whats up with 301 mission? Is it not going to be torn down to make way for the 301 mission highrise?

^ yes it is. thats why they are calling it a reduction in available office space.

Wow! San Fran sure has a lot of awesome projects going on right now, I had no idea. Thanks for the info, and keep up the good work!

Very nice projects SF

Yeah, I can't believe offices still occupy 301 Mission. I wonder if they've cleared out.

BTW, has anyone seen the Watermark tower rising near the Bay Bridge? It may only be 22 stories, but it will sure be prominent when it's completed next year!

FourOneFive: You're right, that Watermark tower sure will be prominent when it's completed. My one gripe though is the above ground parking :( Talk about a great location though. I hope they have some thick windows on the apartments facing the bridge though, I'd imagine it can get pretty loud on that bottom deck with all the echos of engines. BTW nice new renderings of the cruise ship terminal and other projects! I always miss the updates because its just an edit and not a new post :D

^ thanks tekno. i try to go back and edit this thread whenever we get new information on SF. check back often!

re: the parking lot around the watermark tower. i've read that after the tower, park, and cruise terminal are completed, the parking lot will be turned over to residential uses (mid-rises and another shorter residential tower- 13 floors). they just wanted to build the tower first, so its condo sales could be used to fund the cruise terminal.

here's the rendering of the terminal. notice that the parking lot is gone.

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/200...piers30-32.jpg

Ahh good eye, that sounds reasonable to me.

New developments on the Daniel Libeskind designed Jewish Museum in San Francisco:

A museum dedicated to life
New scaled-down design keeps Jewish art edifice on 2007 target
- John King, Chronicle Urban Design Writer
Wednesday, February 2, 2005

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...AGIGB49QR1.DTL

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/200.../ba_museum.jpg

Stripped down but still ambitious, the new design for San Francisco's Contemporary Jewish Museum by acclaimed architect Daniel Libeskind is nearly complete -- and the long-awaited complex could open by the end of 2007.

The current plan for the project, which was presented Tuesday to the San Francisco Redevelopment Commission, would transform the shell of a 1907 power substation in the city's Yerba Buena district into a $43 million, 60,000- square-foot museum. Construction is scheduled to begin in spring 2006, with a target opening date late in 2007.

The new approach scales back a larger and costlier design that was unveiled with fanfare in 2000 only to spend the next years in limbo. But what hasn't changed is the exuberant nature of the design - and the participation of Libeskind, who has become one of the world's best-known architects in the years since his selection by the museum in 1998.

"It's like an old friend, the San Francisco project. We've known it for six years," Libeskind said last month in New York, where he relocated his office from Berlin in 2003 after being selected to craft a master plan for renewing the World Trade Center site in New York. "We've got at least 20 models of it in our office."

The refined design of the museum features the jagged, tumbling energy that is Libeskind's trademark. A 60-foot-high cube, clad in blue metal, twists out sharply from the west side of the old substation, jutting toward a public walkway being built between Mission and Market streets.

The cube in turn rests against another new piece of the building -- a long, thin rectangle that angles upward as it runs nearly the entire length of the substation, filled with gallery space poised above the brick shell of the original landmark.

Viewed from above, the two shapes are an abstraction of the Hebrew phrase "L'Chaim" -- "To life." This fundamentally joyous message is at the heart of the museum's vision, officials say.

The idea of life "reflects the museum's commitment to providing contemporary perspectives on Jewish culture, history, art, and ideas," said Connie Wolf, the museum's director.

For all its drama, the new design is restrained, compared to what was approved in 2000 after Libeskind was selected for the job.

The first design called for the new spaces to be clad in gold rather than blue, with a more elaborate set of shapes careering up and out from the shell. But that design also contained 100,000 square feet and was tailored to a $60 million budget -- numbers that stalled progress in the aftermath of the 2001 recession and a failed merger with the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley.

The reduced size posed no real problem, said Libeskind, who also stressed that "L'Chaim" has guided the design all along.

"The building has become more delicate," he said. "The older design coped with a lot of space requirements. It's more elegant now, more organic, and it's the right scale for the power station."

Libeskind, 58, also has museums under construction in Denver and Toronto. He won critical acclaim for his Jewish Museum Berlin, with its slanted floors and dead-end corridors, which were designed to convey the dread of the Holocaust. For the San Francisco project he is working with local firm Chong Partners in a joint venture.

The San Francisco design has not sparked controversy, unlike other high- profile designs here by international architects. But preservationists are upset with the recent addition of a parking garage below the site.

The garage was added to provide additional parking for the adjacent Four Seasons Hotel -- a garage that also extends below a new public square and a proposed Mexican Museum. During construction, the Redevelopment Agency allowed the southern wall of the power station that faces Mission Street to be suspended in air and propped up while a hole was dug underneath.

This also meant removing many of the bricks and all the interior trusses from the long-vacant power station, which is a national landmark. They are to be restored as part of the museum's construction, officials say, but critics say the landmark shouldn't have been taken apart so drastically to begin with.

Tuesday's visit to the Redevelopment Commission -- as well as a community presentation planned for next week -- in part aims to counter skepticism that the plans will become real. Both the Contemporary Jewish Museum and the Mexican Museum were given sites along Mission Street across from Yerba Buena Gardens as part of the city's effort to create a full-fledged arts district downtown. They would join the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art as well a city-owned gallery and theater.

While the Mexican Museum remains stalled, the Jewish Museum efforts revived last year. The board of trustees is chaired by Roselyne Swig, a well- regarded philanthropist and community leader; the museum itself was founded in 1984, and continues to present exhibits in its small space at 121 Steuart St.

The new schedule calls for Libeskind and the museum to finish design work this year. Construction should start within 14 months and be complete by the end of 2007. The museum will include a gallery space, classrooms and an auditorium as well as the two staples of new museums: a book shop and cafe.

An overblown article from yesterday's San Francisco Examiner. The towers are nothing new; we've known about them for over a year. But the Examiner decided to proclaim the plans by putting it squarely on the front page.

Rincon Hill primed for soaring towers
55-story building set for residences.
By J.K. Dineen
Staff Writer
Published: Friday, February 4, 2005 11:26 AM PST
E-mail this story | Print this page

http://www.pmainc.com/images/One-Rincon-Hill_01.jpg

In what would be among the tallest residential towers west of the Mississippi, a developer is proposing a pair of soaring, pencil-thin structures city planners tout as the crown jewels of the new Rincon Hill neighborhood plan.

Developer Michael Kriozere, who developed the Towers at Embarcadero South, wants to build 700 units of condos in two glass-and-aluminum skyscrapers on the corner of First and Harrison streets. The plan calls for a 55-story building, a 45-story building, and 14 garden townhouses. actually they're 61 and 49 story towers

The only taller residential tower on the West Coast would be the 58-story building at 301 Mission St., which is currently under construction. 301 Mission is a mixed use development with a hotel component

The towers, spread 115 feet apart, would sit on the modest apex of Rincon Hill and would shoot up by the Bay Bridge's onramp. Each story would contain just 9,800 square feet, making them the skinniest skyscrapers in The City, according to developer spokesman David Prowler.

"They are as clean as clean gets," he said.

The building would occupy a 50,000-square-foot lot where a three-story Bank of America office building now sits. Project attorney Steven Vettle said the developer was careful to buy enough land to allow the buildings to breathe, he added.

"The cleanliness of it appeals to me," Vittle said.

City Planner Marshall Foster said the towers conform exactly to The City's new Rincon Hill neighborhood plan. Under the plan, which calls for 3,900 new Rincon Hill housing units, floor plans must be less than 10,000 square feet and spaced 115 feet apart. They must provide all parking underground.

"We think that, generally speaking, it's a model for the kind of thing the plan is trying to do," Foster said. "It's an example of the benefits of having a clear set of rules that minimize bulk and minimize shade and preserve views and openness."

Gabriel Metcalf, deputy director of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, agreed.

"For people who like the way Vancouver looks, these are the buildings that most resemble Vancouver-style high-rises," Metcalf said. "We think this is a great building topography for San Francisco."

The developer goes before the Planning Commission on Feb. 17 and is hoping to break ground this summer.
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One Rincon Hill will replace the Bank of America Clocktower atop Rincon Hill now.

http://www.pbase.com/antonio3783/ima...0/original.jpg

The only taller residential tower on the West Coast would be the 58-story building at 301 Mission St., which is currently under construction.

But the first post of this thread mentions a possible start of construction later in the year.

I'm confused.

^ Sorry, I haven't had a chance to update the first post yet. craeg informed us yesterday that the developers are currently demolishing the current buildings on the site now. So, technically 301 Mission will *actually* begin construction in a few months (maybe next month).

I'm meeting a friend tomorrow to go running along the Embarcadero before the Super Bowl. Maybe I'll bring my camera a snap a few shots of the 301 Mission demolition and maybe the construction of the Watermark tower.

Libeskind is THE Jewish museum man isnt he.

That's a good news.
The article contains so many inaccuracies that I'm glad to have a confirmation.

The Watermark (220', 22 floors) under construction on the Embarcadero. The sale of the condos within the tower will fund the construction of a waterfront park across from the site as well as a new cruise terminal for San Francisco.

http://www.pbase.com/antonio3783/ima...7/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/antonio3783/ima...8/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/antonio3783/ima...0/original.jpg

As for 301 Mission, I didn't take any pictures, but I did drive past the site. It looks like they're gutting the interior.

interesting, so is the city building/developing this project?

Has there been any discussion of 555 Mission recently? It says it was put on hold due to high vacancy, but iirc the market has been steadily picking up.

The are demolishing the buildings onsite. I wouldnt be surprised though if that was to put in a surface parking lot.

Rincon Hill update:

the final certification of the EIR (with changes to the city's general plan) goes before the planning commission on thursday, april 14th. if it passes, it goes before the board of supervisors in may. apparently, the first towers out of the gate once the EIR is certified will be one rincon hill.

new tidbit: there is still controversy surrounding 375 and 399 fremont. apparently, the proposed projects will be *grandfathered* by the planning department because they've been sitting in the pipeline for so long. rather than allowing two separate towers (375 fremont at 300' and 399 fremont at 350'), the towers will be combined into one 400' tower. the new tower with its accompanying midrise buildings will allow both developers to build nearly the same amount of units proposed in the two separate projects. residents are complaining though that the tower is inconsistent with the proposed Rincon Hill plan because four towers (the 2 avalon towers, the approved 325 fremont, and the proposed 375-399 fremont tower) will sit on the block bounded by fremont, harrison, beale, and folsom. in addition, the proposed tower will only be spaced 82.5' from the proposed 340-350 fremont, and will sit far closer to the existing avalon towers.

Mayor pushes downtown plans
Pending proposals in S.F. would add 11,000 housing units

Dan Levy, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, March 24, 2005

http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2005/03/24/bu_newsom.jpg
A conceptual rendering of the Transbay Terminal redevelopment area shows high-rises that could include many new housing units. Courtesy of San Francisco Redevelopment Agency.

Mayor Gavin Newsom called Wednesday for a "renaissance of housing construction" in downtown San Francisco and South of Market, saying the city is on the verge of approving three major neighborhood plans that could create 11,000 new housing units.

At a City Hall news conference, Newsom said proposals for Rincon Hill and the Transbay Terminal and Mid-Market redevelopment districts would also generate $3.2 billion in construction and create 1,800 jobs.

"These are opportunities to revitalize areas of the city that have been utterly underused," Newsom said. "They will transform San Francisco's sluggishness as it relates to housing."

All three development proposals have long been on the drawing board and are working their way through the city approval process.

But this is the first time Newsom has publicly put the prestige of the mayor's office behind them. The mayor brought together leaders from the Planning Department, Redevelopment Agency and mayor's office of housing to make his announcement.

San Francisco has a severe housing shortage and some of the highest home prices of any city in the nation. The median price for new and existing single- family homes and condos in San Francisco was $699,000 in February, according to research firm DataQuick. In the Bay Area, the median price was $549,000.

Only 13 percent of Bay Area residents can afford to buy a median-priced home, according to a new report from the California Association of Realtors.

The neighborhood plans are intended to "substantially address the need" for more housing, including affordable housing, Newsom said. About 2,500 of the 11,000 planned new units are meant for affordable housing.

The Transbay redevelopment plan could be heard Tuesday at a meeting of the Board of Supervisors, and the Rincon Hill plan will be heard April 14 at the Planning Commission.

The Mid-Market plan is still months away from Planning Commission review.

All of the proposals include frameworks for commercial and retail space, design controls and open space.

Matt Franklin, director of the mayor's housing office, said the city's inclusionary housing law will require developers to sell or rent between 12 and 17 percent of their units at steep discounts.

For instance, a developer would have to sell a unit to a family of two making $76,000 a year for $282,000, Franklin said. A family of three making $85,500 a year could buy a unit for $325,000, and a family of four making $95, 000 could buy one for $367,000.

Under the plans, the city would also find developers to build 1,100 rental units that would be envisioned for people making 60 percent of median income.

Newsom said the neighborhood plans are intended to help reduce risk for developers. "We hear from the private sector that they're ready to move, but then all of a sudden, the rug is pulled out from under them," he said.

Dean Macris, the city's new planning director, said six proposals totaling more than 1,800 units are planned for Rincon Hill.

"There's no reason to believe that some of them won't be heard this year (at the Planning Commission) and get their approval," Macris said. "That moves them into the position of starting construction next year, and by the end of 2007, we should be realizing some of these units.

"If the market stays as it is today, and many people think it will, the flow should be on its way."