SAN FRANCISCO | 1146-1160 Mission Street | 235 FT / 71 M | 24 FLOORS

[Reminiscence]

Another one of San Francisco's "minor" projects soon to begin rising.

1146-1160 Mission Street (also known as The SOMA Grand) will be 235', and will have 24 floors.

Rendering:

[AK47KC]

Great project, if that monster 1900-something unit project 1177 Market I, II and III are built, then that block surrounded by Market, 7th, 8th and Mission will be a whole block of highrise buildings, five built after 2005.

Current status, the tower is at the 17th floor. The 5 parking levels was finished eons ago and exterior walls and glass windows have been installed to the 10th floor (no curtainwall glass here, it seems).

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by AK47KC

Great project, if that monster 1900-something unit project 1177 Market I, II and III are built, then that block surrounded by Market, 7th, 8th and Mission will be a whole block of highrise buildings, five built after 2005.

Current status, the tower is at the 17th floor. The 5 parking levels was finished eons ago and exterior walls and glass windows have been installed to the 10th floor (no curtainwall glass here, it seems).

Not the WHOLE block. The dumpy little 4-story brick building I used to work in--a Methadone clinic--will still be there as well as the hole in the ground that used to be a porno theater. Essentially all the low-rise old dumps along Market east of Trinity Towers will be intact.

[Reminiscence]

No curtainwall, thats too bad. This seems like an old project that never got too much attention. With Rincon Hill developments, you cant really blame them for it. Its good to hear that this one is getting to its final stages though.

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by Reminisence

This seems like an old project that never got too much attention.

Actually it has gotten quite a bit locally because of who's building it:

The SoMa Grand, a 246-unit condominium project on the site of a parking lot, broke ground last week on Mission Street between Seventh and Eighth streets.

It's a $120 million venture between developers AIG Capital and TMG, with Joie de Vivre Hospitality providing input on branding and lifestyle amenities.

"Our original vision was doing a commercial project with parking, but as the market dynamics changed we envisioned it as more residential," said Alexis Wong, chief executive of AIG Capital.

The company acquired the site in 2000 and saw it through the entitlement process before bringing aboard TMG and Joie de Vive.

One controversial aspect of the project was parking. More than 600 spaces were displaced and the city required partial compensation for the lost stalls.

So the building will have 184 spots for residents, less than a 1-to-1 ratio, and 320 available to the public in a four-story podium below the condo units.

However, the huge federal office tower is rising down the street at Mission and Seventh. That enormous building is going up with no added parking, meaning that it's clear who will have dibs on the SoMa Grand garage.

Source: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...sn=001&sc=1000

Joie de Vivre, for those who don't know, is a big owner/developer of "boutique" hotels and is headquartered in SF--in other words, it's a popular hometown company. According to their web site ( http://www.jdvhospitality.com/ ):

Joie de Vivre Hospitality is the largest boutique hotel company in California. Our unique collection of hotels includes locations in San Francisco, Marin County, Silicon Valley, Napa Valley, and with our newest addition, the Brentwood-Bel Air area of Los Angeles. Whether you are traveling for business or planning a vacation, a romantic getaway or special event, we have a hotel uniquely suited to your personality.

They seem determined to make SOMA Grand "not just your average condo":

“This will not be your typical 'vanilla' high-rise,” says Chip Conley, Founder & CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality. “We're creating an array of services that will make residents feel like they are living a 'grand' urban lifestyle. Whether it's a massage, personal training session, caterer, dry cleaning or a limo, Soma Grand's concierge-style services will seamlessly 'connect' residents to their home, neighborhood and city.”

While Conley had been approached about “lifestyle condominiums” in the past, Soma Grand was “the only one that made sense,” he says.

Here's the site when construction was just starting:



And here in early summer:



The trashy little 4-story building to the left of the site that looks like a 50's motel is to become the new HUGE (1900-2200 units) Trinity Plaza complex by Architectonica:

[AK47KC]

Well, at least a dense cluster of highrise buildings on the block-- reminds me of my homeland Hong Kong.

[Reminiscence]

All this and they still have the Bank of China Tower errr ... Transbay Tower to build

[Reminiscence]

Trinity Plaza does look pretty big, and unusually shaped if you ask me. But its better than whats there right now, and I guess thats what counts after all.

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by Reminisence

Trinity Plaza does look pretty big, and unusually shaped if you ask me. But its better than whats there right now, and I guess thats what counts after all.

That's Architectonica's trademark. They got famous for this condo in Miami with it's "hole" in the middle:

[AK47KC]

Taken yesterday 10/28 on Mission.

[AK47KC]

From webcor.

[botoxic]

SoMa Grand is getting close to topping out - just one or two more floors to go. This plus the new Federal building are certainly very visible while driving on the Central Freeway. Some pictures taken on Saturday, December 9th:

Looking southwest along Mission:


With the new Federal building:


Looking (northwest) at the face:


Looking northeast along Mission:

[botoxic]

Poor SoMa Grand doesn't get much attention, but I think the building gets more interesting-looking as the finishing touches are added. Plus it is quite visible from the Central Freeway, so some recent pics could be worthwhile:

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by botoxic

Poor SoMa Grand doesn't get much attention, but I think the building gets more interesting-looking as the finishing touches are added.

Actually, I don't much care for its "look" but I acknowledge it's close to what San Francisco needs a lot more of: highrise infill housing for "the rest of us" (those not in the price range of One Rincon Hill and The Infinity).

[tyler82]

I don't even think there is a look to like or dislike. It's just there.

Which I guess isn't such a bad thing considering the monstrous shoeboxes that exist downtown.

[WonderlandPark]

Obviously, mods should move this over to "Construction" its almost done at this point.

[fflint]

Eh, it's okay visually, and good functionally. It's a decent quantity of mid-priced housing stacked high in an area well-served by several modes of public transportation.

[Reminiscence]

From Socketsite.com:



The Soma Grand has topped off and announced a VIP Grand Opening for March 7. And while we haven’t received any official pricing, we have heard rumblings of prices as high as $900/sqft for one-bedrooms.

For those who are unfamiliar, the Soma Grand is located adjacent to San Francisco's new Federal Building. And yes, they’ll be serving an obligatory specialty cocktail at the opening (the “Soma G”).

On a side note, theres another somewhat intresting article linked to this one clamining they've heard talks of a "120-story behemoth", even though they've exagerated on some other projects. I hope its true, 120 stories would clearly be over 1200'.

http://www.agicapital.com/blog/2007/01/got_capped.html

[Reminiscence]

Also:



The Soma Grand christened their sales office at 1085 Mission with a packed Friends and Family event last night. We were lucky enough to score an invitation. And bold enough to ferret out the straight scoop:

∙ While March 7th marks the VIP grand opening, the first official release (and actual taking of deposits) isn’t expected to kickoff until mid-April. (And a blowout "Rincon style" launch party is tentatively planned for May 2nd.)

∙ The first year of twice-monthly housekeeping service is included in the purchase price, but a la carte thereafter. Yoga, car service, and massage (in the "private studio [or] meditation garden") are a la carte from the get go. Monthly HOA fees are expected to run under $600/month.

∙ And while an official price list still hasn’t been released, an insider assures us they’re shooting for an average of $600-$800 a square foot (depending upon unit size/floor).

And of course, the extra special SocketSite scoop for our “plugged in” people: rumor has it the developers are in discussions with Charles Phan (of Slanted Door fame) to develop a new dining concept for the larger of their two ground floor retail spaces.

UPDATE: We’re blaming one too many “Soma Gs” for the fact that we failed to get the scoop on parking. We do know there is room for 504 cars in the Soma Grand garage, but we honestly don’t know how the spaces are being allocated or priced (yet).

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by Reminisence

rumor has it the developers are in discussions with Charles Phan (of Slanted Door fame) to develop a new dining concept for the larger of their two ground floor retail spaces.

Mid-market: the new "gourmet ghetto." Strikes me as unlikely but . . . .