatistics department and its imaging center are at China Basin Landing, and the space was only a couple months away from move-in condition. Plus, it is a 15-minute walk -- or five-minute shuttle bus or Muni rail trip -- to the Mission Bay campus.

But, Goodman said, he wanted to be even closer to UCSF. "For collaboration, there is no better place to do it," he said.

Steps away

Goodman leaned toward Alexandria, which had built 1700 Owens St. and leased space there to tenants like Merck & Co., biotech pioneer Bill Rutter, a handful of small biotechs and a cadre of biotech-related venture capital firms.

That building is on the other side of UCSF's Mission Bay campus.

There too a longtime relationship came into play: Alexandria handled Pfizer's first research space lease in Cambridge, Mass., 10 years ago, Alexandria's Marcus said.

"Real estate is real estate," Marcus said. "Location is critical, but it's the ability to put the pieces together that makes a difference."

By early May, Pfizer had signed a letter of intent with Alexandria.

That same month, Pfizer inked a research and equity deal with Five Prime Therapeutics Inc., located next door to 1700 Owens in the J. David Gladstone Institutes building. What's more, Five Prime President and CEO Gail Maderis is a friend of Goodman and is on Mayor Newsom's biotech task force.

City officials were in full lobbying mode. Newsom and Goodman, who had met almost 1½ years before to talk about Renovis moving to the city, had another meeting in April. The mayor called Goodman at least two times in May.

"The city was responsive, cordial and available," said Bennett of GVA Kidder Mathews.

In the end, Goodman said, he chose the Alexandria site for what it could mean long term for academic-industry relationships. Those few steps between UCSF, QB3 and Pfizer's BBC could go a long way toward breaking down traditional barriers, he said, and the location also could allow the BBC to forge new, creative arrangements with venture capitalists.

"We can collaborate," Goodman said. "We can make it where it's only a few steps away."

rleuty@bizjournals.com / (415) 288-4939
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/08/11/story2.html?t=printable

[peanut gallery]

I quickly passed (and thus was unable to shoot) Mission Bay today. A bunch of glass has been delivered to 1500 Owens, so we should start to see that go on shortly. And they have started installing the facade at the Arquitectonica-designed Avalon Bay development. It looks like pre-cast concrete, but might not be (I didn't have much time to examine it). Don't fear, it doesn't look bad so far (after just a handful of sections have been installed).

[rocketman_95046]

I quickly passed (and thus was unable to shoot) Mission Bay today. A bunch of glass has been delivered to 1500 Owens, so we should start to see that go on shortly. And they have started installing the facade at the Arquitectonica-designed Avalon Bay development. It looks like pre-cast concrete, but might not be (I didn't have much time to examine it). Don't fear, it doesn't look bad so far (after just a handful of sections have been installed).

you can barely see some of the avalon pre-cast facade at the base of the tower from the webcam if you zoom in.

http://oxblue.com/pro/open/?webPath=avalonbay/amb/

[BTinSF]

More on Pfizer from CurbedSF:

Pfizer, UCSF, and Mission Bay: A Love Story

http://sf.curbed.com/uploads/11Aug08_Pfizer.png

http://curbednetwork.com/cache/gallery/3118/2735184819_41c95f0656_o.jpg

http://curbednetwork.com/cache/gallery/3059/2736018684_95809465aa_o.jpg

Behind every pharmaceutical megafirm headquarters is a story that warms the cockles of the heart: Gather 'round for the tale of Pfizer, which last week announced they would be moving in to new digs at Mission Bay Boulevard, South. The drug company had been hoping to merge intellectual zygotes with UCSF's research facility for some time, and wanted a good site nearby. Before they ended up at the Alexandria property, they scoped China Basin Landing at 185 Berry Street, which was finishing up a 175,000-square-foot expansion. It was close to UCSF, but evidently not close enough, and they weren't about to do the long-distance thing ("15-minute walk? How ridic!"). Instead, they inked a deal with Alexandria to move in on just the other side of the UCSF Mission Bay campus — the city was all too happy to have more biotech in Mission Bay, and they all lived happily ever after.
Source: http://sf.curbed.com/ (renderings at http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2008/08/05/pfizers_new_digs_at_mission_bay.php?o=2 )

[WildCowboy]

I quickly passed (and thus was unable to shoot) Mission Bay today. A bunch of glass has been delivered to 1500 Owens, so we should start to see that go on shortly.

A few panels started going up yesterday on the east façade of 1500 Owens. Haven't been by there yet today, but I assume they're moving right along on it.

[peanut gallery]

^^^I noticed that today. I couldn't really see how it looked from the freeway, but you can see glass going up.

[peanut gallery]

I got another couple of drive-by shots of Avalon today. At least you can see the colors:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3129/2758337705_4950a295d7_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3240/2759178478_ca81fa47bf_b.jpg

[WildCowboy]

Here's a shot of 1500 Owens from that SmugMug (http://ericandbill.smugmug.com/gallery/4266009_Lt9y6#352298462_dqKsR) site I've linked to a couple of times before. The glass has an interesting randomness of tints...very cool. Some of the panels even have two different tints...at first it just looks like shadows, but there are actually different shades there.

http://ericandbill.smugmug.com/photos/352298462_dqKsR-M.jpg

[peanut gallery]

Thanks for posting that, Cowboy. It's the best look yet I've had of the glass. I like it!

[BTinSF]

http://www.socketsite.com/Avalon%20Across%20The%20Creek.jpg
240 Berry on Socketsite ( http://www.socketsite.com )

[BTinSF]

The Avalon rendering (I had forgotten what it looked like--perhaps you have too):

http://www.socketsite.com/240%20Berry%20-%20Arquitectonica%20.jpg
Source: http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2007/03/240_berry_no_condos_for_you.html

[BTinSF]

555 Mission Rock: Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow (And A Recap)

http://www.socketsite.com/555%20Mission%20Rock%20Site.jpg

The quick recap for 555 Mission Rock in south Mission Bay: 192 apartments ranging in size from 650 to 1,300 square feet (and 10,000 square feet of ground floor retail).

http://www.socketsite.com/555%20Mission%20Rock%208-11-08.jpg
http://www.socketsite.com/555%20Mission%20Renderings.jpg

Development by Urban Housing Group, design by SB Architects, and opening Spring 2009.


Source: http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2008/08/555_mission_rock_yesterday_today_and_tomorrow_and_a_rec.html

[peanut gallery]

It's a bit out of date, but I love that aerial shot of the skyline.

[c1tyguy]

:previous: Blablablablabla. Like every other uninspired development in Mission Bay.

[viewguysf]

:previous: Blablablablabla. Like every other uninspired development in Mission Bay.

Yeah, boring! :goodnight:

[TWAK]

I got a chick in SF so I have opportunities to take pictures. These are from my cell phone so they are gonna suck.
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/3835/082108152801ary4.jpg
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/4883/082108153001acx2.jpg
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/2962/082108153201ajq0.jpg
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/8769/082108153100agh4.jpg

[WildCowboy]

Couple of shots of 1500 Owens. Glass going up nicely on the east façade. It looks a bit drab in the direct sunlight of morning, but from midday on, it reflects ambient light rather nicely. In the second photo you can see the first few windows going into the south façade.

http://i33.tinypic.com/11lh98g.jpg

http://i37.tinypic.com/2lufk0o.jpg

[peanut gallery]

This is looking great. I hadn't seen the shape of the crown before. Right now, I think this is my favorite south of the channel.

[peanut gallery]

This is hardly surprising. It's a shame because phase II will make this a much better looking development, IMO.

From the San Francisco Business Times (http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/09/08/story2.html):

Bosa Development suspends Mission Bay condo project
Developer to restart in spring
San Francisco Business Times - by J.K. Dineen
Friday, September 5, 2008

Bosa Development has suspended construction of the next phase of its Radiance condominium project in Mission Bay, citing weaker-than-expected sales amid the housing downturn.

Nearly 18 months after the sales office opened for the 99-unit first phase, a total of 30 units have closed and another 22 are in contract for the completed building. Dennis Serraglio, Bosa’s director of sales and marketing, said lenders Scotiabank and Bank of America want to see at least two-thirds of the units closed before the steel starts to rise on Phase Two.

Bosa completed all the piles for the 318-unit Phase Two before construction was halted in July. Serraglio said he is hoping sales will be far enough along to justify pouring concrete on phase two by spring of 2009, making the project about a year behind schedule.

“The construction lenders are a bit nervous in this market — they want to see where it’s going,” said Serraglio. “It is a tough market right now. Buyers are taking longer to make a purchase decision. We’re used to buyers coming in once or twice and then entering into a contract. Here we’re seeing them come back five or six times.”

Some photos I shot awhile ago:

Here's how Phase II is supposed to look:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2356/2422832384_4b6ce722f5_b.jpg

Here are some of the piles mentioned in the article with Phase I behind:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2039/2422032187_7087a5e465_b.jpg

[WildCowboy]

^^^And since Bosa has a stranglehold on most of the rest of the residential projects in Mission Bay South, expect the rest of the pipeline to be delayed as well. Nothing else had firm start dates, but a project or two has been designed and made its way through the city approval process.


In other news, 1500 Owens is continuing to shape up. They're putting glass into the openings on the southern and western façades. They've temporarily halted major glass work on the eastern façade to allow pouring of the Owens Street road bed to take place. They did the eastern half of the street a couple of days ago, and are doing the western half today.

They've also opened a small driveway/road running along the freeway side of that "campus". It has allowed them to close down the access road that previously cut through the 1600 Owens site and they are now drilling and casting piles for that project. (I don't believe actual construction is necessarily imminent though.) They seem to be done casting piles for the first parking garage there, and I believe they are headed through the city approvals process for the second garage.

Over along Third Street, there is excavation and concrete work for the grade beams going on at the Pfizer complex at 455 MB Blvd S, and the large parking garage south of there is seeing forms going up for its fifth level.

They've also torn up the hodgepodge of asphalt sidewalks for several blocks along the western side of Third, have prepared irrigation lines for future street trees, and will likely pour proper sidewalks and corner aprons soon.

It's difficult to get a good vantage point on future Fourth Street, but they look to have poured a significant portion of the road bed between Channel Street and 555 Mission Rock. I've also seen them installing traffic lights along there.

As for 555 Mission Rock, I saw a large mobile crane there yesterday doing something with the tower crane, so that may be on the verge of coming down. The building has been topped out for several weeks now.

On UCSF's campus, scaffolding has come down from much of the Diller Cancer Research Building along Third, although the prominent eastern façade is still pretty well covered with scaffolding and netting. Foundation work on the cardiovascular research building just west of that is continuing. It looks to be about two-thirds poured, with the rebar done for the remainder. They're pouring more concrete today. Shouldn't be too long before steel starts to rise.

Finally, and this is old news, they have removed all of the vertical glass panels from UCSF's Third Street Garage. They have had problems with the panels cracking, and were trying to determine the cause and an in-place solution the last I heard, but it seems that they've had to bring them all down. There had also been a lot of complaints that the concrete was far too visible behind the translucent glass unless you were looking at it from a very oblique angle, but I'm not sure if the cracking fix will involve new panels that can be made more opaque to address that issue.

[BTinSF]

^^^And since Bosa has a stranglehold on most of the rest of the residential projects in Mission Bay South, expect the rest of the pipeline to be delayed as well. Nothing else had firm start dates, but a project or two has been designed and made its way through the city approval process.


If they aren't interested in developing it, maybe they'll sell it as we have seen in other cases. It costs money to just sit on property.

[Downtown Dave]

They were indeed today removing the tower crane at 555 Mission Rock:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/SanFrancisco/MissionBay/MissionRock-6570.jpg

It was so hot at lunchtime that even I was too lazy to go over there and watch.

[peanut gallery]

I hear you, Dave. I wanted to walk down to Trinity this week, but it's been too hot to make that trek. Heck, I couldn't even muster the will to walk over to Market to check out One Kearny!

[peanut gallery]

The Mission Creek Sports Park is opening this weekend. There will be a grand opening festival this Saturday, starting at 10:00am. More details at the Mission Bay Parks website (http://www.missionbayparks.com/home.php).

[BTinSF]

Thursday, September 18, 2008 - 1:39 PM PDT | Modified: Thursday, September 18, 2008 - 2:36 PM
UC Regents approve plan for new $1.7B UCSF Mission Bay hospital complex
San Francisco Business Times - by Chris Rauber

As expected, the University of California Regents have approved the design, budget and other key elements of UC San Francisco’s nearly $1.7 billion new hospital campus at Mission Bay, UCSF announced Thursday.

UCSF officials said the project, which has a first-phase $1.686 billion budget, will be one of the largest building projects in the western United States. The Regents unanimously approved the hospital complex’s budget, design and environmental certification, according to UCSF, which hopes to build a 289-bed women’s, children’s and cancer specialty hospital at Mission Bay by early 2014.

The new facility, squeezed into a 14.5-acre parcel, will be located adjacent to UCSF’s 43-acre biomedical research campus, south of downtown San Francisco near AT&T Park.

The first phase of the project includes construction of the hospital complex itself, along with a parking lot. When more money is available, UCSF would begin the next phase, which would include a cancer outpatient building, a 580-car parking structure and faculty office space. After that, at least a decade or more from now, UCSF might add 261 more inpatient beds, expanded outpatient services and more parking.

UCSF said its goal is to integrate patient care with research, strengthening both “bench to bedside” and “bedside to bench” collaboration among UCSF basic scientists, clinical researchers and physicians. The new facility will also allow UCSF to meet state seismic safety regulations and alleviate space shortages at its Parnassus Heights and Mt. Zion campuses.

Mark Laret, CEO of UCSF Medical Center, predicted the resulting complex at Mission Bay will be “an epicenter” of international scope, combining the best in clinical care with the best in health science research.

The Regents approved the Mission Bay hospital plan as an agenda item at their regular business meeting this week, held on the UC Irvine campus, officials said. The Regents’ committees on grounds and buildings and finance voted in favor of the project Sept. 17, followed by an approval by the full board Thursday, Sept. 18.

That OK was the last major hurdle before UCSF submits structural plans to the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development in December. Construction on the complex, which has been in the planning stages since 2002, would begin in 2009 after it receives state approval, with the facility slated to open by early 2014, UCSF said.

If all goes according to plan, the new facility will be the first hospital built from the ground up in San Francisco in 30 years.

The giant project will be funded by a mixture of philanthropic contributions, hospital reserves, debt financing and state support. San Francisco philanthropist Dede Wilsey is voluntary chairwoman of a campaign to raise $600 million in private donations. The campaign’s planning team includes business and civic leaders Barbara Bass Bakar, Ronald Conway, Carmen Policy and Richard Rosenberg.

crauber@bizjournals.com / (415) 288-4946

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/09/15/daily62.html?t=printable

[WildCowboy]

Not much new to report here...lots of activity on the existing projects, but nothing terribly noteworthy.

The big news is that a large mobile crane has arrived on the UCSF campus, which is almost certainly here to erect the steel for the cardiovascular research building. They've been finishing up with some minor concrete pours yesterday and today, and then the foundation should be done. Haven't seen any steel arriving on site yet, but I'd imagine it should be just around the corner.

[peanut gallery]

Thanks Cowboy. I did manage to get a couple of shots of Avalon today. They're from a moving bus, so not the best:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3071/2885846949_feb7fe0044_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3191/2886684598_beb11a62dd_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3126/2885849601_b3d327f4c4_b.jpg

[peanut gallery]

I also shot 1500 Owens today. These photos don't do the building any justice. It's really quite.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3177/2885844035_328c23ec18_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3174/2886721466_5a01291df5_b.jpg

[WildCowboy]

Nice shots, p.g...thanks for posting those. I can see Avalon from my work building, and it's neat to see façade panels going onto the upper levels first, as shown in your first pic. Not too often you see that.

And I too like 1500 Owens...Alexandria is going with some pretty interesting architecture on a lot of their projects in Mission Bay. Reminder: Check out their site (www.alexandriamissionbay.com/) for details on their projects. They've posted some new info on and renderings of 600 and 650 Misson Rock recently.

On a related note, 1450 Owens and 600 and 650 Mission Rock are going before the Planning Commission in a few days. It doesn't mean construction will start anytime soon, but it's progress! :)

The Pier 70 shipyard has a new visitor, Star Princess (http://www.princess.com/learn/ships/tp/). No camera today, or I'd post a pic or two...an impressive ship.

And following up on my note yesterday regarding the arrival of the crane for UCSF's cardiovascular research building, steel has begun arriving. They've also installed a lift, even though it's a lift to nowhere at the moment. Screenshot from CVRB webcam (http://www.cpfm.ucsf.edu/projects/cp_cvrb.html):

http://i34.tinypic.com/mk8xh.jpg

[peanut gallery]

Thanks Cowboy, my pleasure.

You're right about some of the proposed architecture on their site. The best is definitely yet to come. How far along are they on the facade of 455 Mission Bay? I like the rendering, but I don't recall seeing it last time I was down there and I don't think I can see it from the freeway.

[WildCowboy]

455 MB Blvd S isn't up yet...they're still working on the foundation grade beams. Will definitely let you know when it begins to rise. :)

[peanut gallery]

Well, that explains why I haven't noticed it. I guess they're early '09 completion date is out the window.

[WildCowboy]

Yeah, Pfizer is supposed to move in early 2010. So I would imagine the building would be "done" by Alexandria's advertising standards (ie. shell space) around mid-2009. That would give a standard 6-9 month build-out for Pfizer's finished space.

[WildCowboy]

You can barely see it in the back corner, but it certainly appears as if the first piece of steel for UCSF's cardiovascular research building has just gone up.

Again, from the webcam (http://www.cpfm.ucsf.edu/projects/cp_cvrb.html):

http://i33.tinypic.com/b54iok.jpg

[WildCowboy]

I'll try to post a webcam (http://www.cpfm.ucsf.edu/projects/cp_cvrb.html) shot every Monday morning to document progress on UCSF's cardiovascular research building.

http://i37.tinypic.com/316x2ec.jpg

[peanut gallery]

I love how fast steel-framed buildings go up. Not bad for a week's work.

[WildCowboy]

Another Monday CVRB shot from the webcam (http://www.cpfm.ucsf.edu/projects/cp_cvrb.html). They're still doing some foundation work at the south end, so they're really going vertical on the north end.

http://i36.tinypic.com/1zfn7uc.jpg

[WildCowboy]

Also noticed today that the taller tower crane at Avalon Phase III is down.

[peanut gallery]

Did you happen to notice if the big mobile crane was helping disassemble the tower crane or are they using it to bring material up instead of the tower crane? I went by so fast this morning, I couldn't really tell. Either way, the skin is getting there and I'm liking it.

[WildCowboy]

I can't see from my vantage point what the mobile crane has been up to. I assume it's been disassembling the tower crane.

[WildCowboy]

Two different webcam shots today in order to capture the progress. The first is the usual one, from the CVRB webcam (http://www.cpfm.ucsf.edu/projects/cp_cvrb.html). The second is from the Diller Building webcam (http://www.cpfm.ucsf.edu/projects/cp_diller.html) that is better capturing the CVRB's height. The section in the far corner is topped out, but you can see in the foreground just how much of the footprint is yet to be started.

http://i37.tinypic.com/ea07l2.jpg

http://i38.tinypic.com/21l4glz.jpg

[peanut gallery]

According to the SF Business Times (http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/10/20/focus7.html), Mission Bay won't be seeing much new residential building anytime soon:

Mission Bay housing construction slows to a crawl
San Francisco Business Times - by J.K. Dineen
Friday, October 17, 2008

The national housing crash is finally dragging down high-flying Mission Bay.

Over the past five years, new blocks of apartments and condos have sprouted up at a mind-boggling clip along Mission Bay’s Berry and King streets: 2,964 units were built, creating a new neighborhood seemingly overnight.

But while 3,090 more units are approved to be built across Mission Creek in Mission Bay South, the domestic housing slump and global financial panic is starting to take its toll. In September, the Business Times reported that Bosa Development, the largest residential property owner in Mission Bay, had suspended work on the 318-unit second phase of the Radiance because the developer’s lenders wanted to see 75 percent of the 99-unit Phase I sold before construction on part two resumes. While Bosa hopes to start construction up again in the spring of 2009, a prolonged recession could delay that date as well as push back all of the 1,700 units the developer plans for the area.

“I think Mission Bay is further along than anyone imagined it would be, but I would not be surprised if there is a couple of years where not a whole lot happens,” said Don Little, senior vice president of Opus West Corp., which recently sold the last unit of its 110-unit Park Terrace. “Bosa has a great opportunity — they are just going to have to wait for the next cycle.”

[WildCowboy]

A host of Alexandria projects went in front of the Redevelopment Agency yesterday after having already been approved by the Planning Commission. Fortunately, the Redevelopment Agency is now providing PDFs of attachments, so we can see renderings and elevations for all of these projects...see the supporting materials (http://www.sfgov.org/site/sfra_page.asp?id=91136) for details on the projects and links to the attachments.

Included were 600 Terry Francois (Block 30), 650 Terry Francois (Block 32), 1450 Owens (Blocks 41-43, Parcel 7), and the Blocks 41-43, Parcel 6 parking garage.

[WildCowboy]

CVRB update from the webcam (http://www.cpfm.ucsf.edu/projects/cp_cvrb.html). Steel stopped going up midday Thursday and hasn't resumed yet. It's moved out of the frame of the webcam, but the entire northern portion is topped out.

Not sure what the delay is now...perhaps they moved so fast that steel fabrication couldn't keep up. Perhaps there were scheduling issues related to the foundation work (now apparently done) that was going on on the southern portion of the site.

http://i35.tinypic.com/307vxfs.jpg

[peanut gallery]

Is the steel for the southern portion already onsite? Or have they installed everything they have so far?

[WildCowboy]

I don't believe the steel is anywhere onsite. They've been bringing it in daily and laying it down there on the blank dirt patch. As you can see, they've exhausted that supply.

Edit: I take back my previous comment I had in this space about the crane...I think I was just looking at the crane from an odd perspective.

[WildCowboy]

More steel arrived this morning, although they haven't yet started putting it up.

[peanut gallery]

That's good news.

[peanut gallery]

SocketSite has renderings of 330/335 Berry (http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2008/10/mission_walk_330335_berry_applications_now_available_du.html#comments):

http://www.socketsite.com/Mission%20Walk%20Rendering%20-%20Mission%20Creek.jpg

http://www.socketsite.com/Mission%20Walk%20Rendering%20-%20Berry%20Street.jpg

[viewguysf]

[QUOTE=peanut gallery;3881685]SocketSite has renderings of 330/335 Berry (http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2008/10/mission_walk_330335_berry_applications_now_available_du.html#comments):


These are ghastly--beyond fugly!

[BTinSF]

[QUOTE=peanut gallery;3881685]SocketSite has renderings of 330/335 Berry (http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2008/10/mission_walk_330335_berry_applications_now_available_du.html#comments):


These are ghastly--beyond fugly!

Having a really bad day?

Yeah, they aren't so pretty, but if the city offered me a bargain rate (below market) condo in one of 'em I'd take it.

[WildCowboy]

Bonus midweek pic from the CVRB webcam (http://www.cpfm.ucsf.edu/projects/cp_cvrb.html) to show that steel is going up again. And they've adjusted the camera a bit to better capture the top of the structure.

http://i38.tinypic.com/24l2zx5.jpg

[WildCowboy]

Alexandria's earnings conference call revealed a couple of tidbits today:

1. 1500 Owens is now fully-committed. As you may remember, it was announced several months ago that UCSF would be taking ~40% of the building for their Orthopedics Institute. During today's conference call, Alexandria mentioned that a "multi-billion dollar equity market cap biotech company" is taking the remainder of the space.

2. Alexandria had been in discussions with two institutions for build-to-suit projects in Mission Bay, but have put those off until next year because of a complete evaporation of construction financing.


No specific word about 1600 Owens, for which they are still casting piles. Based on general comments from the past two conference calls, I assume that this project will come to a halt once the piles are done and until the financing market improves and they get an anchor tenant locked in.

[peanut gallery]

Thanks for the updates, Cowboy.

viewguy, They're pretty blah, but they are below market rate housing afterall. I didn't expect much.

[viewguysf]

[QUOTE=viewguysf;3882732]

Having a really bad day? Not at all!

Yeah, they aren't so pretty, but if the city offered me a bargain rate (below market) condo in one of 'em I'd take it. Yes, of course most people would, especially those who are not homeowners. BUT (see Peanut below)...

[viewguysf]

Thanks for the updates, Cowboy.

viewguy, They're pretty blah, but they are below market rate housing afterall. I didn't expect much.

I think that we should expect more and insist upon it. I'm all for BMR housing--we need a lot more of it in San Francisco--yet we shouldn't have to look at it in twenty years (or less) as an eyesore. Valencia Gardens in the Mission replaced a hideous housing project and it is quite well done. There are other examples here and elsewhere too.

I don't want to be overly judgmental from just looking at two renderings, but these do seem to be boring boxes that are not good enough for an exciting and prominent location in this city.

[peanut gallery]

Another example is the very nice Salvation Army housing in the Tenderloin:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2299/2472779228_9f2e599983_b.jpg

We can insist all we want, but the reality is that developers won't build unless it pencils out. That means housing that is going to sell below market rates isn't going to be built with the best architecture and finishes. Clearly it can be done in some cases, but I don't think it will ever be the norm.

[viewguysf]

Another example is the very nice Salvation Army housing in the Tenderloin. We can insist all we want, but the reality is that developers won't build unless it pencils out. That means housing that is going to sell below market rates isn't going to be built with the best architecture and finishes. Clearly it can be done in some cases, but I don't think it will ever be the norm.

Yes, PG, this is a wonderful example. As BT and others have also pointed out numerous times, the Tenderloin has seen many nice improvements in the last four years or so.

[830point35]

couldn't they have hired some architecture students just to mix up those facades a little?

[WildCowboy]

Another Monday morning image from UCSF's CVRB webcam (http://www.cpfm.ucsf.edu/projects/cp_cvrb.html). In the lower left, you can see that they've poured the base for the block of Fourth Street that borders the building.

http://i35.tinypic.com/2ik83yq.jpg

[peanut gallery]

It's moving along quickly. Gotta love steel.

[BTinSF]

Friday, November 14, 2008
Alexandria Real Estate postpones two bio buildings
Mission Bay developer had tenants ready to go, CEO says
San Francisco Business Times - by J.K. Dineen

Alexandria Real Estate Equities will delay starting construction on two buildings at its Mission Bay biotech campus, despite having tenants willing to lease at least 200,000 square feet, company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Joel Marcus told analysts during an earnings call.

Marcus said Nov. 3 that Alexandria has “deferred two future build-to-suits for credit institutional tenants” in Mission Bay due to the seizure in the credit markets and economic downturn.

“We could be teaming up on two new construction starts in Mission Bay for something in the range of 200,000 to 300,000 (square) feet and have no leasing challenges other than the negotiations of the lease, but we are simply not doing that,” Marcus said. “We don’t think it’s prudent, and clearly the capital markets are such that that would not be a smart move.”

The statements show not only the strength of tenant demand at the burgeoning Mission Bay life science cluster, but also reflect the reality that the national credit crisis has seeped into every sector of commercial real estate development, including biotech.

Marcus would not name the companies looking to pre-lease space on the campus in the third quarter earnings call, a transcript of which was posted on financial information site Seeking Alpha. He referred to the prospective tenants as “credit institutional tenants that need to be at Mission Bay.”

“One actually needs to be there for a variety of obvious reasons to them and to the nature of the institution. The other has a major collaboration with (University of California, San Francisco) and has a strong desire to be there,” he said in the call.

Marcus said the two firms “were flexible in their need, but would have liked us to pull the trigger.” He said the deals would be revisited next year, although he said Alexandria is “assuming this is a prolonged downturn.”

“We are going to be very cautious about making any new commitments,” said Marcus.

Alexandria declined to elaborate on Marcus’ remarks to analysts, or to specify the buildings involved.

The decision comes as major new commercial construction starts have sputtered to a halt across the United States. In San Francisco, Beacon Capital Partners recently abruptly pulled the plug on a 27-story tower it had started to build at 535 Mission St. Nearby on Rincon Hill, Urban West Associates recently said it would delay construction on phase two of its high-profile One Rincon Hill condo development at the foot of the Bay Bridge. Around the city a half dozen other highly-touted condo towers are on hold.

Despite the overall economic downturn, Alexandria’s Mission Bay biotech cluster has been resilient. It landed a 105,000-square-foot deal for Pfizer’s new Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center at 455 Mission Bay Blvd. South, one of the largest and most significant new leases in San Francisco this year. It also snagged UCSF’s new Orthopedics Institute for its speculative 1500 Owens St. Both those buildings are under construction.

The first spec lab building Alexandria built in Mission Bay, 1700 Owens St., is 100 percent occupied. Overall, San Francisco’s 1.1 million-square-foot lab market is 100 percent occupied, according to a new Bay Area life science report by Cornish & Carey.

With the early success at Mission Bay, Alexandria has spent the past two years rapidly entitling seven more life science buildings totalling 1.5 million square feet. Still, Marcus said on the earnings call that it may be hard to finance new construction even for developers with tenants lined up. He said one “top-tier lender” said they were not currently funding “three or four major construction projects, all fully leased to credit tenants.” He said based on “anecdotal evidence from our discussions with a variety of construction lenders, very little, if anything, is moving through the current pipeline.”

Rich Robbins, president of Wareham Development, which has developed 2 million square feet of biotech space in the East Bay, said biotech companies are facing the same capital issues as every other company: “It’s tough out there, no question.”

But he said Wareham’s properties are 90 percent leased and the company doesn’t plan on slowing down new construction. The developer plans to break ground early next year on 80,000 square feet in Emeryville, across from Emeryville Station, as well as on another 100,000 square feet in Berkeley.

“We have always felt very certain about needing to build 250,000 square feet of pure lab every two to three years,” Robbins said. “That has been our template, and we’re holding to it.”

Building highly specialized new lab space in an expensive market like San Francisco is a difficult undertaking at a time when “nobody knows what credit means,” said Robert Schwartz, a senior vice president with brokerage firm Colliers International.

“Alexandria is a good company and it knows biotech as well as anyone,” said Schwartz. “They are a good barometer to what is happening in the industry.”

jkdineen@bizjournals.com / (415) 288-4971
Source: http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/11/17/story1.html