SAN FRANCISCO | Mission Bay

[1977]

Nothing we haven't really discussed before, but Socketsite posted a rundown of some of the upcoming housing projects in Mission Bay. It looks like this is going to be a busy year for groundbreakings and a great year for Mission Bay in general.


Source: www.socketsite.com

Mission Bay Neighborhood Block And Construction Watch

Blocks 5 and 11 down in Mission Bay have just changed hands for a combined $41.4 million according to the San Francisco Business Times. Entitled for 198 and 170 units respectively, the acquiring BRE Properties plans to start construction of rental units on the two blocks by the end of the year.

In related neighborhood block news, United Dominion Trust is planning to break ground on 315 rental units and 9,000 square feet of retail on Block 2 in the third quarter; Mercy Housing will likely break ground on 134 affordable units on Block 13 East by the end of the year (with Bosa following with 285 condos on Block 13 West); and Urban Housing Group is expecting to break ground on 147 rental units on Block 3 in 2012.

And of course, construction on Bosa’s phase two construction of close to 400 condos on Block 10 continues and has since been dubbed "Madrone" as Salesforce moves forward with plans for its 14 acre campus stretching from blocks 26 to 34 to the south.

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

[timbad]

absolutely! this next wave may just get us to that tipping point where Mission Bay starts to feel real, when instead of buildings in the middle of space, we will have space between buildings, and Third and Fourth will both feel like streets, not roads across a prairie

[djlx2]

Originally Posted by timbad

absolutely! this next wave may just get us to that tipping point where Mission Bay starts to feel real, when instead of buildings in the middle of space, we will have space between buildings, and Third and Fourth will both feel like streets, not roads across a prairie

I love your positivity. I would love it if a wave got us to that tipping point and have Mission Bay start to feel real. I see paths along a prairie. Does anyone have further ideas for how to make adjust their ideas of space where they can get what they want from the street design? Right now I see demands where there's nothing to accommodate infrastructure, so this is an informal poll. Anyone listening? What would you specifically want? Let's have information instead of opinions, it's long overdue.

[1977]

Originally Posted by djlx2

I love your positivity. I would love it if a wave got us to that tipping point and have Mission Bay start to feel real. I see paths along a prairie. Does anyone have further ideas for how to make adjust their ideas of space where they can get what they want from the street design? Right now I see demands where there's nothing to accommodate infrastructure, so this is an informal poll. Anyone listening? What would you specifically want? Let's have information instead of opinions, it's long overdue.

From the looks of it, Fourth Street, the 'main' retail drag, is already a missed opportunity and is my main gripe with the Mission Bay infrastructure. The sidewalks are narrow and the street is wide and lined with parking. Where is the biking infrastructure (separated bike paths)? Where are the open and wide sidewalks with bulb outs and room for outdoor seating? Foliage? More planters? It doesn't make any sense to me why a neighborhood, built from scratch, is mimicking 1950's infrastructure while many of the existing retail corridors (Valencia, Powell, Grant, etc.) are trying reinvent themselves into a more inviting and modern experience.

For reference...

Fourth Street - Mission Bay:


Source: www.socketsite.com

That being said, I am very excited about all of the infill and hope that once it's in place, residents and businesses will demand a higher quality in regards to the pedestrian experience along Fourth.

[Potrero]

Not sure how long it has been since someone posted something on this park which will be on the Bay between South Street and Mariposa but from reading the Port Agenda for their upcoming meeting on April 26, award of the contract is imminent.
"Request authorization to award Construction Contract No. 2732, Mission Bay Shoreline Protection for Bayfront Park Project (April 26, 2011)"

The way I understand the contract, it is just to get the surface ready to accommodate the park but this is what it should look like when built. (I wish I could post the picture directly but still haven't figured out how)

I guess when Salesforce moves in, the park will be there or follow soon after.

[WildCowboy]

^^^This is just the very edge of the shoreline where the rotting piers and crumbling edges have been fenced off from the public. It's a three-month, $2.5 million project to stabilize things.

Obviously full construction of the Bayfront Park will be a much more involved project requiring the moving of Terry Francois Blvd, but any forward movement at all in this area is welcome news indeed.

[peanut gallery]

timbad (or anyone else who has been in the area lately) - is the eastern crane at Madrone in the future tower section or in the midrise between the two towers? I can see that the western crane is in the middle of the tower section and I assume that means that tower is part of phase IIa. If the eastern crane is similarly positioned, then I'd guess that both towers are part of IIa. If not, then I'd guess the eastern tower is part of IIb. The point being that this might suggest how the phasing will progress. Hope that makes sense.

[WildCowboy]

I didn't realize this until today, but the top floor of the Old Navy headquarters on Terry Francois has been shell space all this time, but apparently The Gap is now having it built out to move another 300 workers in there from San Bruno.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...ssion-bay.html

[peanut gallery]

SocketSite has a brief update on Salesforce.com:

(the architect)...seeks those with experience designing swimming pools, water features and green roofs.

The project which is envisioned to include "offices, conference space, auditoria, retail, restaurants, structured parking for approximately 1,500 cars, public spaces/parks, and other amenities common to corporate campuses" will consist of eight main buildings, several specialty buildings, and open spaces.

[WildCowboy]

Alexandria moving toward a purchase of 409-499 Illinois (the Fibrogen complex) from Shorenstein. That was one of the few business-zoned blocks not owned by Alexandria when Mission Bay started out, but they're obviously down to just a small amount of developable land left after selling so much off to Salesforce, so I guess they're looking to beef their presence back up as a landlord.

http://wwwnew.bizjournals.com/sanfra...ssion-bay.html

[Potrero]

I was able to gather some more news about bayfront park. Contract was awarded to Ferma Corporation of Mountain View. The port staff expects NTP in May and substantial completion in November. Should look much cleaner around there by the end of the year.

Here is the plan of the work limits posted on the Port website

[timbad]

Originally Posted by peanut gallery

timbad (or anyone else who has been in the area lately) - is the eastern crane at Madrone in the future tower section or in the midrise between the two towers? I can see that the western crane is in the middle of the tower section and I assume that means that tower is part of phase IIa. If the eastern crane is similarly positioned, then I'd guess that both towers are part of IIa. If not, then I'd guess the eastern tower is part of IIb. The point being that this might suggest how the phasing will progress. Hope that makes sense.

sorry for the slow response - have been away and having computer memory issues.

the two cranes are at the same 'latitude', that is, even with eachother on the north-south axis. as I think you can see from this pic, the eastern crane is pretty much smack dab in the middle of the eastern tower section:



couple other shots from around the site, this one looking at the northeast corner and the little alley that divides it from Radiance:



and here looking across the Third St façade from the northwest:



over to block 13, the sidewalk along Channel is mostly complete. looking west:



... and Long Bridge has both asphalt and foliage:



the other dramatic change over the last couple weeks is the appearance of streetlights over in the northwest infrastructure area:



and, in an encouraging sign, this looks suspiciously like it could be the makings of a bike lane on Fourth:



another view, looking south:

[peanut gallery]

Thanks for the excellent update and answer to my question. It sure looks like they're working on the whole thing. I can't discern an obvious distinction between IIa and IIb. I wonder if they changed the plan to split this in two? At any rate the taller towers seem to be in the current phase, which is great to see.

[timbad]

bike lane on Fourth complete and in use:

[202_Cyclist]

Now all San Francisco needs is a great bike-sharing system like DC's.

[WildCowboy]

Great news about the bike lane. Pretty sure that was just supposed to be wide travel lanes with perhaps some sharrows, so it looks somebody talked some sense into them to make the shift to dedicated lanes.

In other news, the ceremonial first two steel beams of the UCSF hospital are set to go up tomorrow morning between 8:00 and 9:00 AM. Steel will begin going up in earnest on Tuesday. Get ready to ramp up the excitement level on this one!

[WildCowboy]

Confirmation from the webcam that steel beams are indeed rapidly going up at the UCSF hospital site:

[WildCowboy]

Now this is interesting...high-speed rail plans could result in 280 being torn down north of 18th Street and turned into an Octavia-like boulevard.

I've seen some nasty backups on Octavia, so we'll have to see how this all pencils out.

[Gordo]

^Hmmm, very interesting. That would do a LOT to make Mission Bay feel less cut off from the rest of the city to the west, as it feels now (IMO).

I'm no traffic engineer, but I would think that the traffic backups wouldn't be as bad with this as with Octavia, where all of the traffic from the freeway has to turn on to other streets within a few blocks. The only worry that I'd have is that there would be too many cars wanting to turn left or right onto the cross streets that the freeway flies over now, though I would think that that could be mitigated. It could also help to slow down the traffic a bit more before the cars get to the 4th/King intersection, which is a really scary place to be a pedestrian at times, even with loads of other pedestrians.

I'll be very curious to see what comes of this.

[pseudolus]

Originally Posted by timbad

That's a pretty forbidding streetscaoe for what I understand is supposed to be the principal north-south pedestrian-oriented street.