SAN FRANCISCO | Projects: Under Construction, Approved, and Proposed - Page 195

Jerry of San Fran · #**3881** Posted: **Jul 28, 2012, 5:48 PM**

View from my window. And yes, minesweeper, they are kiddie pools! I saw them used on the roof of Market Square as well. A friend who was in the construction industry tells me it is not unusual for them to use kiddie pools.
The steel beams should be pounded in on the perimiter soon in preparation for the big dig.

sahran · #**3882** Posted: **Jul 30, 2012, 1:30 AM**

Was in the Mission today and walked by 19th and Valencia and, am happy to report, that it has definitely broken ground and there's some major dirt moving going on as well as some re bar work... Sorry if this is old news but I didn't see it on here.

Also, was wondering why hasn't 899 Valencia (20th & Valencia) broken ground? Wasn't it approved last year ? is it a financing issue?

Thanks!

1977 · #**3883** Posted: **Jul 30, 2012, 7:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sahran

Was in the Mission today and walked by 19th and Valencia and, am happy to report, that it has definitely broken ground and there's some major dirt moving going on as well as some re bar work... Sorry if this is old news but I didn't see it on here.

Also, was wondering why hasn't 899 Valencia (20th & Valencia) broken ground? Wasn't it approved last year ? is it a financing issue?

Thanks!

Yeah, I saw that and some movement up the street at 23rd and Valencia as well.

Is this still the design for the project on 19th?

Source: http://urbanlifesigns.blogspot.com/

Also, found this.

ElDuderino · #**3884** Posted: **Aug 1, 2012, 12:03 AM**

Quote:

From Cubicles to Rentals: 100 Van Ness Continues its Quest for Conversion
Tuesday, July 31, 2012, by Alex Bevk

On Thursday, the Planning Commission will hear 100 Van Ness Ave, a project that will convert a building from office to residential, renovating the interior to create up to 399 residential units and ground‐floor retail with 112 off‐street parking spaces, and re‐skin the exterior of the building. The existing building dates from 1973, and with no expansion proposed, exterior facades of the existing building are proposed to be removed and replaced with a contemporary glass curtain wall system designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz (seems like they're everywhere lately). The Planning Department is telling them to make the glass a little lighter so it blends with the nearby Civic Center better, but so far everyone seems on board

http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2012/0...conversion.php
Uploaded with ImageShack.us

jbm · #**3885** Posted: **Aug 1, 2012, 1:56 AM**

I live a couple blocks southwest of 100 van ness and really hope this gets done. If you go into the executive summary linked to the curbed article, it also mentions that the connected building (on Hayes I think) could also be developed soon.

fflint · #**3886** Posted: **Aug 1, 2012, 3:50 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1977

Yes! So happy to see that 375-399 Fremont was redesigned.

Source: www.socketsite.com

Source: www.socketsite.com

I love this tower. Love it!

Reminiscence · #**3887** Posted: **Aug 1, 2012, 8:59 AM**

Ah, its been months I think since I last posted on here. I've been pretty busy going back and forth in the city, and I've seen all the activity first hand, though these photographs display more than I'm capable of seeing. I'm loving all the activity that's going on/has yet to proceed. I'm so glad they decided to redesign 375-399 Fremont, this building looks slick!

ElDuderino · #**3888** Posted: **Aug 1, 2012, 4:08 PM**

Quote:

Rendered 100 Van Ness Ready For Reality Check This Afternoon

In addition to the plans and designs for 2712 Broadway, 706 Mission and 376 Castro, the proposed re-skinning and conversion of 100 Van Ness from an office building to 399 residential units will be voted on by the Planning Commission this afternoon. The Planning Department recommends approvals across the board.

http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2...this_afte.html
Uploaded with ImageShack.us

peanut gallery · #**3889** Posted: **Aug 3, 2012, 9:12 PM**

Anyone been near the Tenderloin today and seen this?

Quote:

Crane tumbles in SF's Tenderloin area
Vivian Ho
Published 12:24 p.m., Friday, August 3, 2012

(08-03) 12:22 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A crane fell at a construction site in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood Friday morning, damaging several cars and a traffic light and closing one block of Ellis Street for hours, police said.

The crane collapsed on Ellis between Leavenworth and Jones streets just before 7:29 a.m., said police spokesman Officer Gordon Shyy.

No one was injured, Shyy said, adding no information was available about the construction work underway or the crew operating the crane.

Source: SFGate.

I wonder if it was attached to Mercy/St. Paul's Arlington Hotel renovation. It's only 4 stories, so it wouldn't have that large a crane, which would help explain why no one was hurt and it didn't make more news.

1977 · #**3890** Posted: **Aug 3, 2012, 10:04 PM**

Hey, what do ya know? The uber-wealthy residents of the Four Seasons tower are unhappy with the proposed Mexican Museum Tower at 706 Mission.

Read more here.

Reminiscence · #**3891** Posted: **Aug 4, 2012, 9:45 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1977

Hey, what do ya know? The uber-wealthy residents of the Four Seasons tower are unhappy with the proposed Mexican Museum Tower at 706 Mission.

Read more here.

I was wondering how long it would take for these people to voice their opposition. To their credit, they did take a while this time. I had forgotten we can't inconvenience the super wealthy

CyberEric · #**3892** Posted: **Aug 4, 2012, 6:00 PM**

I don't have a lot of sympathy for these assholes. They live in a building that is exactly what they are complaining about, people said the exact same thing in 2000 when it was built. Why do they get to climb the ladder and then pull it up.

1977 · #**3893** Posted: **Aug 4, 2012, 11:27 PM**

Tishman Speyer is getting a head start on the central subway rezoning.

Quote:

Tishman gets ride on Central Subway

Tishman Speyer has filed an application to build a 700,000-square-foot office complex in western SoMa, the first large development seeking to piggyback on San Francisco’s rezoning along the Central Subway.
The 97,000-square-foot parcel at 598 Brannan St. is owned by the Hearst Corp., which has used it to store and maintain San Francisco Chronicle delivery trucks and newspaper racks. The parcel, on the northeast corner of Brannan and Fifth streets, is directly across the street from the San Francisco Tennis Club. The property is assessed at $10.2 million. In addition to a large L-shaped surface parking lot, the property has a 38,000-square-foot warehouse built in 1952.
The Tishman Speyer development would consist of two 11-story, 160-foot buildings. The structures would be separated by a pedestrian extension of Freelon Street to Fifth Street, allowing access to a new mid-block green space the city would like to construct, according to public planning documents.
Park access would also be provided via a new pedestrian passage connecting Brannan Street to Welsh Street, a dead-end alley on the north edge of the parcel. All parking would be underground.

Source and article: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...al-subway.html

peanut gallery · #**3894** Posted: **Aug 5, 2012, 4:44 AM**

^Nice!

I took a detour by 55 Ninth tonight and there is definitely much activity. Saw a bunch of steel laying around like in Jerry's shot above (thanks for that, by the way!) but the whole end of the lot where those trucks were parked looks all dug up.

Everywhere I went today there were cranes and construction of all sizes, really. I saw the same thing in Milan a week ago. It's nice to see a lot of construction activity again. I'm sure it's a welcome sight for those in the trades.

Reminiscence · #**3895** Posted: **Aug 5, 2012, 8:20 AM**

Not sure if its been posted elsewhere already, but this seemed like the best place for it. John King and another of his articles.

Glass towers could be awkward S.F. fit
by John King

Quote:

San Francisco's skyline tends to change in vertical bursts, and in five years we could be looking at nearly a dozen new thin-skinned boxes wrapped in sheets of green and blue. Some promise to be better than others. The cumulative effect could erode the physical presence that makes this city's downtown distinct.

The issue is not that buildings clad in stone are morally superior to buildings clad in glass. It's that San Francisco's sense of place is tied to its earthy warmth, the juxtaposition of steep hills and shifting waters. Too many glass towers clumped too closely together would set a much different tone, cosmopolitan but also generic.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/place/...#ixzz22er0kxpG

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/place/...524.php#page-1

ozone · #**3896** Posted: **Aug 5, 2012, 2:53 PM**

"...clad in stone" He means concrete. "The cumulative effect could erode the physical presence that makes this city's downtown distinct." He means distinctly dull. "It's that San Francisco's sense of place is tied to its earthy warmth, the juxtaposition of steep hills and shifting waters." Airy fairy nonsense that has had nothing to do with downtown since the early 1960's. What about 555 California and One Maritime Plaza? "Too many glass towers clumped too closely together would set a much different tone, cosmopolitan but also generic." And a bunch of concrete boxes clumped closed together is not generic?

He's completely and utterly off it here. The world's second glass curtain building (Hallidie Bldg-1918) was built in San Francisco as well as one the first International Style glass curtain wall building (Crown-Zellerbach Building-1959). So one could say that glass walls are also a San Francisco tradition -at least downtown.

northbay · #**3897** Posted: **Aug 5, 2012, 3:15 PM**

King has always been architectually conservative. I agree with you ozone that more glass will not ruin the skyline.

1977 · #**3898** Posted: **Aug 5, 2012, 5:01 PM**

Here's an overview of the buildings discussed in the article:

Source: www.sfgate.com

Also, a little bigger and cleaner rendering of 41 Tehama:

Source: www.sfgate.com

Quote:

A proposed all-glass tower at 41 Tehama Street, an alley two short blocks south of the new Transbay Transit Center, would rise 342 feet and contain 325 residential units. It is one of a dozen glass high-rises now approved or under review in San Francisco

As expected, the comment section is littered with your typical San Franciscans complaining about glass falling in quakes, the city selling its soul to corporate America, generic glass dildos ruining its once charming character, etc., etc.

fflint · #**3899** Posted: **Aug 5, 2012, 7:20 PM**

The only two buildings in that rendering that are truly "glass boxes" are AAA and 680 Folsom--the first being an old 1960s concrete box up for a recladding, the second an old 1960s concrete box already in the recladding process. The other proposals are, at least in their rendering phase, more distinct from one another than what we see in the white refrigerator parade along Market Street between Montgomery and the Embarcadero.

John King isn't conservative, he's reactionary. It would appear he wants the city to do something about the aesthetics of what he considers too much glass. I don't see that as the city's job.

ozone · #**3900** Posted: **Aug 6, 2012, 6:09 AM**

IMO the more glass, the better. I didn't read the article. Does John King suggest an alternative cladding? Perhaps wood-clad skyscrapers with bay windows?