| |
Posted Jun 2, 2007, 3:38 PM
|
 |
Registered User
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 655
|
|
Full Article from http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...929600^1470813
Quote:
Highrise housing gets OK for Candlestick Point
San Francisco Business Times - June 1, 2007
by J.K. Dineen
Top Vision Development is preparing to break ground later this year on the latest -- and by-far most ambitious -- condominium development on Candlestick Point, the isolated waterfront land between Highway 101 and Monster Park in the city's southeast corner.
Top Vision has hired architect C.P. Wang of the renowned C.Y. Lee & Partners -- the firm that designed Taipei 101, the world's tallest fully inhabited skyscraper -- to design the final phase of St. Francis Bay, which will include a 16-story, 465-unit tower nestled into Bayview Hill, the grassy knoll separating the development from Monster Park.
The project, recently approved by the Planning Commission, is a key part of a major new neighborhood being planned for Executive Park, a lackluster office enclave that has struggled to attract tenants and developers over the past 25 years. Under the proposed amendment to the general plan, the 330,000 square feet of office space along Highway 101 would be razed and replaced with housing. The land could support 2,800 units of housing and 5,000 residents, according to plans being developed by both city planners and the four developers who control the land.
Some of it is already being built. Top Vision Development has sold out the first phase of its 769-unit St. Francis Bay, a total of 128 units. Meanwhile, construction on phase two is nearly complete, and thus far about 110 of the 176 units have been sold, according to Chris Foley, a principal with Polaris Group, which is marketing the project.
The Planning Commission approved the final installment of St. Francis Bay in April, and Top Vision is working on obtaining building permits, said Top Vision's attorney, Brett Gladstone. Grading has begun on the site and construction will start this year.
"I think it will be a pleasant highrise community for people who want easy commute times to both downtown and Silicon Valley," said Gladstone. "And it will attract people who like water views."
In addition to St. Francis Bay, three other developers have pending projects in the area. Signature Properties has started work on 125 units at Candlestick Cove, a project which will eventually total 499 units. Developer George Yerby plans to demolish two office buildings and replace them with 500 units. And Universal Paragon Corp., which owns three office buildings, has plans to construct 1,100 units in seven highrise buildings.
While the Top Vision development and part of the Signature project have been entitled, the other projects cannot be approved until the city adopts a larger general plan amendment allowing higher density and heights, Gladstone said. The plan it would replace, passed in 1984, called for a 1.6 million square foot of office development, but only 320,000 square feet were built there.
Gladstone said he envisions the neighborhood as a more affordable and family-oriented alternative to Mission Bay and Rincon Hill. The Top Vision project is selling for an average of $525 a square foot, with two-bedroom condos going for about $500,000, about half the price of Rincon Hill and Mission Bay. The land abuts a 20-acre public park and trail system, which the major Candlestick developers have agreed to pay to maintain. The units are also larger than those in other parts of the city, with 81 percent with two bedrooms and 20 percent with three or more bedrooms.
"We've got a lot of first-time home buyers and a lot of people who have been saving up and trying to get in a home for a long time," said Foley.
The neighborhood faces challenges. Public transportation is limited, and Top Vision now provides a shuttle to BART, Muni and Caltrain. Paul Zeger, president of Pacific Marketing, said the challenge of phase three -- and other highrises at Candlestick Point -- will be keeping costs down. While the first two phases were wood frame over podium, which is much cheaper to build, the C.P. Wang-designed project uses glass, concrete and steel.
"These are destination locations you really have to drive to," said Zeger. "So to attract people they either need killer views or really desirable prices."
Zeger compared the location with Myers Development's Peninsula Mandalay in South San Francisco, which attracted a lot of older empty-nesters.
"As long as they can maintain values, they'll be a success."
Gladstone said Planning Director Dean Macris pushed for thinner towers that step up Bayview Hill, and emphasized that the St. Francis Bay project would be a "gateway" structure signaling the entrance to San Francisco for those coming in from the airport.
"It was important to Dean and to my client to create a tower that provides notice of the gateway into the city," Gladstone said.
jkdineen@bizjournals.com / (415) 288-4971
|
Executive Park Plans
|
|
|
Prev
Indeed I do...
Thanks for asking... and BTW,
Linear Mode
