SAN FRANCISCO | Projects: Under Construction, Approved, and Proposed

[fflint]

It's a ploy to get 50 First to pay up a lot of money for the sight lines, I suspect.

[simms3_redux]

^^^I don't even think it's a serious ploy. That proposal must be feasible AND the owner must be willing and able to actually go through with entitling and developing it. You can't finance a future payout by another entity based on what you hope, so the owner would have to find financing to build that ridiculous little plan, and that plan has to actually be well thought out and underwritten by both lender and developer to work out to some sort of profit, and hotels are not provitable practically anywhere in the city right now, let alone on that ridiculous site.

So I bet the Chinese owners are laughing right now and the only thing that's making them stir uncomfortably is the price they paid for that land, with unapproved plans and talk of both Prop M and the next tech slowdown. Of course they weren't expecting Chinese returns here in SF, so they're probably fine

[a very long weekend]

hotels are unprofitable?

[simms3_redux]

^^^Hotel development. Not necessarily "unprofitable", but with an option to build condos, apartments, or office, it makes no sense to go through the brain damage of figuring out a new hotel (which is a very complex endeavor, arguably, relative to a new office/apartment deal).

Remember, Hyatt and Hilton aren't building the hotels - they are operating them. A developer backed by x kind of money through a partnership with a traditional fund(s) backed by pensions, high net worth, insurance companies, other funds, etc would be the group to pencil out and make a hotel development work.

By all accounts, aside from very small and random occurrences (the hotel going up on king or the one in Mission Bay or the small Hampton Inn opening in SOMA), a hotel development doesn't pencil in SF right now. And this spot would likely be more difficult than an empty lot on King or the empty lot in Mission Bay.

Loews bought the Mandarin Oriental for $1M a key. In the article that described the transaction adn interviewed the CEO of Loews, he said that they had looked at both acquisition and development opportunities for years and years, and development just has not been feasible in SF, and finally they found a deal to acquire an existing hotel that works for them.

[RST500]

Anyone know what happened to the Sir Francis Drake Hotel at Union Square?






It's shut off in these recent photos. It would a real tragedy if it were to be removed.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tsaiid/15582637583/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mbell1...-rvzxSf-rvAK1N

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jrr/16...-rjErPc-qw7cAQ


This is what it looked like before.




http://www.partyearth.com/san-franci...rlight-room-2/

[viewguysf]

Originally Posted by RST500

Anyone know what happened to the Sir Francis Drake Hotel at Union Square?

It's shut off in these recent photos. It would a real tragedy if it were to be removed.
This is what it looked like before.

The room is still open (at least it was very recently); maybe they're redoing/restoring the signage. That sign can easily be seen from Potrero Hill and other places. I noticed in the first photo that the star atop the hotel wasn't lit either.

As a side note, before Harry Denton, it was called the Starlight Roof.

[simms3_redux]

I heard they were remodeling the Starlight Room, which I think is a tragedy. If they even dare make it "upscale" or "trendy"...this town is getting boring as hell lol.

[simms3_redux]

Oh, and on that note, they will be remodeling the Top of the Mark, which is already "upscale" and bla but seriously needs a redo, mainly because of the "bla" part.

[RST500]

Originally Posted by viewguysf

The room is still open (at least it was very recently); maybe they're redoing/restoring the signage. That sign can easily be seen from Potrero Hill and other places. I noticed in the first photo that the star atop the hotel wasn't lit either.

As a side note, before Harry Denton, it was called the Starlight Roof.

The sign is mentioned in this article but it's vague about whether its being removed. It should have historic landmark status.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/native...on-5940296.php

[RST500]

On google maps street view from February of this year the sign is still there its just not lit up at night. Either they are repairing it or hotel guests were complaining about the light.

[RST500]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22866559@N00/6588607193/



http://www.flickr.com/photos/crbinva/4686879569/


I noticed the sign from 2010 is complete but from 2011 it is missing a part. Hopefully they are repairing it.

[jbm]

The concourse exhibition center is completely gone. still cleaning up the mess and still need to tear up the old foundation. 1 henry adams, down the block, has just started going up though.

[edwards]

4.29.15

Also pretty impressed with the low light performance of the Galaxy S6.

[viewguysf]

Great shot! Lumina is just breathtakingly stunning--much better than the renderings. That's a refreshing change for this city!

[RST500]

Originally Posted by viewguysf

The room is still open (at least it was very recently); maybe they're redoing/restoring the signage. That sign can easily be seen from Potrero Hill and other places. I noticed in the first photo that the star atop the hotel wasn't lit either.

As a side note, before Harry Denton, it was called the Starlight Roof.

I noticed the star is also turned off in all the recent nighttime photos from Union Square. Anyone been there recently?

[Jerry of San Fran]

View from the Essex Fox Plaza - the never ending concrete pours!

Trinity Place - 05/04/2015

[RST500]

Originally Posted by RST500

I noticed the star is also turned off in all the recent nighttime photos from Union Square. Anyone been there recently?

These photos are from a few days ago.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sftraj...-ssNZVL-sqJNgd

https://www.flickr.com/photos/131394...-rfzYzX-scqAah

[minesweeper]

New details are out on the Giants' Mission Rock proposal:

Giants add affordable housing, shorten heights in building plan

The Giants will submit a ballot measure to the city attorney Tuesday for Mission Rock, a 28-acre redevelopment that will include 1,500 units of housing, eight acres of parkland, 1.5 million square feet of commercial space and a new brewing facility for Anchor Brewing Co. The site, known as Lot A, is currently a vast surface parking lot that can hold more than 2,200 cars. The parking will be replaced by a garage on the southern end of the property.

[...]

After those votes, the Giants decided to lower heights of some of the buildings from 380 feet to 240 feet. Three of the buildings, all slender residential towers, will hit the 240-foot mark. New buildings are proposed for only 10 acres of the site, with heights ranging from 90 to 190 feet for office buildings and 120 to 240 for housing. Nothing will be constructed within 100 feet of the bay.

The team also decided to increase the percentage of below-market-rate units from 15 percent to 33 percent, which matches Mayor Ed Lee’s affordable housing goals.

[simms3_redux]

Originally Posted by RST500

These photos are from a few days ago.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sftraj...-ssNZVL-sqJNgd

https://www.flickr.com/photos/131394...-rfzYzX-scqAah

I saw people dancing in the window up there the other night so it's still open. However, I have still heard that it will be redone.

[fimiak]

Transbay update. The first stretch over first street can be seen here. They are working fast!



A timelapse of what happened can be viewed here. http://transbaycenter.org/constructi...mission-camera