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Originally Posted by Reminisence
This seems like an old project that never got too much attention.
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Actually it has gotten quite a bit locally because of who's building it:
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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
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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/ ):
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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.
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They seem determined to make SOMA Grand "not just your average condo":
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“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.
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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: