THE BAY AREA | Projects from San Francisco's Surrounding 8 Counties [Archive]

San Frangelino

08-14-2007, 10:00 PM

This was orginally posted by rocketman_95046 and its regarding the City Front Square Project. This is the one I'd also like to see happen.

DOWNTOWN S.J. CONDO TOWERS TO LOSE A FLOOR
By Katherine Conrad
Mercury News
Article Launched: 07/27/2007 01:37:07 AM PDT

A logjam that threatened a multimillion-dollar development in downtown San Jose has been cleared with the developer and the city agreeing to a "financial haircut."

Developer Mike Kriozere, principal at Urban West Associates, agreed to lop a floor off each of his two 25-story residential towers as long as the city lowers its price on the land, currently a parking lot on Market Street near the Fairmont Hotel.

Losing a floor on each tower reduces the total number of condominiums from 414 to 400 and the price on the 1.5 acres, known as Block 8, to $27.2 million from $28.6 million, the price agreed to by the city in June 2006.

"Instead of waiting around for God knows how long it will be . . . you break the logjam," Kriozere said. "That's what reasonable people do."

It was not a resolution that made either side happy. But Harry Mavrogenes, head of the city's Redevelopment Agency, said neither side wanted to risk a delay.

"We can lose (14) units now, or wait another year for the studies to be complete and lose the market," he said.

Kriozere's project, City Front Square, has been on hold because of an unresolved conflict that flared up in December between the city, downtown boosters and Mineta San Jose International Airport over the height of downtown buildings. At issue is how to reconcile flight paths over the downtown and the city's proposed high-rises.

Airport officials argue that tall buildings pose a risk to airplanes

when they are forced to change flight paths because of wind conditions. Developers, meanwhile, assert that many projects aren't profitable unless they reach a certain height.
A consultant hired by the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, the San Jose Downtown Association and the airport is currently studying the conflict. A report is expected at the end of August.

With a decision by the city months and maybe a year away, Kriozere said he worked with Mayor Chuck Reed to figure out how to get the project back on track. The developer noted that he could have lowered the nine-foot ceilings in the units rather than eliminate a floor, but he didn't want to "cheapen" the luxury project that will offer concierge services, spas and 24-hour door staff.

"We want to go ahead a build the building, and the mayor wants it built," Kriozere said. "I make a sacrifice; the Redevelopment Agency makes a sacrifice. It's fair. A delay hurts everybody."

Kriozere said final touches on the drawings will be done soon and he hopes to start construction on the $250 million project sometime after the new year. The first tower should be complete by 2010.

Kriozere also is building One Rincon Hill in San Francisco, a high-rise condominium project at the foot of the Bay Bridge. The units, which sell for about $1,000 a square foot, are almost entirely sold out. New residents can begin moving in later this fall, he said.

He is convinced that luxury condos will be a hit in San Jose, as well, though the price of the units has not yet been decided.

Contact Katherine Conrad at kconrad@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5073.

http://www.mercurynews.com/businessheadlines/ci_6476969

San Frangelino

08-15-2007, 10:02 PM

More Mandela/ Grand images (aka Big West Oakland Project mixing condos, light industry, and some retail)

You can download the report where the images came from at http://www.oaklandnet.com/government/ceda/revised/planningzoning/MajorProjectsSection/mandela_grand_mixed_use.html

The architects website:http://www.hannum.com/

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1200/1129449363_a204454c85_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1019/1129449629_2809cad2de_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1090/1129449969_b7758911d1_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1362/1130288450_cf8aab57a8_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1339/1130288004_b1ee0cdc72_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1204/1130290152_c36445ef46_o.jpg

San Frangelino

08-19-2007, 07:36 PM

Orginally posted by Oaktown:

42-story condos sought for lake
Developer’s high-rise would be the tallest building in city

Full article at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/31/BARIR9U4C2.DTL&hw=oakland+high+rise&sn=001&sc=1000

graphic:
http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/07/31/ba_oakland.jpg

From:http://novometro.com/news_details.php?news_id=2285
http://novometro.com/uploaded_images/news_image/2285_EmeraldViewArialView.jpg

San Frangelino

08-19-2007, 09:36 PM

Chu faces vote on North San Jose housing
NEIGHBORHOOD GROUP EYES COUNCILMAN'S VIEW ON 1,900-UNIT COMPLEX
By Barry Witt
Mercury News
Article Launched: 08/13/2007 01:41:55 AM PDT

New San Jose Councilman Kansen Chu will be tested Tuesday night when he decides whether to support a 1,900-unit apartment complex in his district or back a neighborhood group's call to suspend new housing developments in the area.

Full Article available at http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_6610513

For those unfamiliar, North First Street is a massive redevelopment project North of Downtown San Jose. It would remake a portion of First st between Montague Exp and Brokaw Rd into a pedestrainized mixed-used district, sort of like a second linear downtown. As of Decemeber 2006, the legal barriers have been removed to allow the redevelopment to go ahead.

Images from the sites listed below:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1309/1173791115_e7def05c81_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1012/1173791619_abde103191_o.jpg

For more information go to:
http://www.sjredevelopment.org/nsjtaskforce.htm

http://www.sanjoseca.gov/planning/nsj/

Some Key Elements:

Proactively plan for growth to allow more industrial development in a way that benefits current San Jose residents.

Allow up to an additional 27 million square feet of research and development and office space in North San Jose.

Bring up to 83,000 new jobs to San Jose, providing additional job opportunities for San Jose residents.

Concentrate up to 16 million square feet of the new research and development and office space in a 600 acre Urban Corporate Center core area along the North First Street light rail corridor, between Brokaw Road and Montague Expressway.

Develop an average 1.2 FAR in the core area with typical buildings of 6-10 stories.

Focus on high-tech and corporate headquarters development.
Create a rich pedestrian environment within the core area to encourage use of the transit system.

Generate approximately $520 million in funding for the construction of local and regional transportation improvements.

Provide new high-density residential development (up to 32,000 units) in close proximity to employment centers

yakumoto

08-20-2007, 05:02 AM

Sorry, guess I should have made note of that. Blue =under construction, Red= Proposed approved/ proposed (sorry i didnt seperate the two, but i wasnt sure, and Green= unknown status.

I did this map in March so it may be a bit dated. I do know for certain that the following projects are still active though.

Under Construction:
1. Central Place
2. City Heights
3. Axis
4. 360 Tower

Construction to Commence in Fall:
6. Park View Towers

Up For Approval:
5. City Front Square

with 7-11 the status is only known to me, thru the developers website.

12-13 are old office proposals of which I am not sure are dead or still active.

New Renderings were recently added to http://www.dbarchitect.com/project_detail/100/Market%2520Gateway%2520Tower.html for the Market Gateway Tower.

Here is a sample:

The green one, Almaden Towers/Boston Properties Complex is in planning with the city's redevelopment agency, so it hasn't been shelved. BTW its multiple office towers totaling 860000 sqft of office space.

In terms of residential towers, The first tower of Tamien Place is under construction, I don't know when they're going to start on the second one.

http://www.barryswensonbuilder.com/projects/residential/tamien.shtml

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x219/ErikYakumoto/SanJaws2.jpg

San Frangelino

08-21-2007, 01:19 AM

In terms of residential towers, The first tower of Tamien Place is under construction, I don't know when they're going to start on the second one.

]

That's good to hear. I have seen other renderings of the project, although I never saved them. It looks like the complex will have 3 towers, of what heights I am not sure. I do hope it gets off the groud.

Do you ever recall hearing of plans Adobe had to expand on vacant land on the opposite site of the freeway? I thought I recall reading an article about that?

rocketman_95046

08-21-2007, 04:49 AM

That's good to hear. I have seen other renderings of the project, although I never saved them. It looks like the complex will have 3 towers, of what heights I am not sure. I do hope it gets off the groud.

Do you ever recall hearing of plans Adobe had to expand on vacant land on the opposite site of the freeway? I thought I recall reading an article about that?

Yes they bought the land south of the Shark tank for future offices and condos...

these are two articles.. you have to pay for the full version becuase they are archived.

Adobe reportedly in talks to buy lot: S.J. PARCEL CALLED IDEAL FOR COMPANY
From: San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, CA) Date: March 22, 2006
Byline: Jon Ann Steinmetz

Mar. 22--The last downtown property big enough to support an Adobe-sized office campus may find a familiar buyer: Adobe itself. Adobe Systems, downtown San Jose's most visible high-tech company, is in negotiations to buy some or all of a 5.5-acre parcel of land owned by the San Jose Water Co., according to individuals familiar with the talks. The site is across from the HP Pavilion on West Santa Clara Street. If a deal is consummated, it would set in motion the first new office construction downtown in years, on the only remaining land large ...

and...

Adobe to buy 5.5-acre tract in downtown San Jose for $25 million
26 April, 2006
San Jose Mercury News

Adobe Systems announced today it has agreed to buy a 5.5-acre site in downtown San Jose for $25 million from ...

(c) Copyright 2006, San Jose Mercury News. All Rights Reserved.

San Frangelino

08-22-2007, 08:18 PM

Thanks Rocketman :tup:. I knew I had heard about Adobe expanding west of the Freeway from somewhere.

San Frangelino

08-22-2007, 09:18 PM

Here are some information on developments for "the Peninsula."

From http://www.universalparagoncorp.com/brisbane.html

Brisbane Baylands

In February 21, 2006, UPC submitted to the City of Brisbane a Specific Plan for the Phase I of the Brisbane Baylands. This project is in the formal planning process. The project expands over 440 acres in the eastern portion of the Baylands. The proposed project includes mixed commercial, office, retail, restaurant, and open space uses.

http://www.universalparagoncorp.com/images/graphic/graphic_brisbanebay_500x408.jpg

http://www.universalparagoncorp.com/images/graphic/graphic_brisbanebay_500x652.jpg

You can download the Specific Plan at http://www.ci.brisbane.ca.us/html/cityDept/comDev/phase1.asp

Unfortunately for fans of the Built enviroment, the first phase of this project may leave you "wanting." As you can see from the image I have posted below (from the specific plan download); the mid parcel is going to be an auto mall, the commercial section at the bottom will be a suburban campus (not unlike those the populate Silicon Valley and nearby South San Francisco), Big Box retail will take up nearly half of the entertaiment sub area, and a lot of space is given to parking lots. But if memory serves me well, I have heard this section of the bay lands is extremely contaminated, and thats why they have decided to go with this scheme.

I am, however, interested to see what happens in the future phases of development. The area north of the huge traffic circle is slated for a mixed use transit development. That might end up being something to look foward to, although it probably end up having a single developer. There is also potential in the area surrounding the baylands, with executive park being redeveloped nearby as well as the old 49ers statdium, Vistatcion Valley has a small redevelopment area and the old cow palace will most likely come down. There are also more talks for redeveloping Sierra Point nearby and allowing housing. I would also hope to see something done around the Caltrain station in South San Francisco. They are all very disjointed now, but with good planning (yes i know!) they could be a good whole. Guess time will tell but the potential is exciting, I think.

Here is the image from the specific plan:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1212/1205008881_1a4372b03e_o.jpg

San Frangelino

08-22-2007, 09:40 PM

Here is some news regarding Sierra Point just south of the baylands.

From http://www.examiner.com/a-797547~Brisbane_s_Sierra_Point_may_get_a_plaza.html

Local
Brisbane's Sierra Point may get a plaza
David Smith, The Examiner
2007-06-25 10:00:00.0
Current rank: # 5,235 of 6,438

Brisbane, Calif. -
After languishing for years as a suburban office park with an incredible view, renewed business interest in Sierra Point could lead to a public plaza there for all to enjoy.

With building applications in for a five-building biotech campus and an 800-room resort hotel-condominium project on the bayfront land, city officials are turning their eye toward a public plaza to give Sierra Point some “heart,” officials said.

Today, a joint session of the Brisbane City Council and Planning Commission will vote on conceptual designs of the plaza, which include necessary land trades with private entities on the land, and a level of retail development around the proposed public space.

The proposed plaza would be located near the marina at the eastern end of Sierra Point Parkway, protecting the public view east of the Bay as Sierra Point becomes more and more built out.

“There’s no ‘there’ there right now,” said Community Development Director Bill Prince of Sierra Point. “This is really a case of an attempt to retrofit one of those suburban office districts with perhaps a more successful mix of uses,” he said.

But because Sierra Point is somewhat isolated from surrounding communities and the majority of its population is around during the workweek, usage of the plaza is a concern, according to a city staff report.

In a memo to Brisbane officials, Tim Kelly, a real estate adviser with Keyser Marston Associates, a consultant group hired by the city, said providing ground-floor retail was “an important component in the success” of the proposed space.

“The public realm can become a destination drawing users who will patronize the businesses,” Kelly said.

He added in his memo that residential development on Sierra Point was “essential” to the viability of retail and the success of the plaza because between the proposed condos and hotel, the 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week environment would provide additional support to any bars, restaurants or coffeehouses there.

There is no residential development allowed on Sierra Point, which could change if Universal Paragon Corp.’s resort hotel and condominium project is approved.

“[The hotel proposal] could really inject a soul into Sierra Point that it currently doesn’t have,” Prince said.

“If there are people living there they’ll want some walking space,” Mayor Steve Waldo added.

Potential growth
SLOUGH ESTATES USA

» Biotech campus of five buildings on 22 acres with 540,000 square feet of research and development space and 2,500 square feet of retail

DIAMOND INVESTMENT PROPERTIES

» Mixed-use redevelopment on a 10-acre site with a 12-story office building

UNIVERSAL PARAGON CORP.

» An 800-room resort hotel-condominium project with two 14-story towers on 11 acres

OPUS SOUTHWEST CORP.

» Four or more mixed-use buildings on more than 40 acres with up to 630,000 square feet of office space and 50,000 square feet of retail

- Source: City of Brisbane

An image from http://www.sierra-point.com/aerial.htm
http://www.sierra-point.com/images/aerial.jpg

peanut gallery

08-23-2007, 12:11 AM

Is that skinny yellow box at the very top of the Brisbane plan a train station? If so, it's a shame it's not more centrally located in the development. Better than no station at all I guess, but odd.

San Frangelino

08-23-2007, 12:35 AM

^ Yes I believe that is the train station. I agree its inconvient, at least to the first phase of the development. If you look at the plan, there is a graphic that shows a muni metro rail line going down an extended Geneva Ave (which is shown on the map above). If that is there plan, it would seem more cost effective to have the Caltrain station closer to the planned Geneva Ave extention. That way they wouldnt have circle Muni Metro around to reach it. But I when the station was relocated they didnt have a plan for the area.

P.S. that rail line in the graphic extends up Geneva Avenue then crosses the freeway to Executive Park, into 49ers stadium.

dimondpark

08-23-2007, 12:42 AM

wow...there is some really great info in this thread.

Those Mandela/Grand and Emerald Views Images are stunning! Go Oakland!!!!

Reminiscence

08-23-2007, 03:40 AM

I have to admit, with all the action going on in San Francisco, I've been so caught up with it that I've forgotten most other areas. For this reason, I'm thankfull that time was taken to create this thread that shows projects from around the Bay Area. Mandela and Sierra Point look very intresting. With that being said: Great work, thanks for all the information and I look forward to more. :)

Frisco_Zig

08-24-2007, 01:45 AM

[QUOTE=San Frangelino;3025129]Here are some information on developments for "the Peninsula."

But all considered I don't know if we can expect much more. I see South City densifying so that is hopeful that they will move forward from surface lots at least. I hope they at least orient themselves to the Caltrain station (though its a ways away-is this the future TOD they are talking about or some sort of bus system???)

if they need the big box stuff and the automall to help pay for redevelopment so be it (though they are lacking in vision it seems to me) but at least I hope they consider that if they want the future workers to take the train and patronize their little strip mall/downtown without driving they need to make the environment accommodating (though this is some distance from the existing Caltrain stop I think)

When I worked at Oyster point the most frustrating thing (other than public transit) was the lack of anywhere to eat (save for the corporate cafe) or walk to. I would take a shuttle to work from Bart and then I was literally stuck

Frisco_Zig

08-24-2007, 01:58 AM

Is that skinny yellow box at the very top of the Brisbane plan a train station? If so, it's a shame it's not more centrally located in the development. Better than no station at all I guess, but odd.

The station location might be older than the town of Brisbane which is near to the stop. This open land used to be the dump I believe (by the way which map are you referring to-I don't see transit at all on what was posted)

They are moving the station at Hillsdale in San Mateo to better match development so it is possible

Its tough in the Bay Area with everything so fragmented but in a perfect world I don't see why this station couldn't move???

If Caltrain become what it could be (something akin to Bart) and we had more comprehensive planning we could plan pretty intensive development around these stations. Caltrain's corridor is a great asset that we are greatly under utilizing.

With regard to the light rail being extended that seems to me to be another waste. People in Bay View and Viz Valley aren't working these jobs. Most people live on the Peninsula, come from the East Bay or live in the trendy parts of SF. If you lived near downtown would you ride the T for an hour to get to a Biotech job in Brisbane? The whole T thing sucks and is a huge waste of resources

Frisco_Zig

08-24-2007, 02:01 AM

Here is some news regarding Sierra Point just south of the baylands.

From http://www.examiner.com/a-797547~Brisbane_s_Sierra_Point_may_get_a_plaza.html

An image from http://www.sierra-point.com/aerial.htm
http://www.sierra-point.com/images/aerial.jpg

traffic is going to be a bitch if they build all of these plans and just pay lip service to future TOD

peanut gallery

08-24-2007, 08:53 AM

I'm referring to this one:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1212/1205008881_1a4372b03e_o.jpg

It looks like they are adding a station here. Perhaps you're right that they are actually moving a station here. I don't recall offhand where all the stations are along this part of the peninsula.

You're right that the Caltrain corridor is underutilized. Part of that is because for so many years it was strictly a freight train line and cities always turn their backs on those. But it is changing, slowly but surely, in places like Redwood City and Mountain View, etc.

San Frangelino

08-27-2007, 11:15 PM

A little something interesting I found at http://www.stanford.edu/group/gpj/cgi-bin/drupal/?q=node/73

Redwood City Tries to Revive Development Project Rejected by Voters

Clara Long Mar 13 2007 News
By CLARA LONG

Redwood City, Calif.– In a quest for higher density housing, Redwood City officials are entertaining a proposition for a mixed-use high density development on bay side land, even though a similar proposal by the same company was defeated by popular referendum 3 years ago.

Developer Paul Powers first proposed the project, now known as Peninsula Park, to the city as the Marina Shores Village in 2000. The city council gave him the green light but opponents, led by an environmental group called Friends of Redwood City, orchestrated a citywide referendum rejecting the project. Less than two years later Powers came back to the city with a scaled down but largely similar high-rise project that may still have to run the gauntlet of citizen opposition.

At the heart of the political maneuvering over the waterfront development lies an alignment of interests between the private developer, whose plans maximize the land-use value of the site, and city officials, who are convinced of the need for Redwood City to increase the density of its residential areas.

But some Redwood City residents are not keen to see the waterfront areas of their community start to look like the big city. And those wary of bay side development may be in for a long fight as an adjacent chunk of industrial land, the former Cargill salt fields, comes up for redevelopment.

In 2000, Powers, who represents the San Mateo and Denver-based developer, Glenborough-Pauls, LLC, envisioned a $1 billion housing, retail, hotel and office construction on the east side of Rt. 101 with condominium high rises up to 23 stories. Those opposed to the project cited concerns about the height of the proposed buildings, their environmental impact, and the traffic they would generate.

In Powers’ scaled-back proposal the condominiums shrank to 10 stories, and the overall area is reduced to 33 instead of 46.5 acres. The plan would still intersperse shops, a hotel and nearly 800 new residences on bay-water canals overlooking nearby Bair Island.

Residents were able to stop Marina Shores Village because Powers is required to ask the city for new zoning. An impound car storage lot currently on the property complies with the area’s “general commercial” zoning, which allows for a wide variety of commercial and retail uses but not homes.

“It’s the act of rezoning that’s causing us to be vulnerable to a referendum,” Powers said.

“Here is what a lot people ask me,” Powers said. “You’ve been working on this 7 years, why don’t you just take the zoning you have?”

According to Powers, city officials told him not to use the current zoning when he bought the land.

“The city leadership told us emphatically,” said Powers. “You may have the zoning for office but you need to know up front that we, the city leadership, want housing.”

“You don’t want to fight city hall,” he said.

But Redwood City resident, Matt Leddy, and his group, Friends of Redwood City, did.

Leddy, who is a Horticulture professor at San Mateo college was one of what he estimates to be a dozen activists who ran the 2004 referendum campaign against Powers’ project.

“We told voters about the traffic problems and the height, and then the public made their own decision,” Leddy said.

Blake Lyons, Redwood City senior planner in charge of the project, said community opposition to the proposal “took the developer by surprise” three years ago.

“It wasn’t until more active folks got involved that it got people to pay attention and start to think about it,” Lyons said.

City officials were also taken by surprise. Redwood City’s mayor, Barbara Pierce said the project failed in the referendum primarily because of concerns over the high-rise housing.

“We are basically a suburban community, so when the developer wanted to go really high they pushed the envelope and I think they pushed it too far,” Pierce said. She voted to approve the original project.

Pierce, who gave an interview by phone between sessions at a smart growth and urban design conference in Los Angeles this weekend, said she hoped Glenborough-Pauls would propose a similar project on the site to address what she called Redwood City’s “tremendous need for housing.”

“I think Paul Powers knew the city was interested in talking to him again. And, why not? We,” she said, referring to the city council, “had already approved it.”

But neither city officials nor the developer wants the project to prompt another referendum.

“I think we need to work to involve people in the city process so that they understand that they are not being sacrificed for the developers,” Pierce said.

To that end, the city contracted the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center, a San Mateo nonprofit that promotes the use of non-adversarial solutions to conflict, to run its community outreach program for the project. In three workshops last fall Leddy and other Redwood City residents met with city officials and Paul Powers to air concerns about the Peninsula Park proposal.

“The city is very open to comments,” said Leddy of Friends of Redwood City. “The thing is what they do with those comments.”

Leddy said he agrees the city needs new housing, but most of it should be constructed in urban in-fill projects in the downtown area. Buildings on the Peninsula Park site, he added, should stay under 75 ft, or the current zoning.

“You can’t have your head in the sand,” he said. “We’re not against building housing out there. But what is the community getting for the additional height?”

The group has not yet taken a position on the new project.

“We’re waiting to see what kind of options are presented,” he said.

Community opposition to new high-rises in peninsula cities is a growing phenomenon, according to Richard Walker, a University of California Berkeley geography professor who studies urban development.

“The fact of the matter is people don’t want the density,” he said. “The peninsula is not the ‘burbs’ anymore. It’s the center”

But he added, “there are legitimate concerns about space and environmental impacts and traffic.”

Walker said the kind of ‘mixed-use’ development Powers envisions has become the darling of city planners and developers alike in recent times.

“Developers love them because they can maximize their return and reduce risk at the same time” he said. If one sector of the real estate market falters—as prices for office space have in recent years—projects are buoyed by high prices in another sector.

Powers expects the city’s consultants to finish a Peninsula Park addendum to the previous Marina Shores Village environmental impact report by the end of the month. At that time, the project will go before the city’s Planning Commission.

The story of Peninsula Park may foreshadow an even bigger struggle over development. Cargill Inc. announced last June that it would soon wind down its salt production operations on 1,400 acres immediately south of the proposed Peninsula Park project. Cargill then formed the Redwood City Industrial Saltworks LLC in partnership with DMB Associates, a regional residential developer with a reputation for overcoming community opposition to development. The partnership is seeking only to “determine the future use of” the property at this point, according to their website.

The Friends of Redwood City are ramping up for a battle.

“If they develop out there, the traffic would be a nightmare,” said Leddy. “We need that marsh for the health of the bay,” he said.

John Bruno, the spokesperson for Redwood City Industrial Saltworks, said the company does not yet have a specific plan to present to the city. DMB Associates, he said, generally finds it most effective to ask for public input through direct mailings and workshops before initiating a development proposal.

“We find it’s a very disarming approach to go into a community and just listen,” he said.

After 7 years of constant attention to the Marina Shores Village and Peninsula Park projects, Paul Powers was unruffled when asked if the prospect of another housing development on the former Cargill land make him nervous about competition.

“The last thing we worry about on the peninsula is competition from more housing,” Powers quipped. “Nothing ever gets approved.”

“Poor Paul,” said Leddy at Powers’ comment. “We agree to disagree.”

© Stanford University

For those unaware, the Marina Shores Project was approved but defeated in citywide vote 3 years ago. The projects most prominent feature would be housing in the form of 17 towers 15-23 stories tall. It was to be east of the downtown Redwood City and the freeway, but quite a ways from the Caltrain station. If you would like to download some old documents http://www.redwoodcity.org/cds/planning/ms/

Here are some old images of a model made for the project @ http://www.creatormodels.com/landplan.html

To find out more about the Peninsula Park Project http://www.ci.redwood-city.ca.us/cds/planning/peninsulapark/index.html

http://www.creatormodels.com/images/landMarina_2.jpg

http://www.creatormodels.com/images/landMarina_1.jpg

San Frangelino

08-27-2007, 11:20 PM

(Double Post)

San Frangelino

08-27-2007, 11:24 PM

Also @ http://www.creatormodels.com/landplan.html Images of the office and Harvest Hall that are suppose to happen at Jack London Square.

http://www.creatormodels.com/images/landJack_2.jpg

http://www.creatormodels.com/images/landJack_1.jpg

and here is an image and rundown from http://www.portofoakland.com/realesta/deve_01i.asp

http://www.portofoakland.com/realesta/images/img_deve1i_lg.jpg

I believe I read in the Business Times that the Harvest Hall will now mostly be offices rather than a large market. There is a good rundown on what's happeneing there at http://www.tndwest.com/jacklondonsquare.html

San Frangelino

08-28-2007, 07:48 PM

Another find from http://www.urban44.com/bart.html

West Oakland BART Station

http://www.urban44.com/images/bart.jpg

The West Oakland BART Station project is currently proposed as two high-rise residential/commercial buildings, one facing 7th Street and the other facing 5th Street
The proposed 7th Street high-rise is a concrete frame Type I construction with a glass curtain wall. It is projected to be 31 stories – 22 floors of residential with 5 penthouse levels, and over 4 stories of commercial space. Each residential level will have 20 units, for a total of 440 units. Each penthouse level will have 6 units, for a total of 30 units. Residential units will vary from 1 bedroom/1 bath to 2 bedroom/2 bath units ranging from 785 SF up to 2,232 SF. Penthouse units will be 2 bedroom/2 bath units, each approximately 2,000 SF.
The proposed 5th Street high-rise would have an identical residential configuration, but only 2 floors of commercial space, for a total of 56,000 SF. The 5th Street building will also have 4 levels of above-ground parking and 3 levels of below-ground parking, with 185 spaces per level, for a total of 1,285 spaces.

The Project has completed a Phase I environmental assessment. The Phase II assessment was started in July 2006.

Frisco_Zig

08-30-2007, 11:36 PM

as much as I am for development I really would like to see them focused around mass transit

The Harbor project will be 10o% auto dependent as will Sierra Point in Brisbane

peanut gallery

08-31-2007, 01:27 AM

Yep. That's the problem I have with the Redwood City thing. Sure, it's dense. But It's totally disconnected from everything except roads. I suppose they could add ferry service, but I really don't see that happening anytime soon.

San Frangelino

09-11-2007, 12:18 AM

If these Proposals from http://www.northpointdevelopment.com/current_projects.html are legit then San Jose will have 3 sets of Towers to add to its stock.

From: http://www.northpointdevelopment.com/current_projects.html

88 North First Street, San Jose, CA
http://www.northpointdevelopment.com/north1st_1.jpg

http://www.northpointdevelopment.com/north1st_3.jpg

Description: With twenty-two stories of luxury highrise residential homes having every conceivable amenity, Northpoint Development's "88 North First Street" project in the heart of downtown San Jose will attract the successful executive as well as professional dual-income couples and high-income singles. This premier site is located on the corners of First Street, Second Street, and St. John, directly across from St. James Park. Step out the door and the light rail system and planned BART extension connect the new homeowner to all parts of Silicon Valley. Completion of entitlements is expected no later than January 2008.
Project vision: The project is envisioned as a multi-tower complex providing 9,000 square feet of upscale retail space, and 414 residential units located on the top sixteen floors. Typical one-bedroom residential units will be 800 square feet, with two and three-bedroom models from 1000 — 1500 square feet. The top two floors will consist of luxury penthouses with two and three-bedroom configurations from 1200 — 2200 square feet. Competing luxury high-rises are the CIM tower selling many units at a price over a million dollars, along with the K-T Properties project selling many of their units for over a million dollars. The competitors sites are in less desirable locations than Northpoint Development's "88 North First Street", in part because their locations are within the flight path of San Jose International Airport.
Amenities will include a state-of-the-art health club, rooftop garden, and generous balcony space. A luxurious, expansive lobby will stimulate the senses upon entering the doors of 88 North 1st St. Retail space will be marketed to small, upscale restaurants, boutiques, and coffee shops.

300 South Second Street, San Jose, CA.
http://www.northpointdevelopment.com/south2nd.jpg

http://www.northpointdevelopment.com/south2nd_3.jpg

Description: Located on San Carlos Street between Second Street and Third Street, adjacent to the State of California building and the Federal Building, and one block from the San Jose State University campus, Northpoint Development's lively "300 South Second Street" project will attract the new Silicon Valley technology professionals with its world-class architectural design, dual towers, twenty-two floors of 598 modern, upscale residences, and 36,164 square feet of colorful shopping, unrivaled food and exciting entertainment. Completion of entitlements is expected no later than August 2008.
Project vision: This mixed-use residential project consists of dual towers of twenty-two floors with 900 square foot one-bedroom residential units, and two- and three-bedroom units vary from 1050 — 1200 square feet. A wide variety of optional upgrades will be available, and most of these units will be marketed towards move-up homebuyers and corporations buying secondary living space. The top two floors are designated for penthouse units, with large living spaces (from 1800 — 3000 square feet), 12 ceilings, and an express elevator. The penthouse interiors will be selected by purchasers working with in-house interior designers to create unique custom-designed suites.
The retail/pedestrian plaza will consist of 36,164 square feet of retail and restaurant space and over 17,400 square feet of open, public space. The vision includes a jazz club, coffee shops, various restaurants, cleaners, and other fine retail establishments. People will be able to stroll through our landscaped paseo and open plaza between San Carlos, 2nd St., and 3rd St., visiting interesting kiosks, shops, outdoor dining, and entertainment. This covered, but open plaza is sitting beneath 598 new front doors connecting the most dramatic residence in all of downtown San Jose. This Plaza will have a lease value in excess of $25,000,000.

Fifth Street Tower, San Jose, CA.
http://www.northpointdevelopment.com/fifthSt.jpg

http://www.northpointdevelopment.com/fifthSt_2.jpg

Description: Designed in cooperation with the First Methodist Church, the seller of the site, the "Fifth Street Tower" residential project is a reflective glass skin T -shaped tower that is located immediately across Santa Clara Street from the new City Hall building. Completion of entitlements is expected no later than September 2009.
Project vision: This residential tower of 384 units will consist of twenty-two floors built above two levels of underground parking, 9,000 square feet of retail space, and town homes along 6th St. The latter will likely be purchased by the businesses and professionals that work on a daily basis with the various departments of the new City Hall. The residential floors are designed for small families and move-up buyers, consisting primarily of one- and two-bedroom condominium homes with custom options and amenities that exceed those of other projects being planned by competitors.

Delmas Tower, San Jose, CA.

http://www.northpointdevelopment.com/delmasTower.gif

http://www.northpointdevelopment.com/delmasTower_2.jpg

Description: "Delmas Tower" is a 72-unit, 8-10 story mid-rise residential condominium project with pool and health club located on the border of mid-town and Metro San Jose, near all downtown freeways, the light rail, the new BART extension, and railroad and bus transportation. It is a short walk to all of downtown San Jose, including the nearby Adobe headquarters, downtown San Jose's largest employer. Entitlements will be completed by January 2008.
This two phase project will include an additional 85 condominiums in a four story, over podium structure along Auzerais Avenue, which is adjacent to Delmas. This phase has significant environmental issues that are currently being mitigated by the seller.
Project vision: These well-appointed, luxury condominium homes range from one-bedroom units of 800 square feet to two- and three-bedroom units up to 1500 square feet. Each unit of "Delmas Tower" will have a balcony that is the full width of the living room, allowing residents to take full advantage of San Jose's 300 days per year of sunshine. A second phase is located around the corner at Auzerais Street, and will consist of three, four, and five tier structures designed to interface well with the surrounding community of single-family homes.

peanut gallery

09-11-2007, 07:03 PM

Thanks for digging those up San Frangelino! There is so much going on around downtown SJ.

Do you happen to know if the rendering for 300 South Second is looking west on San Carlos? I hope so, as it would put the taller tower right on the corner.

That last one looks like a horrible location from the satellite photo. Perhaps it's not actually as bad as it seems. But in that image it looks like they're dumping 10 story condos in the middle of a bunch of single-story, single-family, detached homes. It looks totally out of scale and character with the surrounding environment.

BTW: you picked up the Second Street map URL for the Fifth Street Tower. You might want to edit that.

San Frangelino

09-14-2007, 05:41 PM

Do you happen to know if the rendering for 300 South Second is looking west on San Carlos? I hope so, as it would put the taller tower right on the corner.
Hard for me to tell. The website doesnt really note a standing location.

That last one looks like a horrible location from the satellite photo. Perhaps it's not actually as bad as it seems. But in that image it looks like they're dumping 10 story condos in the middle of a bunch of single-story, single-family, detached homes. It looks totally out of scale and character with the surrounding environment.
Thats what I thought too, but apparently the Delmas area just west of downtown and south of Diridon station is being up sized with infill projects. http://www.dbarchitect.com/ just finished an 8 story building in the area that I thought seemed out of place, but I suppose now if they want to add 10 story towers nearby, it wouldnt be. I just wonder what the residents of the single family homes feel about it.

Heres an image of the area. Note: the proposed towers would be adjacent to the freeway on the street a block south of David Baker's 8 story building.
http://www.dbarchitect.com/images/dynamic/slideshow_images/image/20205_delmas_aerialcontext_bandre.slideshow_main.jpg

BTW: you picked up the Second Street map URL for the Fifth Street Tower. You might want to edit that.
Thank you for noting that.

peanut gallery

09-14-2007, 06:49 PM

I guess we're just seeing the growing pains of densification. I didn't realize how close that location is to Diridion. It makes sense to go vertical around there. I imagine the current residents don't like it too much.

San Frangelino

09-19-2007, 04:57 PM

From:http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/19/MN1SS8P0A.DTL

New A's ballpark in Fremont would be surrounded by upscale eateries, shops
Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
(09-18) 21:56 PDT Fremont -- At the A's proposed new ballpark in Fremont, home runs wouldn't fly into the bay or the salt flats. They'd land in your plate of spaghetti at an upscale Italian restaurant.

If approved by Fremont's City Council, the $450 million Cisco Field would open in 2011 in a now-vacant lot in the city's Irvington district. It would be surrounded by high-end retail stores, restaurants overlooking the outfield, and housing for at least 3,000 people, A's officials told Fremont Tuesday night.

"This is the biggest project Fremont will ever see," said Mayor Bob Wasserman. "If it's approved, it will create a pride here. It will make the city a whole place."

Though finances weren't part of the discussion as the A's outlined the latest details of their 200-acre, $1.8 billion development plan to Fremont officials and residents at Fremont City Hall, the team has asserted that a new ballpark would raise millions of dollars a year in public and private revenue.

On Tuesday, the A's said they would comply with city officials' request to move a proposed elementary school closer to the stadium. It had been planned for several blocks away.

Cisco Field - which would be located 25 miles south of the the team's current stadium on Oakland- would seat 32,000 and be the smallest ballpark in Major League Baseball. Almost the entire outfield would be rimmed with elevated seated. That way, pedestrians, shoppers and diners walking in a mall area below could watch the game for free through windows beneath those elevated seats.

The team, tentatively to be called the Athletics at Fremont - at one time it had been the Silicon Valley Athletics at Fremont - would play in a classic ballpark with plenty of bricks reminiscent of Boston's Fenway Park or AT&T Park in San Francisco, said Keith Wolff, the A's co-owner.

"On game days, the ballpark will provide energy and excitement," Wolff said. "On nongame days, it will be like a sculpture or a park."

The public would also be able to watch games for free from a public park just beyond center field. That park would even have its own scoreboard.

The development would include 11,000 parking spaces cloaked by four- and five-story residential buildings, with more than 3,000 units in all.

Most of the 60 or so Fremont residents who attended Tuesday's meeting supported the project.

"Fremont, for many years, has needed something to keep people here," said Bill Rinetti, owner of Massimo's restaurant there. "People will stay here and spend their money here, and the whole city will prosper."

Not everyone was thrilled with the project. Some complained that the ballpark wouldn't be close enough to BART - it's five miles from the nearest station - and that the shopping area would attract too much traffic.

There were also environmental concerns.

"Everyone here seems to be intoxicated with the idea of bringing a professional ball team to Fremont," said Vinton Bacon of Fremont who works for the Sierra Club. "This project brings more suburban sprawl and is inherently environmentally unfriendly."

The A's plan to submit a formal development application to Fremont within four weeks, Wolff said. The A's have said they are leaving Oakland because they couldn't secure land for the expanded development the owners envisioned.

"We tried to do it in Oakland. That was our first choice," Wolff said. "The officials were great, our fans are amazing. We just couldn't get the land."

E-mail Carolyn Jones at carolynjones@sfchronicle.com.

Frisco_Zig

09-21-2007, 06:20 AM

I find the whole A's staduim thing to be a shame on many levels

More bad planning

BigKidD

09-21-2007, 09:15 AM

I find the whole A's staduim thing to be a shame on many levels

More bad planning
That's no worse than them potentially being called the Athletics at Fremont. And I thought the Angels name was rubbish.

Reminiscence

09-21-2007, 06:56 PM

That's no worse than them potentially being called the Athletics at Fremont. And I thought the Angels name was rubbish.

Agreed. I even thought "Fremont A's of Oakland" had potential, but this is just sickening. I also dont like the size of the stadium in terms of seating capacity, it should be able to sit at least 40000. The development around the stadium seems like a good idea, but the central point of focus is all wrong, in my opinion.

krudmonk

09-22-2007, 01:37 AM

I find the whole A's staduim thing to be a shame on many levels

More bad planning
If it becomes a stadium in a bland suburban environment, then it is a waste. If it becomes the centerpiece for a bustling new neighborhood and spurs urbanization in Fremont, what's there to hate?

San Frangelino

09-25-2007, 10:30 PM

From:http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_6796140?nclick_check=1

Spaces and places: Office park proposed in North San Jose
By Katherine Conrad
Mercury News
San Jose Mercury News

Article Launched:09/04/2007 01:34:37 AM PDT

It was only a year ago when Manou Mobedshahi turned the San Jose Hyatt into a Holiday Inn.
Now a developer wants to turn the hotel into an office park.

According to a filing last week with the San Jose planning department, TMG Partners of San Francisco proposes turning the 17-acre site, with its rambling two-story hotel, into 10- and 20-story office towers. Located on North First Street off Highway 101, next to a light-rail line and just a mile from the airport, the property is considered prime land for development.

Rich Watkins of TMG was not available to comment Friday, nor was Mobedshahi. But the hotelier said a year ago he was negotiating a long-range plan to build a mini-city of 2,500 condos, offices and hundreds of hotel rooms, after his 10-year contract with Holiday Inn expired.

"It would be a vertical Santana Row, only much more organic," Mobedshahi said in 2006, acknowledging that such a project could take a decade or more to develop.

Preliminary plans submitted to the city call for demolishing the existing hotel and constructing two 10-story office buildings totaling 500,000 square feet and a six-level parking garage in phase one. Phase two proposes a 20-story, 500,000-square-foot tower with a parking garage.
Jean Hamilton, acting planning official for the city, said TMG's proposal was only one of several recently submitted to the city for development of North San Jose. Tishman Speyer, which bought nearby property from BEA Systems earlier this year, proposes a several million-square-foot office and retail development, and the Irvine Co. received approval last Tuesday to build up to 1,900 residential units in the area.

"It's definitely in the direction the city envisions, supporting the intensification of North San Jose," Hamilton said. "We're getting a lot of interest."
The next step involves the city vetting the applications with various departments to ensure the building heights don't pose a risk given the proximity of the airport.

Another green office project:

Opus West announced plans to build two office towers, totaling 448,000 square feet, at Sierra Point in South San Francisco.
The project will meet green policies outlined by the U.S. Green Building Council in its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design guidelines.
Both buildings will feature cool roofs, bike racks and showers, window glazing, water-efficient landscaping and water-use reductions that result in 20 percent reductions.

Frisco_Zig

09-26-2007, 06:05 AM

If it becomes a stadium in a bland suburban environment, then it is a waste. If it becomes the centerpiece for a bustling new neighborhood and spurs urbanization in Fremont, what's there to hate?

I have a hard time envisioning this becoming anything more than a Baseball Disneyland or having any real connection to Fremont. As I understand the site it's greenfield and miles from any public transit and across the freeway from developed Fremont

Its a real shame this isn't going into downtown Oakland or similar site. There you would see real revitalization

This is a particularly strong opinion I have about baseball. It is a perfect downtown sport. I have no problem with football moving to the suburbs

Frisco_Zig

09-26-2007, 06:09 AM

there is no public transit at Sierra Point in South San Francisco

peanut gallery

09-26-2007, 06:51 AM

As I understand the site it's greenfield and miles from any public transit and across the freeway from developed Fremont

Your understanding is incorrect. It is going into an already cleared and turned lot that was going to be a Cisco campus anyway. It is bordered on three sides by existing mixed use development. If not already, this area will be serviced by AC Transit when the stadium, village and housing gets built. ACE and Capitol Corridor run right past it and the plan includes a new station here. The only drawback is that it is 5 miles from the current Fremont BART station and at least a mile from the planned Warm Springs station. Shuttles are fine for the airport, but with the volume needed before and after games, I don't know how that would work.

I agree that it would have been preferrable in downtown Oakland. Unfortunately for the A's, Jerry Brown had other plans for the one realistic site: Uptown. The rest of downtown Oakland is built out, and the team and city officials weren't willing to employ eminent domain.

On the plus side for Fremont, this area could become that city's de facto downtown. Something it is lacking today.

San Frangelino

09-27-2007, 05:23 PM

From:http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2007/09/24/daily29.html?surround=lfn

Shorenstein, MetLife pair up for office building in downtown Oakland
San Francisco Business Times - by Ryan Tate

Shorenstein named a financial partner and groundbreaking date for its long-planned "T-12" office tower in downtown Oakland.

Shorenstein said MetLife Real Estate Investments would invest in the venture.

Just over 20 stories tall, the tower is part of the City Center office complex, which is nearly completely leased as growth by health giant Kaiser compresses office space in downtown Oakland amid a housing boom.

Shorenstein preserved the option of using the site for office, however, and ultimately pursued that plan amid the residential downturn, which has prompted developers in Oakland to cut prices and offer incentives like two years of paid homeowners' association dues.

Shorenstein must build on the site by 2009.

The company announced it plans to break ground in spring 2008.

It also disclosed that it plans to seek LEED certification on the building.

It is not yet clear whether the building will house a World Trade Center office. Mayor Ron Dellums during his election campaign last year advocated attracting a large World Trade Center facility to Oakland as a way to stimulate growth, and the T-12 site emerged as a potential site for such a center after proponents lost their bid to house the center at the former Kaiser Convention Center.

From:http://www.oaklandcitycenter.com/property_plan.cfm
http://www.oaklandcitycenter.com/images/interior/leasing/siteplan.gif

Does anyone know if T 5-6 is available to build on? I always thought it would a great spot for vertical mall and a tall mixed-use tower.

San Frangelino

09-27-2007, 06:55 PM

Older Renderings of the aforementioned from http://abetteroakland.com/ as pointed out by Dimondpark.

Apparently via the blog above the design has changed. It was to be 378 feet, making it one of the tallest on the Oakland skyline. Not sure what the height will be with the recent submission it's mentioned to be 23 stories.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1112/1443721727_9e6d918c36_m.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1440/1444585110_d1ce185a37_m.jpg

peanut gallery

09-27-2007, 07:42 PM

Yeah about T-12! Say goodbye to another downtown surface lot! T 5-6 I believe is a mostly underground parking garage. I thought they wee tearing it up last time I was down there, but I could be thinking about another block.

San Frangelino

10-05-2007, 03:46 PM

First some bad news from:http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2007/10/08/story3.html

Friday, October 5, 2007
Olson halts big Oakland condo project
San Francisco Business Times - by Ryan Tate

Developer Olson Co. quietly halted construction on a half-finished condominium project in downtown Oakland, a troublesome turn for a project long seen by city officials as the centerpiece of their downtown housing push.

The construction freeze at City Walk comes amid a rash of cancellations and slowdowns for housing developments in downtown Oakland.

"It's a tough market right now," said Stuart Greundl, who is leading BayRock Residential's nearly-complete development of an 11-story condominium tower on the edge of Oakland Chinatown. "It's slow. But it's still plugging along."

There are roughly 1,300 market-rate condos available in the city, not counting projects smaller than 20 units, just under half of which have been on the market for one year or more. Another 1,600 rental and for-sale units are under construction.

San Frangelino

10-05-2007, 04:11 PM

More Development for Oakland's Fruitvale District.

This via:http://www.oaklandnet.com/government/ceda/revised/planningzoning/MajorProjectsSection/gateway_community.html

Gateway Community Development Project
29th Ave @ East 12th Street ( south side of East 12th Street, roughly between 26th Ave in the west and Derby Ave in the east)

View Looking South (Sorry it's all in B/W)
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1104/1490711188_6633da303f_o.jpg

Site Plan
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1221/1490710544_fbda84e8e9_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1020/1490711430_fac394106c_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1303/1489855217_ad2a54b925_o.jpg

Project Description
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1244/1489855921_d0b2b7f31f_o.jpg

There is also this from:http://eastbay.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2007/10/08/story7.html

Friday, October 5, 2007
Signature Properties to develop for-sale homes at Fruitvale Transit Village
East Bay Business Times - by Jessica Saunders

Signature Properties has submitted preliminary plans for up to 450 condominiums in the second phase of Fruitvale Transit Village in Oakland, an award-winning mixed-use development centered around BART's fourth-busiest station.

The first phase of the transit-oriented development, which opened next to Fruitvale BART station in 2003 and was completed in 2004, includes 47 apartments, 114,510 square feet of office space, 39,707 square feet of retail, and 850 parking spaces. The second phase, set to break ground in mid-2009, will initially include 92 for-sale units, with two additional phases up to a maximum 450 units.

Signature Properties was chosen as the phase II residential developer a year ago, but its involvement wasn't announced until Sept. 27, about the time it filed with the Oakland Planning Commission. The Pleasanton-based builder spent the year working with BART and developing "very, very conceptual" preliminary plans, Signature Properties President Michael Ghielmetti said.

"We are really excited about the neighborhood. ... It's a really cool place most of the world doesn't know about," he said.

BTinSF

10-05-2007, 04:27 PM

Olson halts big Oakland condo project
San Francisco Business Times - by Ryan Tate

Developer Olson Co. quietly halted construction on a half-finished condominium project in downtown Oakland, a troublesome turn for a project long seen by city officials as the centerpiece of their downtown housing push.

The construction freeze at City Walk comes amid a rash of cancellations and slowdowns for housing developments in downtown Oakland.

"It's a tough market right now," said Stuart Greundl, who is leading BayRock Residential's nearly-complete development of an 11-story condominium tower on the edge of Oakland Chinatown. "It's slow. But it's still plugging along."

There are roughly 1,300 market-rate condos available in the city, not counting projects smaller than 20 units, just under half of which have been on the market for one year or more. Another 1,600 rental and for-sale units are under construction.

Meanwhile, many lenders have stopped extending common forms of construction financing amid the debt market turbulence. Combined with falling prices and fears of glut in supply, that's sending developers throughout the city back to the drawing board.

Olson is the most dramatic example. The company confirmed it ceased construction on its 252-unit, seven-story City Walk project July 24, saying general contractor UPA California stopped work on the site at 1260 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Olson declined to comment on when construction might resume, and city officials said they had no indication from the company on when the project might start up again.

Dick Whitney, a senior vice president at UPA, said the company had not been paid by Olson, filed suit against the company and is now busy working on other projects. Olson declined to comment on UPA's allegations.

Olson bought the land from the city's redevelopment agency in 2004 after a previous developer abandoned plans for a 36-story, 480-unit rental tower, saying the rental market was too weak. Ironically, the rental market is now surging right around the time that project would have been coming to market, with Bay Area rents up 7 percent this year to $1,499 according to RealFacts.

Other developers are feeling the chillier market as well. Developer Alan Dones delivered an office building to Alameda County in November 2005, on time and under budget. But he's intentionally dragging his heels on 88 units of housing going in above a parking lot completed at the same time as the office building.

There was also an unplanned delay when construction temporarily stopped due to unspecified "issues" with a contractor, said Dones, who left a message but was traveling in Belize and could not be reached for elaboration.

Dones has construction under way again, but said he is taking a "more deliberate pace" in order to meet the housing market in spring, roughly a year later than originally planned.

"The market is a little slow," Dones said.

Dones and Olson are not alone. Over the past six months, three of the projects on the city's official list of "Major Development Projects" have been withdrawn or become inactive.

They include a 356-unit condo tower at 226 13th Street, a 315-residential-unit project called Cathedral Park at 2100 Martin Luther King Jr. Way in the Upper Broadway district of downtown and a 43-story tower at 1930 Broadway that was to mix office with housing, retail or hotel and is being reconfigured.

In July, the average sale price of a non-subsidized Oakland condominium fell to an average $435 per square foot from $450 per square foot in the first quarter, according to condo marketing firm the Mark Company.

rtate@bizjournals.com / (415) 288-4968
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2007/10/08/story3.html?t=printable

San Frangelino

10-05-2007, 04:45 PM

Olson bought the land from the city's redevelopment agency in 2004 after a previous developer abandoned plans for a 36-story, 480-unit rental tower, saying the rental market was too weak. Ironically, the rental market is now surging right around the time that project would have been coming to market, with Bay Area rents up 7 percent this year to $1,499 according to RealFacts.

OOOH...that hurts.

BTinSF

10-05-2007, 05:49 PM

^^^Makes you wonder why they don't finish the thing as a rental.

rocketman_95046

10-08-2007, 01:16 AM

Shaping North First Street
Friday, October 5, 2007
Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal - by Sharon Simonson

Green stamp pushed
San Jose District 4 Councilman Kansen Chu wants new North San Jose structures to earn an environmental stamp of approval from the Washington, D.C.,- based U.S. Green Building Council.

"My office is pushing hard for the LEED Silver certification," Chu says. "You hear about the global warming, and you know the environmental impact (of construction). I feel San Jose should take some leadership."

Silver certification is the second-most stringent in a four-tier ranking that the Green Building Council uses, with Gold and Platinum levels being more difficult to attain and basic certification being somewhat easier. The standards address not only the emission of carbon-dioxide from energy consumption but also such things as indoor air quality, water use, and limiting waste, particularly from construction materials.

"The goal is to create high-performing buildings, buildings that require less maintenance and are less costly over time and are healthier for the people inside," says Ashley Katz of the U.S. Green Building Council.

But Chu's initiative is raising questions about the implementation of the city's North San Jose redevelopment plan, a crucial effort to re-build what has been the most important employment center and tax-base in Silicon Valley's largest community.

Developers and property owners in the area say recent city actions make them fear the city is going to pile on new and costly requirements, like the Silver LEED certification, just as the 5,000-acre project is gaining momentum. If so, they argue, the jobs and tax-generating power of the plan would be undercut. Chu himself acknowledges that getting the Silver designation could add construction expense.

Other members of the San Jose City Council have already tried to temper Chu's enthusiasm. During a Sept. 25 council meeting, Chu moved to approve the rezoning of two North San Jose sites to make way for the construction of nearly 900 new apartments and condos, but only under the condition that the new development attain the LEED Silver designation. The memo was issued shortly before the meeting, a fact for which Chu apologized and which he later acknowledged was not fair. Staff reports on the projects do not discuss imposing the condition.

Ed McCoy, a vice president for the developer Fairfield Residential LLC, told Chu and the council that the conditions would effectively kill the projects, which together would represent a $350 million investment and some $3.5 million a year in new property taxes for local governments. The council voted to ask Fairfield to build to the "equivalent" of the LEED Silver standard. It did not define what "equivalent" meant.

A $100 million housing project being proposed by Barry Swenson Builder, also in North San Jose but outside Chu's district, was not held to the same standard. Chu said after the meeting he is O.K. with the substitution.

At the urging of City Attorney Rick Doyle, the council also directed staff to formulate a city-wide policy on the issue, so as to avoid acting on an ad-hoc basis.
San Jose spent years developing its North San Jose plan, which, more than anything else, is intended to be a local economic driver. However, the land-use in the plan adopts environmentally friendly principles. Housing is to be built mostly at densities of no less than 55 units an acre and up to 90. Industrial buildings will be mid- and higher-rises, not the single-story or lower-rise workplace buildings that often characterize North San Jose now. The entire project is anchored by the North First Street transit line, with the underlying notion that people will live in the nearby housing, use the trolley to get to and from work, and rarely use cars.

While an environmental impact report the city prepared in anticipation of the plan's execution discusses using "green building" techniques on private development, it talks about them only as "voluntary."

Of course, for building owners and developers, the largest questions about adopting LEED building standards are whether they make construction more expensive and if the investment is returned with interest. Rank-and-file tenants like the idea of occupying a "green" building, one developer says. But unless they are major corporations concerned about such factors as public image, they aren't willing to pay more.

Rents are directly related to the cost of construction. If market rents don't produce a return sufficient to compensate a developer for the cost of construction plus some risk premium -- development is a high-risk business -- projects do not get done.

Asked if LEED designed buildings are financially sound, David Kaneda, founder and president of San Jose's Integrated Design Associates Inc., says, "In general, they are, but it depends on how far you take it and what you do. If you look at research on the cost of LEED, the numbers are all over the place, but on average, they are more expensive than other buildings."

Kaneda has gained local fame in recent weeks as word has spread of his effort to build a "zero energy" building for his business that produces as much energy as it uses by combining energy-saving building methods and operating standards with the addition of photovoltaic panels to capture the sun's energy. The building is intended as a laboratory to test technologies on which he advises his clients. The company designs electrical and lighting systems with a focus on sustainable and high-efficiency design. So far -- and he has only been in the building for a number of weeks -- he's found the experience "frustrating," Kaneda says, because systems are not operating perfectly and still need to be fine tuned.

Kaneda expects his building to gain Silver LEED certification, but says his emphasis was mostly on producing less carbon dioxide, something that adhering to LEED standards alone does not necessarily do.

The irony in the entire debate is that San Jose's downtown City Hall is not Silver certified. Indeed, San Jose has achieved no Green Building certification at all for City Hall, though records show it began trying in May 2007 under the LEED "Existing Buildings" rating system.

Matt Morely, City Hall facility manager, says the problem has been compiling the documentation that the Green Building Council demands, not City Hall's instruction. The city is on track to submit its paperwork to the Green Building Council early next year and hopes to achieve at least a Gold level certification.

City Hall opened in 2005. Chu did not gain his seat on the council until this year.

Developers eye debate on schools
The city of San Jose and the Santa Clara Unified School District are struggling to find common ground in a debate over as much as $400 million in potential new costs for the redevelopment of North First Street.

Central to the disagreement, brewing since 2005, are widely differing opinions about how many new students will arrive at the Santa Clara district's doorsteps when an expected 32,000 new homes are built in the area over the next three decades.

A new study, paid for by the city but commissioned by the school district, is also questioning whether the city's housing plans for North San Jose will provide the work force mix that companies will need.

Meanwhile, developers and property owners with North San Jose interests are watching events with concern, fearing that the ultimate outcome will be greater costs to them.

But a city executive with extensive knowledge of the North San Jose plan says he is confident that the city and school district will reach compromise.

John Weis, deputy executive director for the San Jose Redevelopment Agency, says progress toward compromise has already begun and he asserts categorically that developers will not face new fees related to the schools issue or any other current North San Jose initiative.

At issue is the success or failure of what is viewed as the most important economic-development plan in San Jose today. North San Jose is home to some of the region's most important companies including Cisco Systems Inc. and eBay Inc., both of which employ thousands. They and other North San Jose companies also have been the source of millions of dollars of tax revenue for San Jose, some of which has financed construction of thousands of affordable homes.

Since Silicon Valley's economic collapse in 2001 and 2002, however, the area has suffered disproportionately. Industrial vacancy rates remain high, and many buildings are considered economically obsolete. Tax revenue has suffered.

In response, San Jose has sought to rejigger area land-use policies. The city has upped development densities dramatically to encourage vertical office development that companies want and to make room for new housing development because companies complained that their workers had no place nearby to live.

The new density plan increases land values but also requires $570 million in infrastructure investments, largely on roads. Developers and property owners are being asked to finance $460 million of that total. For every 100,000 square feet of office space, they will have to pay $1.1 million in assessments. Home builders will pay some $7,000 for every new apartment and condo built.

Developers say they accepted those fees thinking they would finance all of the public improvements that would need to be done. Now, however, it is unclear if that will be the case. If too many new requirements are pasted on top of what is already in place, including a new push to force stringent new green-development standards, they say, it will make new development in North San Jose economically difficult if not impossible.

"I am not as alarmed as I might be because nothing has been decided yet. But it is concerning the way it seems to be going," says Art Kennedy, an executive of Equity Office Properties, a unit of The Blackstone Group and one of the largest office building owners in North San Jose. "We thought the fees were done, and we've run (development) pro formas based on those fees."

Kennedy is one of five developer representatives on a new 25-member North San Jose Neighborhoods Planning Task Force.

The city's attitude toward the Santa Clara school district appears to have evolved in recent months as North San Jose homeowners have exerted increasing political pressure, finding what appears a particularly listening ear in their new District 4 Councilman Kansen Chu. Chu was elected to fill the incomplete term of now-Mayor Chuck Reed when Reed assumed the mayoral seat. Chu won on a platform that included championing the residents' cause. Chu faces re-election next year.

A staff person for Chu says his office is not aware that developers are worried about additional assessments for the area, nor are they aware that developers are questioning if they will be hit with new fees.

For its part, the school district says it has been beating the city's door for years, to little avail. Public record appears to support the claim.

"We started raising the red flag at the city in June 2005, and we went to the city council, and they ignored us," says Roger Barnes, the business administrator for the Santa Clara Unified School District. "At first the city was very feisty. They had their plan, and they were going to work their plan, and they weren't going to listen to anyone else. But someone -- maybe the mayor or Chu -- has turned it around, and now they have several people working on it."

The district is not opposed to North San Jose's redevelopment and recognizes the need to keep the region's economy vibrant, he adds.

According to the July 2007 study by Menlo Park's Schoolhouse Services, depending on how many homes are ultimately built in the Santa Clara district, the new housing will generate from 3,500 to 4,700 new school kids. Based on the lower number, the school district will need one small high school and four elementary schools, two of which would include middle schools.

The cost to develop those schools, including the cost of the land, is an estimated $400 million, Barnes and the study say. If developer fees raise an estimated $50 million, that leaves the school district with $350 million in unfunded costs.

Beyond that, because North San Jose is in a redevelopment "project area," property taxes that would otherwise go to schools are going to the city of San Jose's redevelopment agency. The school district also wants the city to address that by giving it revenue.

The study also asserts that demand for the high-density housing of between 55 and 90 dwelling units an acre that makes up all but about 7,000 of the units planned in North San Jose is not as deep as the city believes. Consequently, housing developers will attempt to expand their product offerings, which will generate more school-aged kids, the study concludes.

The redevelopment agency's Weis is skeptical, saying the assertion is based on the consultant's "philosophical" bent and not on the city's empirical work: interviews with the companies themselves

"That consultant does not make policy for the city of San Jose. The council does," he says.

Moreover, he says, the city will have the luxury of testing its beliefs: After the first new housing units are built in North San Jose, the city can go back to see what sort of student generation rates there are. At present, there are about 9,500 units in the planning stage, he says, and in the next couple of years many of them will be built.

"We will have some breathing room to give us time to observe," he says. "This is a 30-year plan. I've never done a 30-year plan where you've known everything from the start, and I've done a lot of them."

SHARON SIMONSON covers real estate for the Business Journal. Reach her at (408) 299-1853.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2007/10/08/story1.html?b=1191816000^1530265&page=1

San Frangelino

10-08-2007, 02:05 AM

Thanks for sharing that Rocketman....I saw that article online and really was hoping someone would have a subscription to the silicon valley business times to post it. I am curious to see how North First Street plays out, and what quality of urban enviroment gets built. I suspect it won't be anything radically different from mission bay, but I woud hope that the architecture would end up being something more radical.

krudmonk

10-08-2007, 02:21 AM

I would welcome something like Mission Bay to North First. Right now it's nothing but sterile office parks with the occasional Quizno's or Starbuck's. It's definitely more Silicon Valley than San Jose.

San Frangelino

10-13-2007, 02:30 AM

From: http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2007/10/15/story2.html?b=1192420800^1533632

Friday, October 12, 2007
Axis sales a glimpse of future

Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal - by Sharon Simonson

Next month, sales begin at downtown San Jose's Axis, the 329-unit, luxury condo tower rising behind the historic Hotel De Anza.

The development's backers, Oregon's Spring Capital Group and Cupertino's KT Properties, won't be the only ones watching with deep interest. A lot of other people will, too.

For developers with product in the market, Axis represents new competition. For would-be developers, its fate will provide insight into the depth and strength of downtown buyer demand. For lenders, another set of data points can be charted.

For 33-year-old Tony Sum, co-founder of Silicon Valley Lofts & Condos, buyer response to Axis could mean the difference between a good idea and a great one: It will either bolster or bombard his 18-month-old real estate brokerage, which is dedicated to trading downtown San Jose's urban homes.

"We were looking to get in early on an expanding market, and we are hoping that downtown becomes the vibrant living place that everyone is anticipating it to be," Sum says.

But Axis' success and the success of the three other downtown condo tower projects is even bigger than all that. For decades, downtown has been the fortunate recipient of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. The mission has been ambitious: to re-make the center city from a decrepit legacy of post-war suburbanization to an urban hub; to give San Jose a regional and national identity; and to prove the wisdom of "smart-growth" policies so favored by urban planners and politically robust environmentalists.

The investment has not gone without cost. San Jose neighborhoods -- arguably as much in need as downtown -- have gone without as a result, forsaking community centers, libraries, fire and police stations, parks, playground equipment, pools -- literally hundreds of public amenities -- as city leaders across multiple administrations have adopted the same approach.

Now the wisdom of that policy is on the cusp of possibly its most significant test. Because if Axis and the other towers don't find enthusiastic buyers and developers and lenders don't make money, no more high-rise condos will be built in downtown, maybe for a very long time. And if no more such housing gets built, the entire city vision could become blurred.

No one is watching with greater focus than Alex Erickson, principal and co-founder of Northpoint Development. The newly formed San Jose company is pursuing high-rise living on four downtown San Jose sites. So far, it has secured $8 million in financing to gain entitlements for all four. It hopes to start construction on Phase One next summer on the most modest, a $70 million, two-tower, 164-unit complex at Delmas and Auzerais avenues just across the Guadalupe Expressway from Discovery Meadow and the Children's Discovery Museum.

The project will be "kid friendly," unlike all others proposed for downtown now, with slightly larger units and a "tot lot," he says. It is aimed at families who have grown tired of a commute and with at least one employee downtown.

"We are definitely hinging on their success," says Erickson of Axis and The 88, the project being developed by San Francisco's Wilson Meany Sullivan at San Fernando and Third streets in downtown. The first phase of The 88, with 197 units, begins sales in February. The first move-ins are expected June 1, about the same time as at Axis.

Already, Erickson says, he has had to resign himself to signing a recourse loan to get Delmas built, and he acknowledges that, even then, getting it financed is "going to be a challenge."

Still, he says, once units at The 88 and the Axis begin to close escrow, "that is what is going to give me comps to show (lenders), 'This is what will sell for $850 a square foot. I can sell this comparable unit for the same amount. Give me a building loan.'"

There is no question that the bloom is off the condo rose elsewhere in the nation. The troubles in San Diego, Las Vegas and Florida have been well-publicized. So have condo buyers' attempts to abandon commitments made during construction once their homes become available for occupancy months later. In some cases, buyers have been willing to walk away from thousands of dollars in deposits based on the belief that the value of their purchase has fallen so precipitously in the time from agreeing to the deal and the ultimate close. In those cases, developers -- and their lenders -- are left holding the bag.

That kind of scenario -- though it seems unlikely in San Jose right now -- is something that gives lender Raymond Au pause. The loan officer for Pacific National Bank says he is extremely pleased with the market response and home sales at San Jose's 360 Residences, the 213-unit high-rise being developed by Chicago's Mesa Development LLC and financed by Au's bank. He declines to give specific sales performance numbers for the development, which is rising near East San Carlos and South First Street. Mesa itself did not respond to a request made through its publicist.

"We all know that the velocity of absorption has slowed down," Au says. "So far, it has not really affected median home prices (in Silicon Valley). But who knows six months down the line? We are only at the front end of a down cycle."

He, too, is watching events at Axis and The 88. Were either to adopt fire-sale practices, for instance, it could suck buyers away from Mesa and depress prices, starting the kind of downward spiral that has proved disastrous elsewhere.

Mesa could be especially susceptible to that series of events. The company began selling its units some nine months ago, at roughly the same time construction began on its tower. Buyers today won't get delivery for another 18 months. That means buyers will be subject to whatever vicissitudes the market delivers -- good and bad -- between now and then.

Both Axis and The 88 chose to begin their sales much farther into construction. Seth Bland, Wilson Meany's project manager for The 88, says the factors behind their decision were multiple, but at least one was their desire to avoid "selling... units multiple times."

Right now, market conditions in Silicon Valley are among the healthiest in the state, says Leslie Appleton-Young, the plainspoken economist for the California Association of Realtors. Jobs are being created, a key to housing demand, and the overbuilding that has led to problems elsewhere does not plague the South Bay. Beyond that, the stock market is doing well, something that is more of an issue for Silicon Valley buyers than anywhere else in the state.

People are extremely interested in and curious about the new high-rise condo units coming out of the ground, says downtown real estate agent Sum. Empty-nesters in particular are ready to give up the headaches of owning in the suburbs and hunger for a lifestyle that allows them to walk to dinner and a movie and leave on vacations with no more worries than locking a front door.

Still, he says, downtown retains a "stigma" of being a "rough neighborhood," an issue of particular interest to the older set.

"We still have clients ask all of the time, 'Is it safe downtown?'" he says. Consequently, "City officials are going to have to look at the types of businesses that we have downtown" to make sure they are not fostering activities that undermine downtown's attraction to that key customer base.

In the same vein, he notes, the young professionals with no kids that developers and city planners seem convinced will make up another core downtown buying pool can't afford the prices on high-rise units on offer today. They often have little or no equity and their credit prospects are dimmer than those of their more stable and richer elders.

How all of this will play out on the ground is of course the ultimate question, Sum notes. "It will be interesting" to watch, he adds. "I hope it will all be OK."

peanut gallery

10-16-2007, 07:30 PM

SF Chronicle update from this weekend on Oakland's Uptown Development (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/14/RE3KSNPGI.DTL&hw=uptown+development&sn=001&sc=1000). The Forest City plot mentioned in the article is where the A's had hoped to build a new urban ballpark village. Ex-Mayor Brown preferred it to be developed into housing. As an A's fan, I was dissapointed. But I'm glad to see the development become reality, rather than nothing at all.

Also buried in here is a very brief update on Oakland's Oak-to-Ninth Street development along the waterfront. Signature Properties (one of the developers at Uptown) hope to break ground on that next year. All-in-all there's a lot happening in Oakland these days.

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/10/14/re_uptown01.jpg

Jerry Brown's downtown vision still sparkles with Signature and other developments

Dana Perrigan, Special to The Chronicle
Sunday, October 14, 2007

When Jerry Brown was elected mayor of Oakland in 1998, a lot of people thought the city was a bit like the Tin Man in the "Wizard of Oz": It had a lot of things going for it, it was full of potential - but it didn't have a heart.

Career politician Brown has since gone on to work as state attorney general, but long before embarking on the yellow brick to Sacramento he announced his 10K Housing Initiative. Bring 10,000 new residents downtown, he said, and their collective heartbeat would surely revive the area from its lingering malaise.

It has been nearly a decade since Brown began his initiative. Those who believed in it, invested in it and remained behind to carry it out say the former mayor's vision - despite the recent cackles of the wicked witch over the current real estate market - is alive and well.

Mike Ghielmetti counts himself among that group.

"Twelve months from now, this area will be transformed," said Ghielmetti, president of Signature Properties.

On a bright and blustery afternoon with more than a hint of autumn in the air, Ghielmetti leads the way from his firm's sales office to the entrance of the new Broadway Grand - a stylish, Art Deco-inspired building featuring 132 new condominiums and town homes in the heart of Oakland's Uptown neighborhood.

With underground parking and 20,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, Broadway Grand represents Signature's contribution to the revitalization effort. Signature bought the property two years ago, broke ground soon after that and plans to have it ready for occupancy in a month or two.

The condos begin on the fourth floor of the seven-story building. Built around the perimeter of a large central courtyard lined with planter boxes and private patios, they range in size and price from the 722-square-foot one-bedroom for $387,000 to the 2,108-square-foot four-bedroom, three-bath for $901,900.

With hardwood floors, recessed lighting, room-by-room temperature control, higher-end appliances and fixtures and generous views of the urban landscape below, they seem to be the embodiment of Brown's promise of "elegant density."

Ghielmetti isn't very worried about the condition of the current market. He's been in the business long enough to know that it's cyclical, and that if you build a good product it'll usually work out. He plans to break ground on Phase II - an adjacent parcel that runs up to 24th Street - next summer. When completed, it will add 370 new homes and 120,000 square feet of retail space to the area.

"I think in a market like this there's a certain amount of caution," he said. "(People) aren't buying sight unseen like they were a couple of years ago, but we're making sales."

Ghielmetti is also moving forward on the huge Oak-to-Ninth project, a 62-acre mixed-use, urban-infill development on Port of Oakland land south of Jack London Square. The project includes 3,100 housing units and 200,000 square feet of retail space. Signature hopes to break ground on the 15- to 20-year project next year.

Standing outside once again at the corner of Broadway and Grand, Ghielmetti gestures toward the surrounding area. Signature plans to install antique streetlamps, plant trees along the wide sidewalks and tulips in the center divider of Broadway. The Paramount Theater, a block down Broadway, and the Fox Theater, in the process of being renovated over on Telegraph, will serve as the linchpins of a burgeoning new entertainment district. Ghielmetti envisions visitors and residents strolling in the evening on their way to dinner, followed by a show or a cocktail.

"There's good bones down here," Ghielmetti said. "You look at all the revitalized areas around the county, there's no reason why Oakland can't be part of the renaissance." As if in anticipation of the transformation, a number of restaurants, cafes, clothing stores and galleries have already opened.

"I was aware of the plans when I bought the place," said Rick Mitchell, owner of Luka's Taproom and Lounge, across the street from Broadway Grand. "There haven't been a lot of changes, but they're imminent. Here in Oakland it's good to be skeptical, but we're excited about the changes and we want to be a part of it."

So does John Eudy, executive vice president of Essex - a real estate investment trust that is putting up 238 apartments a block or so from Broadway Grand at Grand and Webster. The steel for the 10-story building, which will also contain 9,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, is already up. Begun in late 2006, the project is scheduled for completion in about a year.

"We bought into the whole revitalization idea he (Brown) was pushing, and we believe in it," said Eudy, whose firm has invested $90 million in the downtown area. "What's been happening in Oakland during the last eight years has been pretty phenomenal."

Like Ghielmetti, Eudy isn't very concerned with how the market will affect Essex's interests in Oakland.

"It may slow some of the condo development," he said, "but the rental market's only firmed up."

For Forest City Development, whose mixed-use project a few blocks away from Broadway Grand is considered by some to be the anchor of development in the Uptown area, the decision to invest in the neighborhood was largely based on logic.

"It's a transit-oriented site," said Susan Smartt, senior vice president for Forest City Residential West. "It's the centralized hub of the BART system, and the city has a positive attitude toward redevelopment."

Other factors that weighed in the decision, Smartt said, included good weather and the fact that 70,000 people work in downtown Oakland.

And then there was the intangible factor.

"There is something very unique about the ethnic diversity of downtown Oakland," Smartt said. "It's full of good spirits. The people who live in Oakland know it and love it."

Situated between 19th and 20th streets, Telegraph and San Pablo avenues, Forest City West's Uptown Project received a $40 million subsidy from the city to buy land and finance 140 below-market units. The development is a joint venture between Forest City Development and MacFarlane Partners, which are making a $187 million investment in downtown Oakland. In addition to urban infill developments in Denver, Chicago, Boston and Brooklyn, Forest City built the 800-unit Bayside Village at the San Francisco anchorage of the Bay Bridge. Forest City will also be the developer of the Public Health Services Hospital building in San Francisco's Presidio.

Altogether, there will be about 1,000 units, including 665 apartments, and 9,000 square feet of retail space on the site. A 25,000-square-foot park adjacent to the project is also planned. The first phase, which includes the park, is scheduled to open by next spring.

Smartt said the city of Oakland is intent on continuing the revitalization efforts.

"It's begun to take on a life of its own," she said. "It's happening organically - and that's good."

Oakland City Councilwoman Nancy Nadel, whose district contains the new development in the Uptown neighborhood, says it's difficult to say whether 10,000 new residents have come to the downtown area, and she believes the softened market may slow the influx.

"We are subject to the whims of the market just as every other city is," she said. "But the market will rebound. And Oakland is a city that's in the center of everything: It's a great place to develop."

The former mayor - dubbed by some at the time as "Downtown Brown" - he couldn't be more pleased by what's been happening in Oakland.

"When I became mayor," he said, "there hadn't been any significant building in downtown Oakland in decades. Now it's gone beyond my imagination."

Brown, who still has his loft on 27th Street, was excited about the grand opening, which he attended the day before, of the Whole Foods store, built on the site of a former Cadillac dealership at 27th and Harrison streets. He attributes the continued influx of business and real estate investment in the area to "private investment and a minimum of red tape," and a city that isn't afraid to invest in itself.

"You have to see development as a positive factor, as an asset and not a liability," he said. "Unfortunately, there are those who have more of an affinity to poverty than prosperity."

Having completed the tour, Ghielmetti walks back across the street to Signature's sales office. Sure-footed workers methodically dismantle the scaffolding from the face of Broadway Grand. One worker picks up a plank, passes it down to the next man who, in turn, hands it off to a third man standing on a flatbed truck.

As the third man drops the plank into place, a cloud of white dust explodes into the air and, caught by the wind, is swept down Broadway.

San Frangelino

10-26-2007, 01:08 AM

Under Construction

Found this viahttp://transbay.wordpress.com/

The photos were taken by leporello87 http://www.flickr.com/photos/54568662@N00/1744402118/

100 Grand Avenue
Oakland, CA
100 Grand Avenue, at the corner of Webster, will be a new high-rise addition to the Valdez section of downtown, just a few blocks from the large Uptown development. The structure will have a few terraced heights to reduce bulk, but it will include a 22-story tower and will add 238 rental units and 5,415 square feet of retail space to the emerging Uptown area. The left image below is a photo of the poster rendering hanging at the construction site, and the right picture shows the construction:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2303/1744405464_2c4e37b084_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2298/1744402118_795efe5e17_b.jpg

rocketman_95046

10-26-2007, 07:22 PM

Well it looks like more delays for a new SJ soccer stadium...

Earthquakes to play at Santa Clara U.
Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal - by Lindsay Riddell
Friday, October 26, 2007 - 10:37 AM PDT

The San Jose Earthquakes soccer team will play home games at Santa Clara University's Buck Shaw Stadium for the next two seasons and possibly three as efforts to gain city approval to build a new stadium continue.

"We look forward to making upgrades to Buck Shaw Stadium in order to improve the soccer experience for not only Earthquake's fans but also Santa Clara soccer fans," said Michael Crowley, president of the Earthquakes and the Oakland Athletics.

The Earthquakes played in San Jose for more than a decade at San Jose State University before being moved to Houston in 2005. Lew Wolff and other Oakland A's owners won an exemption from Major League Soccer to bring the team back for the 2008 season despite a major league rule that bars the purchase of a team without permanent facilities.

The Earthquakes announced today they will upgrade Buck Shaw Stadium, named for a former Santa Clara football coach, including adding 5,000 temporary seats and a digital portable video score board. The team will also renovate a practice field on University grounds, will expand hospitality areas and will reconfigure stadium lights for soccer.

"The upgrades to the stadium and practice field will greatly benefit our nationally recognized soccer programs as they continue to compete with the best collegiate teams in the country," said Dan Coonan, Santa Clara University director of athletics and recreation. "We look forward to a strong relationship with the Earthquakes in the future with the potential of hosting college cups and other soccer events in the South Bay."

The Earthquakes are awaiting approval on a plan to construct a new 18,000-seat stadium near the Mineta San Jose International Airport. The plan hinges on zoning changes that would allow Earthquakes owners to build homes on industrial land in the Edenvale neighborhood to finance the stadium.

The San Jose City Council will likely make a judgment on the rezoning plan at its general plan update meeting scheduled for February.

krudmonk

10-27-2007, 01:59 AM

SSV has a picture of the proposed remodel:
http://blog.soccersiliconvalley.com/archives/2007/10/its_santa_clara.html

rocketman_95046

10-28-2007, 04:26 AM

^Instead of spending millions upgrading SCU and then spending millions more building another stadium in SJ. Why doesnt the MLS simply build a great soccer stadium at SCU. With SCU's soccer history and the location right next to caltrain you would think that SCU is the perfect location.

krudmonk

10-28-2007, 06:30 PM

rocketman_95046

10-28-2007, 11:06 PM

- They won't be spending millions. I think those proposed stands will be more of the Erector Set variety, similar to Columbus Crew Stadium. I'm also not certain that SCU needs huge stadium upgrades. Additionally, I'm sure the Earthquakes also want more control of their home facility. Sharing with a college campus worked negatively for the LA Galaxy earlier this year when scheduling conflicts forced them to limit capacity for the SuperLiga final because it was held on a certain night. That's bogus.

- The target site for the permanent stadium will be literally across the street (and tracks) but in San Jose city limits. Caltrain accessibility still applies and there's allegedly an entire complex drafted up (hotels, shops, etc.) for the currently vacant/wasted FMC lot next to the airport. Wolff is a developer, not just a regular guy with money.

Santa Clara U. has been raising money to upgrade their soccer stadium for a few years now. This will help pump millions into the fund to finish the job. See the link below ""They have made it significantly worth our while financially," said Coonan. "It is a great relationship and it does so many things for us in terms of visibility and enhances our profile."".

SCU has been in the top 20 for men’s and women’s soccer school for years, I think they deserve the upgrades. They were hoping for funds by being a location for women’s soccer in the Olympics if SF won. Now the MLS will be chipping in.

I just think that it will be odd to have two soccer fields so close together when one would work (its not like this is baseball, there are plenty of days to schedule events). And I will admit being an SCU alum I'm a bit biased. ;)

http://media.www.thesantaclara.com/media/storage/paper946/news/2007/10/25/Sports/Breaking.Earthquakes.To.Play.At.Buck.Shaw-3060393.shtml

Also, the Galaxy share the Home Depot Center with the Chivas so the comparison isnt exactly apples to apples!

rocketman_95046

10-29-2007, 07:13 AM

North San Jose rezonings set table for 998 apartments, homes

Friday, October 26, 2007
Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal - by Sharon Simonson

San Jose has approved another massive land-use change for nearly 50 acres near Highway 237 as part of the rapidly unfolding redevelopment of the city's most-important industrial cluster along the North First Street spine.

Sought by semiconductor equipment-maker Novellus Systems Inc., which owns the bulk of the underlying property, two rezonings will bring 998 high-density apartments and homes to two sites occupied by older industrial buildings.

At the same time, the city has agreed to increase by three times the development capacity of the 27-acre industrial parcel where Novellus' world headquarters is located, pushing it to more than 1.2 million square feet from 419,000 square feet now.

Approval came over the objections of residents in the area, who do not believe the city has adequately planned for the locations of new parks, schools and other community amenities in its efforts to remake 5,000 North San Jose acres. However, as part of its offerings to the city to obtain the changes, Novellus agreed to dedicate five acres for a community park across from its headquarters and an acre next to one of the housing developments for a neighborhood park. The company also agreed to spend $3 million for park improvements and $1.5 million for park maintenance.

The Novellus changes are but the latest that the city has ratified along the North First Street corridor in recent months. Together, the modifications promise to transform the area's aesthetic, now characterized by low-lying, often older office and research and development buildings. Recent housing approvals, including the Novellus changes, shows nearly 5,000 new apartments and condos are slated for construction, all of them high-density and mid-rise or higher. Others are in the entitlement pipeline.

For instance, further south along North First, in proximity to a light-rail stop, Mill Valley-based developer Thompson/Dorfman is seeking to build 1,600 single-family and multi-family attached homes, 40,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, and eight acres of public and private parks at 3469 N. First. The site is immediately adjacent to the enormous North Park Apartment Village, which has 2,700 units and is owned by Southern California's Irvine Co. Irvine is also preparing to build 1,800 units on a former Sony Electronics Inc. site, also nearby.

The area has little residential now.

A smattering of new industrial development also has been approved, though development pressure from the industrial side has only begun to materialize in the last several months. Right now, developers Legacy Partners, Tishman Speyer and Boston Properties all have pending requests before the city for new office development in North San Jose totaling nearly 2 million square feet. Novellus has secured its industrial development rights for 20 years, and does not appear to have any immediate plans for expansion.

The tracts adjacent to 237 and North First have proven a locus of activity. Besides the Novellus rezonings, Cupertino developer Hunter-Storm has begun scrapping dirt on 39 acres fronting Highway 237 and immediately north of the Novellus headquarters. That site is to be home to a 160-room hotel, 250,000 square-feet of new retail, including a Target store, and some 890,000 square feet of offices.

Chicago-based real estate investment trust Equity Residential, in a joint venture, is the slated developer for the housing approved as part of the Novellus application. Equity, one of the largest apartment owners and operators in the country with 165,000 units, is expected to pursue the projects in the next two years. Investment in the development is expected to exceed $400 million. The company owns over 6,900 apartments in the Bay Area, a company spokesman says. It has 1,866 units in the South Bay.

Novellus declined comment.

However, land-use consultant Erik Schoennauer of The Shoennauer Co. in San Jose, who represented the semiconductor equipment maker, says the changes were key to the company's future: "Novellus has been very clear that this whole package makes them more competitive as a company in retaining and recruiting employees," he says.

Surveys of Novellus workers show that significant percentages are interested in using the community park during lunch and after work, Schoennaur says. The nearby housing "also would allow people to walk to work," he adds.

Novellus occupies 750,000 square feet on North First Street. It has 1,200 employees in North San Jose and 3,300 worldwide, the city says.

Novellus' development agreement with the city does not prohibit it from selling the land to which the new industrial entitlements attach, Schoennauer adds.

The company did not disclose details of the land-use changes as material events during a conference call with analysts Oct. 23 to discuss its third-quarter financial results, nor do public records reflect the sale of the two new housing sites.

However, there is little doubt that the city approvals increased the value of Novellus' land holdings substantially. Industrial property, for instance, is worth approximately $40 a square foot while land designated for high-density housing is worth $80 a square foot to $100 a square foot.

SHARON SIMONSON covers real estate for the Business Journal. Reach her at (408) 299-1853.

krudmonk

10-29-2007, 05:19 PM

Near 237? What a waste. There's nothing up there.

rocketman_95046

10-29-2007, 05:48 PM

Near 237? What a waste. There's nothing up there.

That's the point!;)

Right now it's just sprawled office and parking, a little density along the light rail corridor will do wonders. And that is the point of the North First Street plan.

krudmonk

10-29-2007, 06:49 PM

When I saw "homes," I immediately thought "single-family detached." I see now that they'll be townhomes with a lot of more dense developments on top of that. That last thing we need are more McMansions.

San Frangelino

10-29-2007, 07:37 PM

For instance, further south along North First, in proximity to a light-rail stop, Mill Valley-based developer Thompson/Dorfman is seeking to build 1,600 single-family and multi-family attached homes, 40,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, and eight acres of public and private parks at 3469 N. First.

This sounds very similar to the Rivermark development nearby in Santa Clara.

Besides the Novellus rezonings, Cupertino developer Hunter-Storm has begun scrapping dirt on 39 acres fronting Highway 237 and immediately north of the Novellus headquarters. That site is to be home to a 160-room hotel, 250,000 square-feet of new retail, including a Target store, and some 890,000 square feet of offices.

This sounds like a promising development. Target stores seem to be the Trader Joes/ Whole Foods of Big Box retail. One of those chains people get excited about opening in their area, although I know there are also many who would strongly disagree. I wonder if this project will be similar to the one being planned for the Mid Market area of San Francisco. Vertical mall with a large ground floor anchor, a la Time Warner Center. That would be cool, but only if it was appealing to the pedestrain as well. Will look foward to finding some sort of rendering.

peanut gallery

11-02-2007, 10:13 PM

A story on another possible development along Redwood City's waterfront (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/01/MNAET3ET0.DTL) from the Chronicle. Between this and the desire to redevelop Pete's Harbor, there is a lot of pressure to build on these former wetlands. Eric at the Transbay Blog (http://transbay.wordpress.com/2007/11/01/leaving-the-transit-out-of-transit-oriented-development/) chimes in as well. I tend to agree with Eric's point of view on this.

Plans by Cargill to build homes on salt-flat acreage alarms some
Jonathan Curiel, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, November 1, 2007

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/11/01/mn_cargill01_001_pc.jpg

The owner of one of the largest undeveloped swaths of bay shoreline says it is considering building houses on the land - a controversial idea opposed by environmentalists who say the property should be restored to its natural state and protected.

Cargill Inc. uses the 1,433-acre site on the edge of San Francisco Bay in Redwood City to produce commercial salt, but John Bruno, a spokesman for a joint venture between Cargill and a real estate development firm, told The Chronicle that the corporation is studying the possibility of building housing there.

The land is just southeast of Bair Island, a marshy, 2,600-acre restoration project that is part of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. On that former salt pond, where Redwood City voters in 1982 forbade development, harbor seals have found a place to sunbathe and rare species like the salt harvest mouse thrive.

Although Cargill has not actually produced any plans for the nearby 1,433-acre site, environmentalists say they would fight to prevent Cargill from getting permits to build residences there. Instead, they say the land should be used to further the state's goal of restoring the thousands of acres of bay wetlands destroyed over the past 200 years.

The idea of building housing on the land is supported by at least one local official, a key member of the Redwood City Planning Commission who says the city has an immense need for housing and amenities like playing fields and trails. And the executive director of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, which has jurisdiction over land within 100 feet of the bay's shoreline, said Cargill could pursue a development plan if it first restored at least half of the site to a natural setting.

Cargill is phasing out its salt production on the land and wants to convert it into some type of mixed development, including some housing. For the past year, Redwood City Industrial Saltworks - a joint venture between Cargill and a real estate development firm called DMB Associates - has solicited comments from Redwood City residents on what they want Cargill to do with the property.

More than 6,000 people have responded through mailings and comments during the company's forums, "and the vast majority of what we've heard is that people are looking for a mixture of uses, and that runs the gamut from housing to parks to bay trails," said Bruno, general manager of Redwood City Industrial Saltworks.

Bruno wouldn't specify the type of housing Cargill envisions nor what percentage of land the housing would occupy, but any development is opposed by groups such as Save the Bay. That group recently started a campaign to protect the last remaining undeveloped properties that ring the bay.

"It's not the place to put housing," said the group's executive director, David Lewis. "If Cargill thinks this can be approved, they're living in the past."

Cargill's Redwood City property is zoned "tidal plain," meaning the corporation would have to get an exemption from the Redwood City Planning Commission to pursue any development.

Before it does, Cargill would have to restore at least 50 percent of the area to natural habitat under state laws governing bay salt ponds, said Will Travis, head of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission.

"Our position is that when you take a salt pond and use it for something other than salt making, a substantial portion of it should be restored to the bay or wetlands. The issue of what the (rest of the) property can be used for is the call of local government," Travis said.

And Lewis said the company would face additional development hurdles under the federal Clean Water Act, which he said prohibits former waterways from being filled with development if there are alternatives to put the development in another area. And, Lewis said, state water quality regulations would also severely limit what Cargill could build on the site, which has been used for salt production since 1901.

Development in that area has been controversial since the first home at Redwood Shores was built in 1969. Dozens of office developments were built up to the bay shoreline - land that environmentalists said should have been restored to its natural state. That battle in part led to the campaign to protect Bair Island, which once also was eyed for development. In 2004, Redwood City voters rejected a proposed high-rise development near the bay, Marina Shores Village, which the City Council had approved.

Cargill won't formally submit a development application to Redwood City until sometime next year, Bruno said. Last month, the Minnesota corporation hired three firms - including one called Biohabitats that specializes in ecological restoration - to help develop the property. In the next few months, Cargill will hold more community meetings.

Construction probably wouldn't begin for at least several years.

The vice chairwoman of Redwood City's Planning Commission, Nancy Radcliffe, said she would favorably consider any housing plan by Cargill because Redwood City is in desperate need of residences for people who work in the Peninsula city. Such housing would reduce the number of commuters on Bay Area roads, thereby reducing car emissions and helping the environment, Radcliffe said.

"Housing would ... lessen the amount of commuters, and then you look at the affects of global warming, so it's not just a one-issue thing," Radcliffe said. "At the moment, Redwood City has a huge housing imbalance. So that's an issue that's in front of us. The less people have to commute, the better it is for the environment and for family life."

Bruno said that those who oppose any housing on the site are "by far a very small minority opinion."

But Save the Bay's Lewis and Ralph Nobles, a former Redwood City planning commissioner who heads the group Friends of Redwood City, said there is a growing sentiment that preserving environmentally sensitive land is more important than building condominiums or apartment complexes.

Cargill, Nobles said, "can't develop (its saltworks) land unless they convince the people of Redwood City that it should be housing rather than bay lands. I don't think the people of Redwood City want to put housing on a bay front that's below sea level at a time when sea levels are rising."

About 40,000 acres of wetlands rim the San Francisco Bay. Save the Bay wants Cargill to sell the property to the state or federal government so it can add the land to the national wildlife refuge. In 2002, Cargill sold 16,500 acres of commercial salt ponds to state and federal governments for $243 million in cash and tax credits.

Even if housing is ultimately put on the property, Bruno said, it probably would be accompanied by open habitat spaces, a recreation area and other places that will reflect the area's natural setting.

Redwood City Councilman Jeff Ira said he would like a youth sports facility on the land that would "be able to host Little League and soccer tournaments and those types of things. The No. 1 complaint I hear on a regular basis is that we just don't have enough playing fields. That wouldn't require zoning changes since that's one of the few things allowed."

"There's no question we need housing," Ira said. "But do we want to build housing for housing's sake? Never. You have to do something that is a good use of the land. I think everyone wants to build open space, but how much - that's a tough question."

Frisco_Zig

11-07-2007, 03:34 AM

peanut gallery

11-07-2007, 04:22 PM

^^^ Yep. I'm afraid you are correct. Although there is hope. Measure Q, which would have allowed the Marina Shores (Pete's Harbor) project to go through, was soundly defeated in 2004. As long as they can get this before voters, there is a chance to kill it too.

San Frangelino

11-11-2007, 12:25 AM

From:http://www.abetteroakland.com/

Oak to Ninth lawsuit dropped!
V Smoothe | oakland, Oak to 9th | Friday, 09 November 2007
The Oakland City Council approved the 3100 unit Oak to Ninth development in July of last year. A month later, a coalition made up of the Oakland Heritage Alliance, the League of Women Voters, the Sierra Club, and several other groups submitted 25,000 signatures to bring the project to a vote before the entire city. On September 7th, 2006, Oakland City Attorney John Russo directed the City Clerk to invalidate their petition because the group had failed to comply with state laws governing referendums. The future of referendum has been tied up in court for the last year. Russo announced today that the referendum committee has agreed to drop their suit over his decision to invalidate the petition.

This means that the development will never come before the voters. But the project isn’t in the clear just yet. Two lawsuits dealing with the Environmental Impact Report are still pending.

Now I guess we will have to see if this project can work past those two remaining lawsuits and the current conditions in the market. For those who are unfamiliar with this massive project, here is the website http://www.oakto9th.com/

San Frangelino

11-16-2007, 10:56 PM

11.14.2007

Union City BART station to become a signature landmark

Top BART, Union City and AC Transit officials broke ground on Tuesday, November 13, on a massive construction project that will transform the Union City BART Station into a spectacular, world-class, solar-powered, multi-modal transit hub where passengers will be able live, work, shop, eat and connect to everything from busses, to BART to Capitol Corridor trains. ACE, Dumbarton Rail and high-speed rail trains may also connect there.

Today's groundbreaking on this signature station marks the beginning of the Union City Intermodal Station project, which costs nearly $100 million. The City of Union City, BART and AC Transit are the lead agencies in this development.

FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND SOLAR POWERED STATION
The station portion of the transit village will be the first in the Bay Area and possibly the nation to run on solar-generated electricity. There will be solar cells on the 700 foot long, 25 foot wide canopy of the $3.5 million, 16-bay bus facility. "Those solar cells will actually generate more electricity than the station will use," Director Thomas Blalock who represents the station said. "The solar panels will produce approximately $23,335 per year in power, which is roughly what BART currently spends on electricity for that station."

Because those solar panels will generate more electricity than the station will consume, BART will redirect the excess electricity into the power grid, as it is not economically feasible to store that electricity. At night, when the solar cells cannot generate electricity, the station will pull its power from the power grid.

AN AMENITY-FILLED TRANSIT VILLAGE
This ambitious plan develops the 80 acres of industrial space surrounding the Union City BART Station into a village with all the modern amenities and conveniences for a people who want to live, work, raise a family and play without having to depend heavily on their car. Within ½ mile of the BART station there will be:

• Up to 1,800 new residential units
• Up to 100,000 square feet of neighborhood-serving retail space
• Up to 1 million square feet of office space

Already, more than two hundred housing units are open and another 438 units are under construction. Crews will construct the office space gradually over the next several years. The Regional Rail Plan calls for the full village to be completed around 2015.

From: http://www.unioncity.org/commdev/redev_intermodal.htm

http://www.unioncity.org/Intermodal/inter_graphics/Slide5_720.gif

http://www.unioncity.org/Intermodal/inter_graphics/Slide3_720.gif

http://www.unioncity.org/Intermodal/inter_graphics/Slide4_720.gif

BTinSF

11-17-2007, 12:19 AM

I needed this to help see the reason for the project:

http://www.unioncity.org/Intermodal/inter_graphics/slide2_550.gif
Source: http://www.unioncity.org/Intermodal/inter_graphics/slide2_550.gif

Reminiscence

11-17-2007, 01:04 AM

This may sound like a silly question, but what is this proposed Dumbarton Rail that I see on the map above? Is this yet another proposed route from BART and Caltrain, or is this the result of the proposed Altamont route for CAHSR?

San Frangelino

11-17-2007, 03:24 AM

Reminiscence

11-17-2007, 06:01 AM

Here is a link that talks about it: http://www.bayrailalliance.org/dumbarton_rail

Thats an interesting site, and I'll be interested in hearing how this turns out. Thanks for providing that link :)

San Frangelino

11-27-2007, 04:29 AM

From: http://www.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2007/11/19/daily46.html?f=et62&ana=e_du

Friday, November 23, 2007
Stanford plans high-end hotel
East Bay Business Times

A $465-a-night hotel on Sand Hill Road is being built by Stanford University to cater primarily to visiting venture capitalists and investors, according to reports.

Rosewood Sand Hill, a 21-acre complex at Sand Hill Road and Highway 280, is expected to cost about $200 million and open in 2009.

Dallas-based Rosewood Hotels & Resorts will run the facility for 20 years on Stanford-owned land, and Menlo Park will get about 10 percent of the proceeds.

Rosewood also manages the Carlyle in Manhattan and other high-end spots. Details of the deal between Rosewood and Stanford were not disclosed.

San Frangelino

12-09-2007, 04:57 PM

Website for the Mandela Grand Project in Oakland:

http://www.mandelagrand.com/

rocketman_95046

01-11-2008, 05:36 AM

Pics of Axis and Tower 88 in SJ...from webcor...

Axis:
http://www.webcor.com/auto_images/large/axisjanuary2008a1199918194.jpg

Tower 88:
http://www.webcor.com/auto_images/large/centralplacejanuary2008b1199905680.jpg
http://www.webcor.com/auto_images/large/centralplacejanuary2008c1199905686.jpg
http://www.webcor.com/auto_images/large/centralplaceoct2007a1194654799.jpg

peanut gallery

01-11-2008, 03:43 PM

krudmonk

01-11-2008, 05:44 PM

I was in SJ one day over the holidays and I thought that Axis tower looked pretty good. I'm a little concerned that it overwhelms the Hotel De Anza (that shot really minimizes the effect) but all-in-all I think it makes a nice addition to the skyline.
It's hard to overwhelm a big, pink building. Driving up Almaden Blvd, Axis is more of a backdrop than a focal point. The Axis addendum going in next to it will also be low-rise so that shouldn't obscure the De Anza from Santa Clara Street.

peanut gallery

01-11-2008, 08:05 PM

LOL! Yeah, I guess it's kind of hard to overlook a pink art deco hotel!

Is the addendum you mentioned replacing the surface lot right next to the De Anza (what is that street, Notre Dame?)? I hadn't heard about that. What's the timing for that one?

stormkingfan

03-16-2008, 10:42 PM

In skyscrapers.com, they have a proposed 1930 Broadway in Oakland. 827'/63 floors. Anyone know about this? Is there a rendition of it?

Reminiscence

03-16-2008, 11:57 PM

In skyscrapers.com, they have a proposed 1930 Broadway in Oakland. 827'/63 floors. Anyone know about this? Is there a rendition of it?

The last news I heard about it is that it was downgraded a tad. It is now 790' with 59 floors. However, even at 790', it will still dwarf anything in the city. I'm not aware of any renderings though :(

See: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=133058

stormkingfan

03-17-2008, 01:41 AM

Yep, 790' is still huge for Oakland. Ordway is still the tallest today (404'... little more than half the ht. of 1930). I was stationed in Oakland in the 80's, so I knew about half the city pretty well.

yakumoto

03-20-2008, 04:59 AM

SAN JOSE HIGH RISES

http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x219/ErikYakumoto/downtownSJ_sites.jpg

Under Construction

1. Axis
2. The 88 Phase 1
3. 360 Condos
4. Riverpark 2

Planning

5. The Carlysle
6. Marshall Squares
7. The 88 Phase 2
8. 2nd & San Carlos
9. City Front Square
10. Gateway Tower
11. Boston Properties Office Complex
12. 200 Park Ave
13. ...?
14. Living Tommorow
15. 1 South Market
16. Park View Towers
17. North San Pedro Housing

And keep in mind, this is ONLY downtown!!!!!!

BTinSF

03-20-2008, 05:01 AM

Be aware of the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive, designed by Toyo Ito and set to open by 2013:

http://sf.curbed.com/uploads/18Mar08_bam.jpg
Source: http://sf.curbed.com/

To go here:

http://bampfa.berkeley.edu/images/general//newbuilding_FutureSiteOutline.jpghttp://bampfa.berkeley.edu/images/general/newbuilding_aerial-photo.jpg
Image source (both): http://bampfa.berkeley.edu/newbuilding/

San Frangelino

03-20-2008, 05:15 PM

Nice Map Yakumoto!

San Frangelino

03-20-2008, 08:39 PM

Since this thread has been somewhat resurected, I will put this here for the greater masses to see.

http://www.business2oakland.com/main/centraldistrict.htm

http://www.business2oakland.com/main/images/1100Broadway-LookingSoutheast_10.3.07pic.GIF

Here is the description that goes with it:

1100 Broadway and Key System Building: Currently in the City's planning process, SKS Investments is proposing a LEED Silver rated (or higher) complex at 13th and Broadway that will restore the historic Key System Building and build a new 20-story Class A office building. The total building rentable building area will total 310,000 square feet of office space and 9,800 square feet of retail space. Construction is expected to begin in late 2008.

peanut gallery

03-27-2008, 05:58 PM

They've started installing glass on the new office tower going up next to San Bruno Mountain along 101 in South City. I'll try to get a shot of it on my way back home this afternoon.

San Frangelino

03-27-2008, 06:53 PM

They've started installing glass on the new office tower going up next to San Bruno Mountain along 101 in South City. I'll try to get a shot of it on my way back home this afternoon.

That, I would love to see peanut gallery! I was wondering if that project ever made it past the ground breaking.

San Frangelino

03-27-2008, 07:26 PM

Another rendering and website for http://www.1100broadway.com/

http://1100broadway.com/img/1100-Broadway-Splash-Page.jpg

San Frangelino

03-28-2008, 03:46 PM

From:http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/03/31/story1.html

Friday, March 28, 2008
Swig Co. eyes two new Oakland towers
Kaiser Center overhaul would add 1.3M square feet of office
San Francisco Business Times - by J.K. Dineen

Swig Co. wants to add 1.3 million square feet of new office space to the Kaiser Center in Oakland, seeking permission to knock down two buildings and replace them with a pair of towers that would shoot up 42 and 34 stories.

In the first step of an approvals process expected to take one to two years, Swig filed a "preliminary development plan" March 25. The plan, if approved, would allow Swig to replace the two "obsolete low-rise" structures along 20th and Webster streets with towers of 780,000 and 565,000 square feet, according to Swig Co. CEO Jeanne Myerson. The two existing buildings represent a total of 95,000 square feet and house a Longs Drugs and a 24-Hour Fitness, in addition to other retail uses.

The existing Kaiser Center office tower, garage and roof garden would remain and be incorporated into the new project.

Both developments would take place on the western portion of the site, with one tower rising at the corner of Webster and 20th streets, and a second tower rising at the corner of Webster and 21st streets. The proposal also calls for 22,000 square feet of new street level retail along 20th and Webster streets, although precise square footage and exact building location, size and design will be hammered out over the next year. As proposed, the redevelopment doesn't include any housing, which Swig had once considered building.

Since it's an office, wouldnt that make the buildings around 600 ft for the largest, and 500 for the shortest?

peanut gallery

03-28-2008, 06:10 PM

Nice! Although I missed the mention of a tenant.

BTW: I wasn't able to shoot that building in SSF yesterday. I'll be down that way again on Tuesday and will try then.

BTinSF

03-28-2008, 07:00 PM

Friday, March 28, 2008
Oakland draws 13 proposals for ex-Army base
San Francisco Business Times - by Eric Young

Thirteen companies are vying to build new offices, upscale stores or other projects on Oakland's former Army Base, stoking hopes among redevelopment officials for an iconic development that will invigorate what is now a ho-hum assemblage of industrial buildings.

The developers include large national players like AMB Property Corp. and ProLogis and small local interests such as the Oakland Film Center. Redevelopment officials declined to provide details on the concepts that were submitted, saying that information will get a public airing before the City Council by June. City development officials, who issued a request for proposals after a plan by the Wayan brothers for a movie studio on the property fell through, told developers that they want to consider a wide range of projects.

Possible projects include warehousing or other logistics facilities, an upscale shopping center, office space for biotechnology, life sciences, film production, multimedia or green technology.

"We're quite satisfied with the level of interest we've received, primarily because there is such a wide range of development teams wanting to do a variety of things," said Gregory Hunter, deputy director of Oakland's Community and Economic Development Agency.

City officials and residents will follow the development proposals closely, given the size and strategic location of the base.

"It's a very very important property," said Nancy Nadel, the Oakland councilwoman whose district includes the base property. A new development there "could provide lots of jobs. There are all kinds of opportunities for that site. We want something that has some pizzazz."

Proposals for 108 acres on the Oakland Army Base have come and gone since the military abandoned the site in 1999. Past ideas floated for the area include a casino and hotel, a new Major League baseball park for the Oakland A's and state-of-the-art movie studio and retail center. One by one those ideas failed to gain traction either due to political opposition or difficulties in securing financing.

Meanwhile the Port of Oakland wants the land as well. The port, as it seeks to compete with other West Coast facilities, has already taken over about half the land of the army's former base. It would like the remaining 108 acres at the southeast base of the Bay Bridge for greater rail and warehouse capacity.

Port supporters like Steve Lowe say shipping and logistics uses at the Army base property make sense. "We're hoping a more industrial profile will emerge," said Lowe, a leader of the West Oakland Commerce Association. Concentrating industrial businesses on the base property will lead to greater efficiencies for trucks and other port users, he said. Oakland redevelopment officials have begun vetting the technical merits of the 13 proposals that were submitted earlier this month. A number of the companies interested in the Army Base -- such as AMB Property Corp., First Industrial Realty Trust Inc. and PCC Logistics -- specialize in warehouse, distribution or industrial facilities.

At least one developer, Dallas-based Hillwood, is known for high-rise condominiums, offices and mixed-use buildings.

The base, like many former military sites, needs environmental cleanup as well as new roads and modern infrastructure. In addition, the base sits on landfill, meaning new buildings may need piles or other costly foundation systems to meet seismic safety standards.

Oakland is already planning some developments for other areas of the Army Base. The city is negotiating for an auto mall that includes dealerships from BMW, Volvo and General Motors on 28 acres on the base's northern boundary. Another 15 acre parcel likely will be leased to Oakland Maritime Support Services for a trucking center.

eyoung@bizjournals.com / (415) 288-4969
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/03/31/story8.html?t=printable

San Frangelino

03-28-2008, 07:02 PM

Nice! Although I missed the mention of a tenant.

Yes, I removed that part...I was thinking Kaiser was expanding big time as the tenant, but then I read closer.

San Frangelino

04-15-2008, 04:59 AM

Via: http://www.mve-architects.com/portfolio/pr/25_Campus-Bay

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2419/2415565268_91fe01457c_o.jpg

Description:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2128/2415566652_feb72c8273_o.jpg

rocketman_95046

04-16-2008, 07:52 AM

San Jose soccer stadium closer to reality
QUAKES OWNER, S.J. OFFICIALS AGREE TO $132 MILLION DEAL
By Joshua Molina
Mercury News
Article Launched: 04/15/2008 01:30:19 AM PDT

San Jose and a team of developers have agreed to a $132 million deal that sets the stage for a major league soccer stadium near the airport as early as 2010.

Terms of the deal must still be formally approved by the city council next month. But Monday's financial agreement between city officials and Earthquakes owner Lew Wolff and his partners is a giant step toward building the stadium and an accompanying retail, office and hotel project on the 75-acre site on Coleman Avenue.

"If and when we pull it off, it is going to make me feel - well, at my age, that would be a great accomplishment," the 72-year-old Wolff said from his Los Angeles office. "It would cap off a long time of development in San Jose." Wolff developed downtown San Jose's Fairmont and Hilton hotels and also owns the Oakland A's, for whom he is working to build a new stadium in Fremont.

San Jose leaders also cheered the tentative agreement Monday because it would funnel at least $17 million into the city's general fund - which is perennially racked by deficits.

According to terms of the deal, Wolff and his partners would pay $132 million for 66 acres of the former FMC manufacturing plant. Of that, about 18 acres will be set aside for the 18,000-seat soccer stadium and parking.

The city bought the land in 2005 for $81 million.

Wolff and his team have until 2010 to pay the city the bulk of the sale price. In the interim, they have agreed to pay interest

that San Jose will accrue on the bonds it sold to buy the property - as much as $12 million over the next two years. And Wolff must extend the city a $3 million letter of credit that would be payable if he walks away early from the deal.
Edenvale townhomes

The FMC deal is just one of several complex steps that must happen before Wolff can build the stadium.

The real estate magnate is counting on the city to rezone 78 acres of commercial and industrial property he owns in Edenvale to allow developers to build as many as 1,500 townhomes there. Wolff plans to pay for the soccer stadium with the profit from selling the Edenvale property as residential land.

But first, the land must undergo an environmental review, expected to be completed this summer, and Wolff must come to an agreement with a residential developer. The city would need to amend its general plan to allow any rezoning from industrial to residential - which is not likely for at least a year.

Paul Krutko, the city's chief development officer, said Wolff has received no guarantees that the council will agree to rezone the Edenvale land.

But the sale of the FMC property would allow the retail, office and 300-room hotel project to proceed, regardless of whether the soccer stadium gets built.
"Whether the stadium happens or not, this is a good land deal that will result in significant commercial and office development," said Councilman Sam Liccardo, who represents the area. "If the stadium doesn't happen, we are still better off than if we did not conduct the deal."

The Earthquakes left San Jose in 2005. The team's latest incarnation began play earlier this month; for the next few years, it will play its home matches at Santa Clara University.

BART facility

Wolff has also agreed to buy the remaining 9.3 acres of the FMC site for $18 million. The Valley Transportation Authority, however, has expressed interest in that portion for a Bay Area Rapid Transit maintenance facility, should BART eventually be extended to San Jose.

Krutko said the city will ask VTA to counteroffer or else try to buy the property later from Wolff and his partners, who also include developers Ed Storm and Deke Hunter, Gap heir John Fisher and the owners of the San Jose Sharks.

Mayor Chuck Reed has called for San Jose to stop converting industrial land to housing, saying the loss of jobs-producing land worsens the city's deficits. But he also has argued the economic benefits of a stadium outweigh those concerns.

Monday's deal, he said, "means we are going to have a pretty good shot at getting a soccer stadium, and we ultimately should get a substantial economic benefit from the development of the property."

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Contact Joshua Molina at jmolina@mercurynews.com or (408) 275-2002