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

[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).

[Reminiscence]

Webcor's "February" update:



February 2007

EXTERIOR: The precast concrete and glazing is complete through level 20 and the precast column covers are being installed on levels 21 and 22. Cellcrete is complete and roofing has started. The caulkers are working from the temporary roof level (level 14) down to the podium level. The goal is to dry-in the area and begin production drywall as soon as possible.

INTERIOR: The rough-in work is nearly complete to the top of the building. Levels 20 through 22 should be complete with MEPS rough-in within 2 weeks. The framing is nearing completion at level 20 and drywall is scheduled to begin in early March.

[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 . . . .

[botoxic]

SoMa Grand is officially topped off - the crane was disassembled and hauled away on Sunday:




The condos on the upper half of the north side of this building will have a sweet view.

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by botoxic

The condos on the upper half of the north side of this building will have a sweet view.

Of the roof of Trinity Plaza, hopefully fairly soon.

[coyotetrickster]

Originally Posted by BTinSF

Of the roof of Trinity Plaza, hopefully fairly soon.

Um, wouldn't the north corner look out over Civic Center and the Tenderloin, some shots of the central market? If that's the case, whomever is already looking at the federal pteradactyl...

[WonderlandPark]

Meh. Worst of the current bunch of SF towers. I really don't like how it hems in the Federal Building. It kills the little light that the plaza would have gotten. And it is incredibly mediocre and bland next to such a high-tech and innovative (or different, whatever your opinion) Fed. building.

[BTinSF]

^^^We've been round about this. The innovative Federal Building is turning into architecture that only the Federal guvmint could afford (long construction delays) or put up with (several news reports have suggested the people who have to work there do NOT love it). Nobody seems to much like SOMA Grande and I don't either--reminds me a lot of the 60s public housing projects torn down all over the US including here in San Francisco. But we do have to face the fact that budgets are going to be limited for projects that even pretend to be affordable by middle class people (even upper middle class people in SF). Compare this one to 631 Folsom, a project of similar height and, I believe a similar target market. Although I join everyone in waiting with fingers crossed for the glass to be installed, I'm not wild about that one either--but I accept the reasons why both projects must be less than ideal in the innovation department.

[northbay]

^yep. thanks for the sum up bt.

we have to look at this sucker tho

[nequidnimis]

After decades of GDP growth outpacing population growth, I find it hard to believe we can't afford to build better looking buildings than the 60s public housing projects.

[viewguysf]

Originally Posted by nequidnimis

After decades of GDP growth outpacing population growth, I find it hard to believe we can't afford to build better looking buildings than the 60s public housing projects.

While I'm no fan of this development and despise the way that it detracts from the Federal Building and its plaza, I have to say that it looks much better than Blu and some other buildings from up here on Twin Peaks. I also don't mind viewing SOMA Grand from Civic Center Plaza. I agree with BT that it offers first time home buyers an entry into the market, and a fairly good one at that.

Architecturally, I find it more attractive than Blu, Symphony Towers, The Hayes, many developments on Franklin and, for that matter, Opera Plaza.

[peanut gallery]

An article in today's Chronicle confirms that the Slanted Door's Charles Phan will be opening a restaurant in the SOMA Grand.

I posted the whole article in the San Francisco Retail Scene thread (a few posts down on the linked page).

A few of the SOMA Grand nuggets:

The Soma Grand, a newly opened 246-unit condominium building in the trendy South of Market neighborhood, has a concierge and bed turn-down service and is negotiating to get the Slanted Door's Charles Phan, one of the most coveted chefs in town.

Units in the building run $500,000 to $2.9 million.

Alexis Wong, chief executive of AGI Capital, which is working with TMG Partners in developing the Soma Grand, knows that part of the action includes fine dining. So she's been wooing Phan for months.

"I said 'no' a dozen times to Alexis before I gave in," said Phan, who between his two Vietnamese restaurants - the Slanted Door in the Ferry Building and Out the Door in the Westfield San Francisco Centre - has him plenty busy.

But the chef says the location and the developer's financial incentives were too good to ignore.

"When you're building a restaurant from scratch, it's astronomical," said Phan, adding that the Soma Grand will pick up some of the tab, and a lot of the infrastructure like plumbing and electrical is already in place.

Phan said he's ironing out the details with Wong but is strongly considering opening the space as a lounge with Asian small plates.

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by viewguysf

Architecturally, I find it more attractive than Blu, Symphony Towers, The Hayes, many developments on Franklin and, for that matter, Opera Plaza.

Please don't turn this into a "hate Opera Plaza" thread (you'll hurt my feelings) but I'll mention that in the early 80's as it was being built, a Chronicle columnist--may have been Herb Cain but more likely Allen Temko (then their architecture critic and much more respected than their present one)--called it "freeway modern" in reference to the raw concrete (which I'll remind all that for a decade or so in the 70's was popular--Embarcadero Center has it too). I know it isn't a beautiful building but mortgages at interest rates half anyplace else in town made it a bargain and it still is (because you don't have to pay for parking if you don't want to). Besides, the location is great--I can walk to BART or Muni Metro, I've got 4 bus lines (31, 5, 47, 49) practically outside my door and the opera/symphony/Asian/Main Library are a block or two.

PS--Regarding all the hot new restaurants in the new buildings. I can recall that when Opera Plaza opened in 1982, we had 3 of them: Max's, Modesto Lanzone (DiFi was a regular) and Bruce Cost's Monsoon (which was excellent by the way). Max's is still there, the IRS chased Modesto back to Italy and I think Bruce Cost went to New York (there's a routine sushi place in his space now). Restaurants are a transient phenomenon, especially if they open in new condo buildings and the business plan depends on patronage from residents. I've got a feeling a lot of the units at both The Infinity and ORH are going to be pied-a-terres with non-resdient owners. We even have that phenomenon at Opera Plaza (I guess, in a way, I'm one these days).

[BTinSF]

Hey, by the way--developers' call: new lot opening up across the street.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl.../MNRDU1DJ4.DTL

[BTinSF]

SoMa tower: Grand it ain't
John King, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, January 28, 2008

The word "containerization" refers to the movement of goods by ship and rail in stark utilitarian crates.

These days, unfortunately, it also describes what's happening in more and more cities as the landscape gets cluttered with buildings that contain housing but otherwise just sit there, static and squat.

And San Francisco has the perfect tower to illustrate the trend: the Soma Grand, a 22-story slab on Mission Street that is fine as far as it goes, but doesn't go nearly far enough.

The colors are neutral, the look is modern but muted, and the shape is determined by the quest to lay out the residential floors as efficiently as possible. It's nearly as wide as it is tall, and it meets the skyline with nothing more memorable than a mid-block spire that looks like a car antenna.

Everything is careful and cost-effective; the interior is sleek and smart. But like too many residential containers in the Bay Area and beyond, nothing about Soma Grand engages the scene around it. It's a wet blanket at billboard scale.

The only truly innovative aspect about Soma Grand is the way the 246 units at 1160 Mission St. are being marketed.

This stretch of Mission Street long was off the map, with most passers-by probably on their way to the Skid Row hangouts of Sixth Street and United Nations Plaza. That constituency hasn't gone away, but now there's more in the mix; most noticeably, the corner of Seventh and Mission streets is home to the futuristic San Francisco Federal Building.

Taking advantage of all this, Soma Grand bills itself as in the heart of an up-and-coming 'hood, with prices starting at $500,000. And to soothe the nerves of buyers banking on changes yet to come, Soma Grand offers hotel-like amenities. There's maid service twice a month, monthly wine tastings, Peet's Coffee in the chic lounge and a rooftop terrace with a communal hot tub.

There's even a stab at glitz along Mission Street at the entrance: The ground-floor facade wears a thin sheet of smooth limestone. Above it, three levels of parking hide behind the building's public art - a 390-panel mural of colorful and creamy textured glass by Dorothy Lenehan.

"Life is about striking a balance between indulgence and utility, and we've designed Soma Grand around both," coos the sales brochure.

As indulgent as the innards might be - the spacious fifth-floor terrace is worthy of a Las Vegas resort - utility calls the shots in terms of looks.

Despite the 240-foot height, the design by the Mill Valley firm AI is resolutely horizontal, one floor stacked atop the next without setback or shift until you reach the 21st floor. There, the precast concrete panels shift from beige to off-white, and private terraces are notched into the northwest and southeast corners.

Finally, on the flat roof, a screened-in mechanical area pops up in the middle like a miniature hat graced by an antenna instead of a feather.

The slab is relatively thin, so it doesn't look bad from southern perspectives such as Highway 101. But the view next door from the Federal Building's large plaza is as ungainly as can be: a long box with indentations and bays but no verve.

Nor is there the rich texture that can make a solid mass compelling, as is the case with the nearby U.S. Court of Appeals building and its classical granite facade. This is just flat concrete panels of varying depths, punctuated by greenish glass.

The sidewalk presence also suffers from a just-business mentality. The limestone veneer stops at the edge of the ground-floor facade, not even turning the corner, so you can see that it's less than half an inch thick. Pedestrians also get to stroll past the deep dark mouth of the parking garage.

On a different site this wouldn't matter so much. Like it or not, in today's economy, containers have their place. I'd gladly swap a lean version of Soma Grand for some of the towers in Rincon Hill or Mission Bay.

Here, though, the capable container stands directly perpendicular to the Federal Building - a similarly proportioned splash of architectural bravado with a veil of perforated steel panels spilling down a broad slab of concrete and glass.

The Federal Building's monochromatic drama isn't for everyone - design architect Thom Mayne doesn't do low-key - but it hums with energy. There's a jangle of contrasts, such as vertical glass fins below enormous horizontal folds of steel, and a presence that's heavy from one angle and nimble from another.

Soma Grand shrivels by comparison. It has the soul of a background building in a foreground location with the most awkward element of the show - its girth - on full display. What you see is what you get, and what you get never changes.

It'd be great if every building was designed to be a landmark, and if all developers signed off on the details with no thought for the bottom line. That won't happen.

The problem is, if all we get is a business deal - a container - the result casts a pall on what's nearby. There are plenty of examples in the Bay Area. Soma Grand may be the largest. Too bad it's not likely to be the last.







E-mail John King at jking@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg.../BARDUKD80.DTL

[Downtown Dave]

My initial reaction to this building was "Holiday Inn". The fact that it is next door to an actual Holiday Inn makes me wonder about it.

It will be interesting to see how it interacts with Trinity Plaza next door.

[BTinSF]

^^^Have they yet figured out how to keep the homeless people out or whatever was the reason they had roped off most of the brand new open space at the Federal Building?? I just hate it when the owners--even the Federal Guvmint--refuse to even try to use new buildings as they were designed to be used.

[Downtown Dave]

I didn't notice anything roped off today. The weather was enough to keep riff raff away.

[SFView]

SoMa Grand looks a little more 'traditional San Francisco' with fields of smallish windows set in areas of plain light colored facade panels. There are some areas with glass, but maybe not enough. Was this due to economics? With the new Trinity Plaza soon to rise nearby, we might see improvement to the entire composition of the area that includes the San Francisco Federal Building. Also, the western facade of SoMa Grand will become more hidden as Trinity grows up.

[peanut gallery]

Originally Posted by Downtown Dave

It will be interesting to see how it interacts with Trinity Plaza next door.

I think (maybe hope is more accurate) it will become more of a background building as it was meant to be. Between the Arquitectonica, beauty on one side and screaming-for-attention Federal building on the other I think people won't mind it nearly as much. You might barely notice it between those two.