SAN FRANCISCO | Projects: Under Construction, Approved, and Proposed

[1977]

Originally Posted by minesweeper

John King posted this picture of the 680 Folsom rehab yesterday:

Nice! We should be seeing some of the cladding soon.

[peanut gallery]

Looks better already.

CurbedSF has renderings of the project going up at 15th and Dolores that fflint mentioned awhile back. I don't recall if anyone posted those before, so just in case, here is one I could pull:



There are a few more, but I couldn't get their URLs to post here.

[Gordo]

I noticed some activity yesterday at the long-vacant buildings on Pine between Van Ness and Franklin. These ugly ducklings:



I know that there was a proposal for a tower here long ago - perhaps some plans being dusted off? It was some guys going in and out of the building with debris being loaded into a truck. I tried to strike up a conversation, but none spoke English or Spanish - in thick Eastern European accents they kept saying, "We clean up, we clean up."

[1977]

Originally Posted by Gordo

I noticed some activity yesterday at the long-vacant buildings on Pine between Van Ness and Franklin. These ugly ducklings:



I know that there was a proposal for a tower here long ago - perhaps some plans being dusted off? It was some guys going in and out of the building with debris being loaded into a truck. I tried to strike up a conversation, but none spoke English or Spanish - in thick Eastern European accents they kept saying, "We clean up, we clean up."

This was the original proposal:

http://www.hellermanus.com/Pine_and_Franklin.html

But here is some updated (11/18/11) info about what they're referring to as 1688 Pine Street:

Oyster Development Corp. has acquired a rare large condominium development site in San Francisco’s Lower Pacific Heights, the third housing parcel the firm has bought in less than a year.
The development firm, led by veteran San Francisco developer Dean Givas, along with equity partner Tricon Capital Group, paid $15.5 million for 1688 Pine St., a 35,000 square-foot site that could accommodate about 200 units. The seller was Canyon Capital Realty Advisors, which was managing the property for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.
The site is not entitled, but previous developer AF Evans had attempted to build 283 units there before going bankrupt in 2009. In 2011 the planning department cancelled an environmental review application, which means that Oyster Development will be starting the entitlement process from scratch. AF Evans paid about $17 million in 2004 for the six parcels that make up the property.

On Pine Street, Givas said that he would seek a somewhat less dense project than AF Evans had proposed. While AF Evans had planned two towers — 250 feet and 130 feet — Givas intends to comply with the neighborhood’s 130-foot height limit. In addition, the AF Evans development had proposed knocking down all of the five buildings currently on the site. Givas said that several of the existing small buildings are part of the Van Ness automobile district the city has designated as potentially historical.

Source and article: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...r-pacific.html

[mt_climber13]

Originally Posted by Gordo

I noticed some activity yesterday at the long-vacant buildings on Pine between Van Ness and Franklin. These ugly ducklings:



I know that there was a proposal for a tower here long ago - perhaps some plans being dusted off? It was some guys going in and out of the building with debris being loaded into a truck. I tried to strike up a conversation, but none spoke English or Spanish - in thick Eastern European accents they kept saying, "We clean up, we clean up."

That is my neighbor's van LOL

[NOPA]

I think we will have to wait and see how 15th and Dolores turns out...the types of materials they use will make or break.

[peanut gallery]

The old Pacific Telephone Building (140 new Montgomery) has its first new tenant signed: Yelp! From SFGate:

Yelp signs Pacific Telephone Building lease to 2020
James Temple
Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Yelp has given San Francisco a five-star rating, committing itself to stay in its hometown through at least 2020.

The popular online review site, one of the first dot-coms to set up shop in the city after the Internet bubble burst, will announce Thursday that it has signed a roughly 100,000-square-foot lease at the Pacific Telephone Building, an Art Deco classic of the city's skyline.

...

Contributing factors included the deepening design and engineering talent pool in the city, the convenient commute to that slice of South of Market and the unique character of 140 New Montgomery St., he said.

Designed by prominent architect Timothy Pflueger in the 1920s, the Pacific Telephone Building is considered one of the finest Art Deco skyscrapers in the city, routinely praised in local architecture guides.

Yelp will relocate from its current space at 650 Mission St. in the fall of 2013. The new space will accommodate around 800 employees, room to grow from the roughly 500 San Francisco workers Yelp has today.

(continued here)...

This is one of my favorite buildings in the city and I am so glad it will come to life again.

Edit: Adding some photos of the building I took:

[fflint]

Originally Posted by NOPA

I think we will have to wait and see how 15th and Dolores turns out...the types of materials they use will make or break.

I see this site from my living room and kitchen windows--I'll take pics as soon as they rise above street level.

[CyberEric]

Great news about the Telephone Building, I love that building!

[rriojas71]

Nice to see the Telephone Building getting a significant tenant. It is one of my favorite buildings in SF. I hope they do some uplighting to accentuate the crown and some of the buildings details. Great news indeed.

[peanut gallery]

^I've been wondering if they will start lighting it at night again. In these days of green buildings and power savings it might not be very politically correct, but maybe they can install new low-power lighting or somehow mitigate the extra power usage. I did a quick search for any shots of it lit up at night and could only come up with this small one:


Source: San Francisco Public Library

That just shows the top lit, but there is uplighting for the whole exterior.

[jbm]

Here's my second attempt at posting pics...this is SF Jazz taken this evening. that inner core of cement is what went up first and i believe it is the auditorium frame. unfortunately, due to the sun, you can't tell that it is indeed an entire story higher. the glare seems to cut off the entire top floor.

[minesweeper]

Bloomberg posted a video with Douglas Shorenstein and Terry Kwik of RMW Architects talking about Market Square, the new Twitter building.

The video includes some renderings I haven't seen before:

[fflint]

^Cool renderings. Market Square, according to today's Chronicle article on Mid-Market's renaissance, will include offices, 55,000 square feet of retail space, and "a full-service grocery store, something the area is in dire need of."

The developer says “It’s not a done deal, but we have multiple (grocery companies) that are interested.”

I don't remember reading about a new downtown grocery store before--is this news or am I just forgetful?

[peanut gallery]

Not sure, fflint. But I had no idea recladding that annex building was part of the plan either, so I clearly didn't catch all the details.

[flight_from_kamakura]

i'm all for the re-cladding, but i do sort of like the current, eccentric letters that run the outside now. the conversion of stevenson street is very pleasing, however, and i wonder if the sf mart reno does plan to turn that parking entrance into some sort of people entrance, as the renderings here from shorenstein suggest. if so, hard to see this as anything but a sure-fire success. any best on how much longer it'll be until we see a development proposal for the mission-fronting lot behind the crescent heights tower site? i'm guessing before fall, if even that.

[timbad]

Originally Posted by flight_from_kamakura

... any bets on how much longer it'll be until we see a development proposal for the mission-fronting lot behind the crescent heights tower site? i'm guessing before fall, if even that.

well, there was this, once upon a time...

and this SF Planning letter from last October links the site to the required affordable housing component of 201 Folsom, saying the Mission site needs to be completed within 5 years of construction start of the Folsom project.

here's hoping they both get going soon!

edit: there's also this across the street

[tech12]

And now for something a little different...

The city plans to expand the SF Wholesale Produce market (which is apparently the largest one in Nor Cal already) from 300,000 feet to 500,000 feet:

With a vision for reinventing the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market that's been on the boards, the city of San Francisco is preparing to back the $96 million initiative.

Under legislation that Lee and Supervisor Malia Cohen will introduce Tuesday, the nonprofit San Francisco Market Corp. will sign a new 60-year lease that calls for rent revenue from merchants to be used in a three-phase effort to redevelop and expand the market to an adjacent city-owned parcel at 901 Rankin St., currently a parking lot and storage site.

The nonprofit San Francisco Market Corp. is expected to borrow to cover up-front construction costs and pay it off with rent revenue. Once the upgrades and expansion are paid for, remaining rent revenue would go to the city's general fund, its main spending account.
As proposed, the two blocks of Jerrold Avenue that currently bisect the market will be closed and the market will expand from 300,000 to 500,000 square feet.

http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2...duce_mark.html

[1977]

901 Market (at Fifth) was just sold to Hudson Pacific Properties and now 3 groups are vying for 935-965 Market aka the failed City Place retail development (below) by Urban Reality. It feels like mid-Market may have finally reached its tipping point. Fingers crossed!


Source: http://sf.streetsblog.org

The property is just east of a high-profile development site that Urban Realty Co. put together in 2005 and 2006. A series of vacant buildings between 935 Market St. and 965 Market St., Urban Realty spent more than three years entitling the parcels for 250,000 square feet of retail development. While some question whether five floors of value retail would work there, Martin Sawa and David Rhoades of Urban Realty never got to truly test the market: before they could reach a deal with a tenant, their financial partner Commonfund went bankrupt. The distressed portfolio of Commonfund loans was purchased at a discount by Loan Star Fund, which foreclosed on the various properties, including 901 Market St. and the development site.
Now all eyes will be on 935-965 Market St. Groups reportedly bidding on it include: the ubiquitous TMG Partners; Hines, which would re-entitle it for office; and a group lead by AvalonBay, which would seek to build a mixed-use residential/retail project there.

Source and article: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...01-market.html

[flight_from_kamakura]

hines would be a solid team, but i hate the idea that city place would become office. much much better to have the residential/retail there, keeping eyes on the street at night. since this one is a midmarket fantasy that seems to be moving a step closer to reality, let's go into a few more:
1) demolishing the sunken plaza at power station and building a proper square on the powell side and a straight up sidewalk on the cyril magnin side;
2) a midrise tower (8-10 stories) on the billiards hall site;
3) a demolition of the low-rise portion of the fox plaza, to be replaced with a good 5-6 stories over a flush retail wall;
4) a resurrection of the hibernia bank AS A BANK; and
5) that the trinity plaza towers have great, non-formula retail.

i don't ask much.