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Posted Oct 29, 2006, 3:43 AM
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BANNED
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: San Francisco & Tucson
Posts: 24,088
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I don't know why I forgot to post this here back when it first appeared but here it is:
Quote:
Miami cash to produce skyline flash
Turnberry to pump $230M into 'exotic' condo tower
San Francisco Business Times - September 15, 2006
by J.K. Dineen
Turnberry Associates, a name synonymous with the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas and Miami's South Beach, is planting its flag on Rincon Hill.
The South Florida-based developer has paid $30 million for 45 Lansing St., a parcel near First and Harrison streets entitled for 305 units.
Turnberry President Bruce Weiner said the project would cost $230 to $240 million, including land, and would be the most upscale development the new neighborhood has seen, with "exotic" marble baths, Italian Snaidero cabinetry, Gaggenau cooking appliances, Jacuzzi hydrotherapy tubs with built-in TVs, Individual security systems, and 12-foot penthouse ceilings. He said prices have not been set, but compared it to the Turnberry Ocean Colony project in South Florida, which is priced between $1.8 and $4 million per unit.
Weiner called the emerging neighborhood at Rincon Hill a natural fit for the deluxe builder, which has developed or owns more than $5 billion worth of hotels, resorts and condominiums in Florida and Las Vegas, including the Residences at MGM Grand in Las Vegas and Fontainebleau in Miami Beach.
The Rincon Hill marks Turnberry's first venture in California -- but not the last, according to Weiner. The company has a history of investing heavily in select markets, and Weiner said San Francisco would be no exception.
"We have big plans for California overall and San Francisco fits our model," he said. "We like world-class cities and San Francisco is certainly one of them."
Weiner said the company had been searching for sites in San Francisco for a while and was drawn to the Rincon Hill location as well as the fact that the site already had planning approval from the city for a 40-story tower.
"We liked the design, the views, and the neighborhood is really coming along," he said. "It's going to be a great place to live and work."
The seller was Jackson Pacific Ventures, a San Francisco firm headed by developer and architect Ezra Mersey, who co-designed the project with Chuck Davis of EHDD.
Mersey said he picked Turnberry because the company has the means and experience to pull the project off.
"Their entry into San Francisco is very good for Rincon Hill's continuing evolution, and another vote of confidence in highrise, downtown residential -- near transit, jobs and amenities," said Mersey. "Turnberry has shown the experience, skills and resources to successfully implement the project Jackson Pacific has created at 45 Lansing St."
A work in progress
Located next to a Union 76 gas station and a block from the Bay Bridge on-ramp, it would be hard to confuse 45 Lansing -- or any site on Rincon Hill -- with the neon energy of the Vegas strip or South Beach's mix of surf and celebrity. But the neighborhood is evolving quickly. The residential tower planned for 45 Lansing is one of seven approved highrises expected to sprout on Rincon Hill during the next three to four years. In addition to the 45 Lansing development, the emerging neighborhood will include Tishman Speyer's 656-unit the Infinity; Urban West Associates' 709-unit One Rincon Hill; Fifield Development's 432-unit the Californian; and a site at 340-350 Fremont St. entitled for 380 condos, also owned by Jackson Pacific.
Of the seven, construction has begun on the first tower of the Infinity and One Rincon projects. Both will ultimately have two towers. While neither building will be ready for occupancy until early 2008, sales offices for both developments opened in the spring and are reporting phenomenal business, with One Rincon nearly selling out and the Infinity with 100 reservations and 75 condos in contract.
Weiner said Turnberry was already sold on Rincon Hill before hearing numbers from the Infinity and One Rincon Hill. "That was good to hear, but we were in the process of acquiring the site before those sales offices opened up," he said.
A softening market
Yet despite the robust sales at the two Rincon Hill projects, San Francisco's real estate market is seeing a noticeable softening. Since Labor Day active listings for condominiums in the city have jumped 21 percent, according to Adam Koval, who tracks the market on the real estate web site SocketSite. Weiner said the slackening is fully expected and healthy. He said the 15 percent to 20 percent price increases of the last three years were "unnatural" and that "unless interest rates are in the double-digits, business will be good." He also said that 60 percent of Turnberry buyers pay cash for their units.
"We have been through this before over the past 40 years. Our end of the market, the upper tier, is usually the last to slow down and the first to pick up," he said. "You have to look at these things as long term propositions. If you're looking six months out it's hard to take our business very seriously."
He said Turnberry owners in Las Vegas and Miami have already expressed a desire to own in San Francisco.
"We're selling a lifestyle and we're selling service found in a four- or five-star hotel," he said.
Carl Shannon, a managing director at Tishman Speyer, said Turnberry's investment is "testament to the market's depth."
"They are an outstanding organization. We know them well and welcome them to town," said Shannon.
He added that the fact that so many buyers are willing to make hard deposits 18 months before the Infinity will be delivered speaks for itself.
"You can read all the press you want about how national housing market is slowing down but in San Francisco, we continue to see strong fundamentals," he said.
Planning Director Dean Macris said Turnberry executives have yet to come in and talk to the city. He said the Mersey/EHDD design had "a nice modern look to it that works well with the other design emerging on the hill."
Weiner said the design's exterior would not change, but the interiors would be revised somewhat. In particular, he said Turnberry market research has indicated a higher demand of two- and three-bedroom units than the plan currently calls for. "There is a niche that is not being filled right now," he said.
Mersey said Jackson Pacific would continue to focus on developing other projects, including its 200-unit tower at One Hawthorne St. in the South Financial District.
Source: http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/...18/story1.html
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Last edited by BTinSF; Oct 29, 2006 at 3:54 AM.
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