SAN FRANCISCO | Projects: Under Construction, Approved, and Proposed - Page 184

mt_climber13 · #**3661** Posted **May 24, 2012, 5:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1977

Big day for the Transbay neighborhood and tower:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/deve...n-gets-hearing

Weve heard this before- the BOS was supposed to approve height limits and new zoning back in 2007. Until I see a crane in the sky, this is all just political hyperbole.

mt_climber13 · #**3662** Posted **May 24, 2012, 5:28 PM**

Time for the dancing banana!

Source: http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2....html#comments

San Frangelino · #**3663** Posted **May 25, 2012, 3:39 AM**

I'll do the honors. In all the years I've been on Skyscraper Page, I don't think I've ever used the banana.

rriojas71 · #**3664** Posted **May 25, 2012, 3:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wakamesalad

Weve heard this before- the BOS was supposed to approve height limits and new zoning back in 2007. Until I see a crane in the sky, this is all just political hyperbole.

I agree completely. How many times do the tower plans have to go through the planning commission? Maybe until they make sure there is not some other park where the tower casts a "temporary" shadow and they call for another reduction in height. I just don't understand why a shadow, God forbid, at a park can cause so much dread. Maybe they should remove all the trees around the parks as well so they don't create shadows because we all know what kinds of evil things lurk in the shadows.

I love SF, but it seems like they are so afraid of change and charging into the future.

1977 · #**3665** Posted **May 25, 2012, 4:05 PM**

Approved:

Quote:

UPDATE: The Transit Center District Plan was approved by the Planning Commission.

From the Planning Department:

Between now and 2035, approximately 17 percent of the projected job growth in San Francisco will occur in the area surrounding the new Transbay Transit Center. The project anticipates over 27,000 new permanent jobs will be accommodated in the District -- the most significant concentration of projected job growth in the entire city.
The new district will feature more than six million square feet of new office space, over 4,000 new housing units of which at least 1,200 units will be affordable, up to 1,000 new hotel rooms, and improved streets to enhance transit service and support walking and bicycling. The new Plan also proposes to create and fund over 11 acres of new public spaces such as parks, plazas and living streets.

viewguysf · #**3666** Posted **May 25, 2012, 5:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wakamesalad

Time for the dancing banana!

Source: http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2....html#comments

I took this on Wednesday and noticed yesterday that they've made more progress building the sidewalk barricade--demolition should commence soon! Let's hope nobody here will miss this lovely edifice.

[IMG]

IMG_0640 - Version 2 by viewguysf, on Flickr[/IMG]

1977 · #**3667** Posted **May 25, 2012, 5:46 PM**

Thanks! So happy to see this moving forward. Upper Market is really moving now.

NOPA · #**3668** Posted **May 25, 2012, 6:45 PM**

Just a week ago I drove by and was thinking that building would be a great site for development. I guess somebody else already had the thought

peanut gallery · #**3669** Posted **May 25, 2012, 7:22 PM**

Fantastic shots, viewguy! The lighting on this one is pure magic.

As for the Transbay plan, I wouldn't be so pessimistic. It's a long process, yes, but it is definitely moving forward. These things (plans, EIRs, approvals) take time. Longer than we'd like, but that's the way it is here. This is the first time the final EIR came before them for approval and they did it. They had to approve other discrete steps, drafts and other things before, but that's just the process. Now it goes to the Supes for their approval. Once that's done, all the new height limits around Transbay are final and projects can proceed. Personally, I'm extremely excited that we've come this far. And I have a lot of confidence in this particular BOS to get it approved.

RST500 · #**3670** Posted **May 25, 2012, 9:03 PM**

This needs to happen!

Quote:

Originally Posted by rst22

Market Street, San Francisco, 1960's

link

Jerry of San Fran · #**3671** Posted **May 26, 2012, 12:53 PM**

viewguy - thanks for the pic of the tear down at Market & Dolores Streets - I was by there this week and took a couple of pictures. The back part of the building has been partially taken down a couple of days ago. It will seem strange to see a highrise there after 40 years of shopping at Safeway.

We had an apparent suicide at the Archstone Fox Plaza on May 24th. It is believed that a woman jumped from the 14th floor on the Polk Street side. She will be the 8th person that I know of that has fallen from the building in the 40 years I've lived here.

I got back from a trip to London this week (a pipe organ tour). Some exciting architecture to be seen in a very interesting city.

1977 · #**3672** Posted **May 27, 2012, 5:31 AM**

Is this true, or is it just poor reporting by the Chronicle?

Quote:

How much hotter is the San Francisco real estate market getting? Let us count the ways.

-- Office buildings: The 33-story tower at 555 Mission St. is in escrow. Reported price: $450 million. That's about $800 per square foot - the highest figure since 2007, when Morgan Stanley bought One Market Plaza for $925 per square foot. The buyer: a German mutual fund called Union Investment.

The seller is New York's Tishman Speyer, which as we noted last month paid $41 million in cash for a parking lot at Howard and First streets on which a 10-story, 286,000-square-foot office building is going up.

Over the road at Second and Howard, another Tishman-owned development is under way: a 27-story, 452,000-square-foot high-rise, which like its neighbor is aimed at tech tenants, whose appetite for office space in San Francisco seems bottomless.

Both developments are "spec," meaning built from the ground up with no signed tenants, and both are partly funded by JPMorgan Chase Asset Management, which bought a majority stake in China Basin Landing in January for $415 million.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...#ixzz1w2tzEOjt

timbad · #**3673** Posted **May 27, 2012, 5:56 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1977

Is this true, or is it just poor reporting by the Chronicle?

I saw that too, and wondered. I know there was nothing going on a couple weeks ago. I'll wander over there tomorrow to check it out.

(I had kinda been hoping this one wouldn't get going in its current incarnation - I don't like the design and generally feels too bulky for its surroundings to me. and... won't it cast afternoon shadows on the new open space created after they clear the NE corner of the intersection for the train tunnel?)

1977 · #**3674** Posted **May 27, 2012, 6:01 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by timbad

I saw that too, and wondered. I know there was nothing going on a couple weeks ago. I'll wander over there tomorrow to check it out.

Thanks! I didn't think this was supposed to break ground until next year. ??? I hope I'm wrong.

Quote:

In addition, Palmer said that the company plans to break ground early next year on an even bigger San Francisco bet -- a 27-story, 450,000 square foot tower at 222 Second St. The 222 Second St. building will be completed in the fall of 2014, Palmer said.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...ry-square.html

coyotetrickster · #**3675** Posted **May 27, 2012, 5:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by timbad

I saw that too, and wondered. I know there was nothing going on a couple weeks ago. I'll wander over there tomorrow to check it out.

(I had kinda been hoping this one wouldn't get going in its current incarnation - I don't like the design and generally feels too bulky for its surroundings to me. and... won't it cast afternoon shadows on the new open space created after they clear the NE corner of the intersection for the train tunnel?)

Timbad, the entire foundry square project was planned and approved at those heights. Construction docs and exterior materials sourced and approved -- all those pesky logistics/aesthetics out of the way. In other words, totally shovel ready... If you want to strike while the iron is hot, it helps to have the iron plugged in... Plus, on my way to practice on Thursday, I walked down Harrison and there was a massive spec available sign with the rendering for the 2nd street building.

1977 · #**3676** Posted **May 27, 2012, 5:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by coyotetrickster

Timbad, the entire foundry square project was planned and approved at those heights. Construction docs and exterior materials sourced and approved -- all those pesky logistics/aesthetics out of the way. In other words, totally shovel ready... If you want to strike while the iron is hot, it helps to have the iron plugged in... Plus, on my way to practice on Thursday, I walked down Harrison and there was a massive spec available sign with the rendering for the 2nd street building.

I'm pretty sure timbad was referring to 222 Second.

timbad · #**3677** Posted **May 27, 2012, 8:46 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1977

I'm pretty sure timbad was referring to 222 Second.

yes. love Foundry Square.

viewguysf · #**3678** Posted **May 28, 2012, 6:11 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by timbad

(I had kinda been hoping this one wouldn't get going in its current incarnation - I don't like the design and generally feels too bulky for its surroundings to me. and... won't it cast afternoon shadows on the new open space created after they clear the NE corner of the intersection for the train tunnel?)

I agree with you timbad, having posted earlier that 350 and 535 Mission are much nicer designs that I would really like to see built.

It will be very gratifying though to have Foundry Square completed as originally contemplated and designed.

minesweeper · #**3679** Posted **May 28, 2012, 7:00 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1977

Thanks! I didn't think this was supposed to break ground until next year. ??? I hope I'm wrong.

As of May 13th (How Weird Street Faire) nothing was going on, and it was still being used as a parking lot. If "under way" means breaking ground, then I think it's incorrect reporting.

timbad · #**3680** Posted **May 28, 2012, 8:18 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by timbad

I saw that too, and wondered. I know there was nothing going on a couple weeks ago. I'll wander over there tomorrow to check it out.

(I had kinda been hoping this one wouldn't get going in its current incarnation - I don't like the design and generally feels too bulky for its surroundings to me.)

as promised...

nothing going on yet (but they do have a sign with a pic of the upcoming building if you look closely):

in the above photo it might not look like a tall building would be out of place, since there are other rather tall ones on its block, but Second St has a lot of older/shorter brick buildings between the site and Mission, and the idea of plopping down 27 stories of clumsy boxy glass next to them isn't working for me, feels intrusive. I hope I'm wrong once it goes up. this is looking south down Second - 222 Second would be on the right side beyond the row of brick buildings: