SAN FRANCISCO | 33 Tehama | 380 FT | 35 Floors

[Reminiscence]

Looks like we have another proposal, or an upgrade to an already existing proposal. Not much known I suppose, but its a fairly significant tidbit.

Friday, October 17, 2008
Owner Fritzi Realty seeks to bash through Transbay height limit
San Francisco Business Times - by J.K. Dineen

Downtown property owner Fritzi Realty wants to build a 550-foot residential skyscraper at 41 Tehama St., one of several proposed Transbay District projects that is significantly taller than the current draft rezoning would allow.

The 54-story glass tower, designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill, would be one of the tallest residential buildings in the new Transbay District, with 350 housing units soaring up from a long, skinny 22,000-square-foot parcel, according to an application for environmental impact review filed with the city.

The proposed condo development is significantly more ambitious than the 23-story, 198-unit building that Fritzi had previously applied to build. That project was scheduled to go before the Planning Commission a year ago when the developer pulled it and resubmitted for a much larger project.

Josh Switzky, Transbay project manager for the San Francisco Planning Department, called 41 Tehama “a significant development site in the district.” He said the current rezoning calls for a 350-foot building on the site, greater than the current 220-foot limitation but much less than what Fitzi is seeking.

“We think 350 feet is appropriate for a variety of reasons including overall city form and composition of the area,” said Switzky. “At this point, their proposal is significantly above existing zoning and heights.”

Robert Tandler, who is heading up the project for Fritzi Realty, declined to comment except to say he is “diligently working with the city to complete the design process.”

Switzky said the overall plan calls for two clusters of tall buildings, one around the Transbay Tower and another climbing up Rincon Hill. Tehama Street lies midway between the two areas, in a part of the district where the city would like to bring heights down.

The building at 41 Tehama is not the only proposed tower in the Transbay District that is significantly taller than the zoning controls the Planning Department is proposing.

Kyoya Corp., owner of the Palace Hotel, is seeking to build a 669-foot tower on southwest corner of the hotel. The current zoning proposal calls for a 400-foot limit on that site.

“At this point, we don’t think the heights they are proposing are appropriate, but we have not seen any project proposal change yet in response to our plan,” Switzky said. “In both these cases we are recommending additional height — just not as much as they are proposing.”

jkdineen@bizjournals.com / (415) 288-4971

No renderings just yet it looks like, but I'm sure some will pop up eventually