555 Mission Street, San Francisco: 482' - 34 floors - Office
Tishman Kicks Off S.F. Office Tower
33-story highrise is downtown's first since dot-com downturn
J.K. Dineen
The San Francisco Business Times
September 29, 2006
Tishman Speyer has broken ground on its long-anticipated 33-story highrise at 555 Mission St., the city's first Class A office tower in more than four years, company officials told the Business Times.
The announcement, which ends months of speculation in the real estate community, will be made next week with a video podcast sent to 100 high-profile brokers on a complimentary "555 Mission St." video iPod.
The glass-curtain building between First and Second streets, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and Heller Manus Architects, will take 22 months to complete, according to Carl Shannon, managing director for Tishman Speyer.
Turner Construction is the contractor on the project, which will cost an estimated $300 million.
"We have given Turner orders to proceed and they are mobilizing forces," said Shannon.
The 550,000-square-foot building will be the first in the next generation of office highrises to be built downtown, a group that will eventually include Shorenstein Properties' 350 Bush St. and a trio of dazzling highrises planned around the new Transbay Terminal.
Tishman Speyer has been extremely active in the Bay Area over the last five years, acquiring 1 Bush St., 595 Market St. and 550 Terry Francois Blvd., as well as properties on the Peninsula such as Bayside Towers and 800-900 Concar Dr. The company is also building the Infinity, a luxury highrise development on Rincon Hill.
Famously publicity-averse, Tishman Speyer has kept brokers guessing about the timing of the 555 Mission project. Tishman Senior Director Allen Palmer said the company "has kept a low profile on purpose."
"We decided to start construction first and then our marketing campaign will begin," said Palmer. "We're going to be very patient and focused. Not just about size of tenant, but quality and the type of tenant."
Palmer expects the building to attract major law firms, financial services, hedge funds and consulting companies. But as of now it's a speculative building, without a single tenant in tow.
The glass-curtain design will be enhanced through glass and metal fins on every mullion. The fins will reflect light and create a "prism effect," said Shannon. A green back-lit glass box at the top of the building will give it a halo. The design also includes large exterior balconies on the sixth and 21st floors. The floor plates will be 21,000 square feet on the lower levels, 18,000 in the middle and 16,000 on top.
"The colors coming off the skin will create an interesting effect," he said. "This is something very special. I can't think of a comparison in the Bay Area."
Bill Cumbelich, a partner with the CAC Group, said the building, along with 101 Second St. and 560 Mission, will cement Mission Street's arrival as the most desirable downtown location.
"Mission Street is sort of the street of the future for the financial district," said Cumbelich. "This is where premier companies are migrating to."
While Tishman Speyer sat on the site for more than five years during the dot-com crash and its ugly aftermath, the company never lost confidence in its potential, said Shannon.
"It's a testament to what Tishman Speyer is," said Shannon. "To have a building approved in 2000 and 2001 and wait patiently for the market to come back speaks to their confidence in the Bay Area economy."
In addition to Tishman Speyer's investment in the Bay Area, the company has built, developed or acquired more than 145 investments totaling approximately 80 million square feet with a total value of $27 billion. Properties include New York's Rockefeller Center and Chrysler Center, Berlin's Sony Center, CBX Tower in Paris and Torre Norte in Saõ Paolo.
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