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

[peanut gallery]

At 17 floors and 205 feet, 55 Ninth can have it's own thread. I didn't realize the limit for the Highrise section was only 12 floors/115 feet (thought the minimum was taller than that).

But 5th and Folsom is too short, although I suppose a thread could be created in General Developments. I don't mind keeping those shorter miscellaneous projects here though. It's a nice one-stop-shop for updates. But if others feel differently, I certainly won't complain.

[NOPA]

Curbed has an update on 1645 Pacific; they filed for construction permits a week or two ago. Nice overview of the development.

http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2013/0...45_pacific.php

[1977]

Transbay Block 9 info and rendering:

Avant Housing and equity partner Essex Property Trust have been tapped to build a 400-foot tower on Block 9 in the Transbay District, a 563-unit project that could break ground a year from now.

Source and article: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...ock-9-bid.html

[tall/awkward]

Cool! Sort of has that stacked block look...

[fimiak]

Perfect for San Francisco. More 400 ft towers and we will see demand for more 600 ft, 800 ft, 1000ft projects....

[biggerhigherfaster]

what intersection is that at? Based on the rendering, there isn't much around it

[1977]

Originally Posted by biggerhigherfaster

what intersection is that at? Based on the rendering, there isn't much around it

Block 9 is at First and Folsom:


www.socketsite.com

And just to refresh....Block 6:

[fimiak]

Block 8 has 550ft I think. I hope they put as much thought into that one as they did for block 9.

[Grantenfuego]

This project is almost complete (at least the exterior). It's on Franklin Between Golden Gate and McAllister. 'Not positive about the address (I think it's 689 Franklin)










'Lots of parking lots in this area. I would love to see more of them developed.

[timbad]

Originally Posted by Grantenfuego

This project is almost complete (at least the exterior). It's on Franklin Between Golden Gate and McAllister. ...

'Lots of parking lots in this area. I would love to see more of them developed.

left over from where the Central Freeway used to be. they're working on them, one by one, stitching up the wound



source: http://hayesvalleysf.org/blog/wp-con...nnis-Yang.jpeg

[easy as pie]

that franklin st project is a retirement home of some sort, what a location.

not to be negative, but i'm pretty sure that there's no way that this will be built:

Originally Posted by fimiak

[tech12]

Wow that building proposed for Transbay block 9 looks really good.

Originally Posted by easy as pie

not to be negative, but i'm pretty sure that there's no way that this will be built:

Why do you say that?

[peanut gallery]

Because after it goes through Planning and community input everything that is interesting about it will be stripped away, not to mention the usual effects of value engineering. I can't tell you how much I hope I'm wrong. I love that rendering and would love to see it from additional angles. We need more SOM in this town. I love their work.

PS: sorry for the pessimism. I shouldn't be. It's a great time for construction fans in the city right now.

[peanut gallery]

Here's another angle, also from the SF Business Times:

[tech12]

Originally Posted by peanut gallery

Because after it goes through Planning and community input everything that is interesting about it will be stripped away, not to mention the usual effects of value engineering.

I am kind of an optimist myself, but i have to disagree with this just based on the history of highrise construction/proposals in that area of the city over the past 10-15 years.

-Millennium tower, 201 Folsom, 535 Mission, 10th and Market, 340 Fremont, 375 Fremont all had had their designs improved, not community-input/value-engineered away, and they've all been approved or built.

-The Transbay tower was approved, and not community-input/value-engineered into a giant box or anything.

-181 fremont is another unique building that has lots of support from planning and the community, with no claims that I've seen yet that it will "ruin SF" or some crap.

I understand that seeing a truly unique highrise design proposed in SF can cause suspicions that it will not stay unique, because of past history of NIMBYs and planning tweaking building designs and ensuring that they end up boring/ugly/shorter, but it seems that very little of that has happened during this new round of construction in SOMA (in fact when the Transbay tower was tweaked, it was to make it MORE unique, not less). It seems to me that these days that type of meddling with building designs is much more likely to happen out in the residential neighborhoods, or wherever wealthy/powerful NIMBYs get their views blocked...and thankfully SOMA is off the wealthy/powerful NIMBY radar seeing as most of them are in Northeast SF and can't see SOMA from their windows. What they seem to mostly care about is preserving their views/tennis clubs/parking situations, or "historic neighborhood character", which doesn't really apply to most of SOMA.

The Transbay block 9 building looks good, and the height is no problem at 400 feet, so I'm going to guess that it does get built, as long as the economy holds out and all that. Of course whether the developer decides to do some value-engineering is another factor beyond the city's control, but I'm going to guess that the city itself will do nothing or very little when it comes to tweaks. I hope I'm right.

[Jerry of San Fran]

Interesting design. Unfortunately it affects my inner ear & makes me dizzy looking at the picture. It will be interesting to see it in person if the design as pictured is built. I'll bring my dramamine just in case :>}

[botoxic]

Regarding Transbay Block 9, although the article states a 400' tower (which coincidentally is the height limit proposed for that parcel), I count at least 44 stories, plus that crown. At typical residential floor heights, I suspect this building could approach 475 feet tall, which is great. It certainly looks taller than 400' based just on the rendering.

[fflint]

^The crown is usually exempt from the building height limit, up to (IIRC) an additional 100ft.

[MarshallKnight]

Originally Posted by fimiak

Gorgeous. I'm in love with this design.

[peanut gallery]

tech12 - you bring up some excellent examples. That's part of the reason I added the ps, as there have been several excellent buildings rise in the past several years. But there are also examples of the opposite. It was just a matter of me feeling a little pissy this morning (for some masochistic reason I was reliving the insanity of the 8 Washington debacle today), and trying to help answer your question (which admittedly wasn't directed at me, so sorry for butting in). Anyway, thanks for injecting some optimism. It's a good quality, and one I appreciate on development forums.