SAN FRANCISCO | Oceanwide Center | 910 & 636 FT | 61 & 54 Floors | ON HOLD

[viewguysf]

Originally Posted by SFBuildings888

I’m just comparing it to SF and LA. SD feels like a suburban city compared to those 2 cities.

Let’s end this off topic discussion now, and I’m requesting that as one who contributed to it. Your comments are mostly shallow, uninformed, and callous. San Diego is definitely not a suburban city; it’s a pleasant lower and smaller version of a city in which I have spent much time. I’ll soon be yet another forumer to add you to the ignore list if your postings in the various threads aren’t meaningfully contributing.

[Fvn]

Some progress photos from Malcolm from late November--


Malcolm Drilling - https://www.facebook.com/permalink.p...2&__tn__=-UC-R

[Zapatan]

Nice, is it moving forward though? It looks like there's some activity in there

[Fvn]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

Nice, is it moving forward though? It looks like there's some activity in there

Yeah. According to Swinerton/Webcor "large" concrete pours start in February

Also, excavation on the office tower is well underway. They're below the first level of cross bracing by now

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

Nice, is it moving forward though? It looks like there's some activity in there

Please let's don't have these "nothing is happening" comments for the 2 years or so it takes to do a propper foundation for a building this tall on downtown San Francisco's fill. We had more of these than I can take at 181 Fremont, and all the while they were making steady progress.

Of course it's "moving forward". They practically finished the digging for the shorter tower apparently--certainly looks like they are ready to start doing foundation rebar in the photo and that fits with a February timing of the pour--but before that they were doing caison work on both towers which takes about a year in a project like this.

[CastleScott]

This is major progress-nice update btw!! Man those caissons go deep, deep, deep-cool to see that machine digging in that last photo-interesting-thanks man.

[Zapatan]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

Please let's don't have these "nothing is happening" comments for the 2 years or so it takes to do a propper foundation for a building this tall on downtown San Francisco's fill. We had more of these than I can take at 181 Fremont, and all the while they were making steady progress.

Of course it's "moving forward". They practically finished the digging for the shorter tower apparently--certainly looks like they are ready to start doing foundation rebar in the photo and that fits with a February timing of the pour--but before that they were doing caison work on both towers which takes about a year in a project like this.

I asked because of the recent Oceanwide article.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

I asked because of the recent Oceanwide article.

I understand and my comment wasn't aimed specifically at you--as 181 Fremont was going up it seemed like someone chimed in with a "why's it taking so long" comment about once a week when, in fact, there could not have been a more dedicated and determined project developer than that one.

But as somebody who's been paying attention to this project since it was started, I'm actually impressed with the progress now being made. In fact, in the upper photo posted by Fvn, there already looks like there's been some concrete poured as a pad for the foundation mat rebar of the shorter tower. For over a year, we've all watched as the ground hardly seemed much disturbed while the caisons were being drilled.

I think those who argued the Chinese wouldn't just stop this project now, because it would cost them dearly, are right. The present developers might sell it, but work would continue. San Francisco desparately needs the office space (in developments approved before the Prop. M limits kick in) and there's already a contract with Waldorf Astoria for the hotel space plus the fact that at this point, aside from a lot of the work being done, it's likely the steel and other materials are on order and must be paid for.

[mt_climber13]

Originally Posted by boyinthecity

fyi

looks like permasteelisagroup got the contract for the facade quite some time ago. below is a little preview.





source: permasteelisagroup

These materials are very impressive. Is that wood paneling or some sort of stone?

[pseudolus]

Originally Posted by mt_climber13

These materials are very impressive. Is that wood paneling or some sort of stone?

Travertine?

[mt_climber13]

I used to live in a house with travertine floors and since then just assumed that travertine was white, but you may be right. Pretty slick!
Literally.. those floors were so slippery.

[waterchicken]

Progress on the foundation dig for main tower:
City walk 12-15-2018 by Daniel Alm, on Flickr

[timbad]

not too much new noticeable from my common perch across Mission (since most activity is below-line-of-sight)

[Pedestrian]

^^It appears to me they have probably made a lot of progress on the taller tower excavation that you can't really see from your perch.

[timbad]

from First St looking through to Jessie



from Stevenson

[Pedestrian]

Genworth gets final clearance needed from state regulatory agencies for acquisition by Chinese firm
By JOHN REID BLACKWELL
Richmond Times-Dispatch Jan 14, 2019

Genworth Financial Inc. said Monday that it has received approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services for its proposed acquisition by a China-based investment company.

It was the final clearance needed from state regulatory agencies in the U.S. for Henrico County-based Genworth to complete the $2.7 billion deal, which was first announced in October 2016.

Under the proposed deal, Genworth, a seller of home mortgage insurance and long-term care insurance, would become a subsidiary of China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co. Ltd.

The companies have delayed closing the deal six times because of regulatory reviews. They are now aiming to complete the deal by Jan. 31 . . . .

https://www.richmond.com/business/lo...e49b96396.html

The point of this is Oceanwide's continuing interest and participation in the US economy in spite of the Chinese government's push to limit overseas fund transfers and business investment by Chinese firms. It's why I see no real risk they would pull out of this development at this point.

[CaliNative]

The L.A. Times had an article today that said that construction on the L.A. Oceanwide project has been temporarily halted due to "finance issues". The L.A. project is fully topped out, and interior work had already begun. The article in the Times today said they hope to resume work in February. The article is in the LA Times business section today. Hopefully the Oceanwides in both LA & SF move along to completion. Great projects, especially the SF one! Is the SF project being built by the same developer group? If not, disregard. Maybe not relevant.

The LA TIMES article is in the Business section today (page 1), and is titled "Downtown Project Stalls--Chinese Developer Cites Financial Issues in Halting Work on Oceanwide Plaza Near Staples" Maybe someone can create a link to article if interested.

[Fvn]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

The L.A. Times had an article today that said that construction on the L.A. Oceanwide project has been temporarily halted due to funding issues (?). Is the SF project being built by the same Chinese company? Maybe the projects just share the same name, not the same developer --if so, not relevant. The L.A. project is fully topped out, and interior work had already begun. The article in the Times today said they hope to resume work in February. The article is in the LA Times business section today. Hopefully the Oceanwides in both LA & SF move along to completion. Great projects, especially the SF one!

Afiak they're still working on this one

[viewguysf]

Originally Posted by Fvn

Afiak they're still working on this one

Let’s hope it continues.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Maybe someone can create a link to article if interested.

Construction halts on $1-billion mixed-use complex in downtown L.A.
By ROGER VINCENT, EMILY ALPERT REYES and DAVID ZAHNISER
JAN 25, 2019 | 3:00 AM

Construction on Oceanwide Plaza, one of the biggest real estate development projects in downtown Los Angeles, has stalled in what may be a shortfall in financing from the project’s Chinese owner.

. . . The company said in a statement Thursday that the hold-up is due to a recapitalization of the project and that work will resume by the middle of next month.

Any halt of a Chinese-backed real estate project, however, is bound to raise concerns that it may be related to Chinese government policies restricting the flow of money out of the country. The policies, put in place in 2016, sent shock waves through real estate circles because China has become a major investor and developer in the U.S.

The shutdown also comes at a time when the FBI is conducting a corruption probe at City Hall that is investigating possible kickbacks and other crimes that might involve foreign real estate developers with downtown building projects . . . .

The general manager of the city Department of Building and Safety, Frank Bush, said his agency received a call on Friday from Lendlease, the general contractor on the project, saying it was canceling an inspection that had been scheduled for that day. “They said they were stopping work on the project at this time, and had no further explanation,” Bush said . . . .

Lendlease, a multinational construction company based in Australia, did not respond to requests for comment.

Federal agents have inquired about Oceanwide and other downtown development projects with foreign investors as they seek evidence of possible crimes including bribery, extortion, money laundering and kickbacks that could involve L.A. city officials and development executives.

In a warrant filed last year, federal agents asked Google for information from a Gmail account used by former Deputy Mayor Ray Chan, including records relating to Oceanwide and other development projects in downtown Los Angeles.

However, it is unclear whether the FBI had any specific evidence of wrongdoing by Oceanwide or was simply casting a wide net in its investigation.

No one has been arrested or charged in the probe, and the federal warrant did not say that agents had gathered evidence of criminal activity by the individuals or companies named in the document.

Oceanwide has declined in the past to answer questions about whether it has gotten a federal subpoena . . . .

“In an effort to prioritize construction activity, and while we restructure capital for the project, interior construction at Oceanwide Plaza is temporarily on hold,” Oceanwide said in its statement. “Our decision to provisionally pause construction is solely based on these internal factors and nothing else. With more than $1 billion of equity already invested in Oceanwide Plaza, we look forward to investing more capital into the property and together, with Lendlease, remain committed to building this landmark project for LA.”

Nearly a year ago, Chinese regulators took control of Anbang Insurance Group, a privately owned Chinese conglomerate that sprang to global prominence when it purchased the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York for $1.95 billion in 2014. Two years later it spent $5.5 billion on a portfolio of 15 other luxury hotel properties.

The move was prompted by financial irregularities that have since sent Anbang’s founder to prison, but the scrutiny the company drew from regulators at least partially stemmed from its aggressive overseas investments . . . .

https://www.latimes.com/business/la-...125-story.html

Some thoughts:

Waldorf, of course, is the chain planned to manage the hotel component of SF's Oceanwide Center so any issues involving them are relevent however the brand itself and management corporation (not the NY property) are owned by Hilton, not the Chinese.

The LA project has 500 condos, twice the number in the SF project. I suspect the condos may be the most problematic part of both projects since the market for new condos is weak and prices are declining. Both hotel rooms and office space, the rest of the SF project, are by all accounts still in very short supply in SF and those components should make as much sense now as when the project was planned.

The contractors of the two projects are different: Plant Construction/Tishman in SF, Lendlease in LA.

The import of the FBI corruption investigation in LA, which is unique to that project according to everything I've read, is unknown.