[minesweeper]

A couple photos of the groundbreaking:

https://instagram.com/p/8gzSPFhjKe/
https://twitter.com/GallenNeilly/sta...20227604193280

Here's why this one was able to break ground so fast:

MetLife Takes Majority Stake in New San Francisco Office Tower

MetLife Inc. is taking a majority stake in a 43-story office tower being built next to San Francisco’s Transbay Transit Center, expanding the biggest U.S. life insurer’s holdings in one of the country’s most expensive office markets.

MetLife formed a joint venture with Chicago-based John Buck Co. and Golub & Co. for the property, called Park Tower at Transbay, the companies said in a statement before the building’s groundbreaking Tuesday. The tower, which doesn’t yet have a tenant, is scheduled for completion in 2018.

Financial terms of the venture weren’t disclosed. Fred Pieretti, a spokesman for MetLife, said the company will own a majority interest in the building.

MetLife Places $345MM into Transbay Office Development

MetLife has made a $345 million equity investment into the Park Tower at Transbay office development located at the corner of Howard and Beale Streets in downtown San Francisco, according to sources that are familiar with the transaction.

A company representative of MetLife declined to comment on this transaction.

The equity investment made by the life company will be done for the general account of MetLife. The equity investment will give the life company a 95 percent ownership stake in the project. The other 5 percent is held by the other partners in the joint venture. These are two Chicago-based companies, The John Buck Company and Golub Real Estate.

And the official press release:

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- MetLife, Inc. announced today it has formed a joint venture with developers The John Buck Company and Golub Real Estate to build a 743,000-square-foot, Class A office tower near the Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco. MetLife is an equity investor in the partnership developing Park Tower at Transbay.

Construction of the 43-floor, LEED Gold pre-certified office tower will begin next month, with completion scheduled for June 2018. Park Tower, located at Howard and Beale streets, will be a component of the Transbay Transit Center, a multi-billion-dollar redevelopment project with residential, commercial and transportation facilities three blocks from San Francisco Bay. JLL brokered the deal.

"MetLife is excited to be involved in the Park Tower project in San Francisco as it fits our long-term strategy of developing core assets in markets with strong fundamentals," said Robert Merck, senior managing director and head of global real estate for MetLife. "We are looking forward to working with the John Buck and Golub companies, both of whom bring many years of first-rate experience to real estate development and management."

Kevin Hites, chief investment officer of The John Buck Company, added: "We've put a world-class team together for this project because we believe Park Tower will be a world-class corporate location for San Francisco companies long into the future. We look forward to showing those companies why they should call Park Tower home."