SAN FRANCISCO | 706 Mission St. (Mexican Museum + Condo tower) | 510 FT | 43 Floors
 

In as much as this could well be the next significant highrise to begin construction in San Francisco, I figured it needed a thread even though the design is not yet complete (hence, no rendering seems available)

Source: http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/...22/story1.html

The site:

http://www.socketsite.com/706%20Miss...ite%202010.jpg
Source: http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2...k_in_play.html

* Extra credit to first forumer who comes up with a rendering *

I really want to see a rendering because 550ft on that small parcel should be interesting. :yes:

Especially since Heller-Manus won't be involved. ;)

Is that a helipad on the three story roof on the building to the left (kind of catty corner) to the parcel in question. Probably not but a weird design on the roof. If it is they can kiss it good bye with this building being built, too many up drafts.

:previous: That building is the Westin Hotel. No helipad--just a design on the deck I think.

It's so great that they'll be getting rid of that awful yellow brick and restoring the historic building; it has such great potential! The mexican museum will really liven up jessie square as well! :D

^Especially the brick at street level along Mission and 3rd. I can't wait to see how it used to look. Hopefully the ground floor will be as interesting and beautiful as the cornice on this building.

No doubt it will be! I love how tall this tower is going to be too. It'll cover up the back of the hideous westin market street hotel.

Another view of the site:

http://sf.curbed.com/uploads/2010_03_mexicanmuseum.jpg
Source: http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2010/0...seumcondos.php

its hard to tell from the description, but will this building just adjoin the mercantile building, or will it be built on top of as well as next to it?

:previous: Since the building is still being designed, nobody but those involved in its development knows for sure, but the assumption is that it will be like the St. Regis across the street. There the existing building was gutted and the the interior of the new tower was integrated with a new interior for the older structure, but no significant changes were made to the exterior of the historic building (except I believe the old cornice, thought to present a seismic risk, was replaced with something that looks identical but is less likely to fall off).

Almost a year later and now we have renderings! From SocketSite:

I agree with them on the tower. It has a massing reminiscent of the Embarcadero Center, whose massing I've always really liked, but more slender and with a hopefully more interesting skin. I'm also happy with the changes to the Aronson Building at street level. I'm not as enamored with the new design for the north side of Aronson. I would have liked to seen them go more traditional to match the rest of the building. But I'm guessing they wanted to use this as a transition from the historic building to the modern tower.

It sucks BT was banned. I know he'd be excited about this and I'd love to get his feedback on it.

Love the height. If built, this would be the tallest tower around Yerba Buena Gardens. I wonder if there will be any issues with shadows over Jessie Square. Looking forward to seeing more details in the future.

Here is the architects website for anyone who is interested http://www.ten-arquitectos.com/

^You know someone somewhere will have issues with shadows on something! But realistically, it would only partially shade the square in the early morning when it's usually overcast and few people are using the square anyway.

Love the height and narrowness, and I think the north side of the Aronson building would look good like that. Of course, what we end up with after the sausage-making process...well, that's another story.

I don't usually follow SF stuff, but have communicated w/ BT in the transport forum. Why was he banned? When?

^He created a sock-puppet account for some reason.

I like the proposal, and I actually really like what they're planning to do with the north side of the existing building. It's a boring blank wall now, and with what has been done on that side with other developments, there's not going to be another building built there for decades (if ever), so I like the creativity.

Looks really good! I like everything about it. Thanks for the post!

BT has a lot more time on his hands to do other things now that he was banned. I miss his commentary as well, and was always amazed how prolific he was. He joined this forum about the same time I did, but I can barely claim 1/34 as many posts.

Yes, the basic renderings do remind me of the Embarcadero Center also. I am looking forward to seeing more detail regarding what might be a two-tone glass treatment. So far the design looks rather promising for this location.

This would be an awesome addition. This whole shadow thing is pretty rediculous. Honestly I could careless if buildings cast a shadow on a park. Can we get that law repealed?

The law is very much needed at times--could you imagine Union Square with no sun? It just needs to be applied sensibly, which is certainly not always the case. It's a proven fact though that sunny areas attract people, and in a city with so much fog and shade, sunny areas are very welcome places to be.

The beautiful thing about the sun- it moves! (which means shadows do too)

how did i miss these new renderings!? nice massing - great rehab! can wait to see more detailed ones.

There has to be some new news here. It's been forever!

The most recent thing I could find is planning document titled Notice of Preparation of an Environmental Impact Report (PDF) that was released on April 13, 2011. I take it that that means that they're preparing the actual Environmental Impact Report right now (maybe it'll be released by the end of the year?).

That document has lots of info about the project and is still calling for condominiums, which aren't very hot right now. This one still has a long way to go, it seems.

One tidbit of news on this:

More at SFGate's City Insider blog.

Breaking ground in 2013 sounds about right based on minesweeper's note about the EIR getting prepared in April. Give it 12-18 months for completion, comment and approval, then permits, bids for contractors, etc and we'll be into 2013.

Great news. Here are some new renderings from Ten Arquitecos Website.

From http://www.ten-arquitectos.com/

http://www.ten-arquitectos.com/image...STREET/1.1.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6220/...20860a06_b.jpg

Hmmm. I like the general approach and all those terraces near the bottom, but the materials look very 70's-ish. Hopefully, there will be more iterations of this. Nice find!

No. No. No. Screams 70's, as peanut mentioned. Please no!

I like it, unique. I agree that it looks a bit 70s but that could just be the look of the renderings, and I'd rather it have character than some of the drab, boring renderings we often see.

i'm not positive but I think those are old renderings. I believe the design from Handel Architects is the newer proposal.

http://www.socketsite.com/706%20Miss...Elevations.jpg

:previous: According to http://www.ten-arquitectos.com/ the Ten Arquitectos design is dated from 2006 as a "650' tall tower."

Sorry guys, just saw the images and forgot to read the fine print. Luckily, it didn't seem like many people were all that about enthusiastic about the old (2006) design.

Hopefully we'll get to see some updated renderings soon, and maybe some dirt being pushed soon after that.

No worries. I hadn't seen that before, so it was interesting to look at even if it's not current.

Hey, no problem San Frangelino. Thanks for posting it.

If you or anyone else has new or old information we haven't seen yet regarding 706 Mission, please continue to post it here. I would still want to see it.

Yeah, no prob! I'm a nerd for renderings. I would love to see something like the base of those Ten Arquitecos renderings built somewhere in SF. Looks great.

Good news for the Mexican Museum and 706 Mission:

Source and the rest of the article:
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...ithsonian.html

Wow, that's great news! Thanks.

Socketsite revealed new renderings today. I guess, with the right materials, it could be an attractive building, but it feels a little bland and dated, imo. Although, at 550', it will be the tallest tower in the immediate area (YBG).

http://www.socketsite.com/706%20Miss...0Rendering.jpg
Source: www.socketsite.com

http://www.socketsite.com/706%20Miss...0Rendering.jpg
Source: www.socketsite.com

http://www.socketsite.com/706%20Miss...%20Aronson.jpg
Source: www.socketsite.com

http://www.socketsite.com/706%20Miss...on%20close.jpg
Source: www.socketsite.com

Source and more info: http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2....html#comments

i think building needs more glass, that last rendering looks so cheap and 90sh

Like others have said, the renderings of this building leave a lot to be desired. I do like the fact that it will be the tallest in that cluster of buildings, but that could also make it stick out like a sore thumb.

Let's hope it looks better than the renderings.

The alternating vertical fenestration on the concrete (or stone?) portions just look out of place. The massing is great. They could easily fix the design by replacing that awkward fenestration with subtle alterations in the color and mullion treatment of the glass for each intersecting volume. Think California Plaza in LA but with more modern glass treatments.

I think its the striped glass that looks dated, although the choice of materials will make or break this tower.

However, at 550 ft I just want to jump up and scream, "Good God people! This is San Francisco, do you know how nearly impossible it is to build a tower this tall here!?!"

i'm glad that socketsite's post got us all talking about this one again (my guess is that he wrote it last week and set it to auto-publish) but we do realize that this thing is years and years away from anything like a shovel in the ground. it could be a decade or more, seriously. not to be a downer, you know, just to keep our expectations as clear-eyed as possible.

The latest on this project from Curbed:

The draft EIR "is up for a look before the Historic Preservation Commission this Wednesday, July 18."

Then, "the Planning Commission meets in August to look over the DEIR before sending it on to the Board of Supervisors."

Millionaires vs. millionaires.

Source and article.

This is beyond ridiculous. They live in the heart of downtown San Francisco, of course the area is busy, and one new tower is not going to make any noticeable difference whatsoever. And if it did, so what? The area was busy before these Four Seasons whiners were there, is busy now, and will forever be busy. Not to mention the hypocrisy of these relatively new highrise dwellers (the Four seasons is only a decade old itself) complaining about other potential highrise dwellers going in right next door.

You can almost guarantee that every Four Seasons resident that is complaining lives on the southern side of the building. This is about views and nothing more. Between this and the theater of the absurd playing out around 8 Washington, we need a new term: NIMVie (Not In My View). They never talk about their real issue though, just ridiculous things like adding one building downtown will make walking in the area "miserable." They should have been laughed right out of the hearing.

Yeah I suspect it's really about views too, but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. But it doesn't really matter, because whatever their reasoning is it's stupid. I hope they don't get far with their opposition, but knowing how 8 Washington went, I'm worried.