Seaport village is going to take care of that with the observation tower. Art like the "Bean" will attract people already in the city, you don't travel to Chicago just to see the Bean. What will attract people to the waterfront will be good restaurants and other attractions, concerts, nightlife, outdoor spaces that are lively, etc. A cool sculpture or art installation would just be icing on the cake.

Yeah, we need Seaport Village redeveloped ASAP. Regarding artworks, I agree a sculpture or something at that site would be a nice addition, but it wouldn't be the main attraction. It would probably be like the oversized "Pacific Soul" sculpture outside Pacific Gate. It's pretty cool.

But unless it's absolutely massive, that kind of art wouldn't require newsworthy proposals/approvals, etc. It could very well happen and we won't know about it until right before installation.



Speaking of absolutely massive waterfront artwork proposals, does anyone remember the Wings of Freedom or that giant Neptune statue proposal from over a decade ago?

https://cdn.kpbs.org/dims4/default/f...F16%2Fcam2.jpg

https://i0.wp.com/voiceofsandiego.or...02/neptune.jpg

Wow, those sculptures would have been amazing. What happened to the proposals - too bold?



And to be clear on the earlier convo, I was not calling Pacific Gate mid - it's one of the best towers in the city IMO. My disappointment only extends to the stuff on the IQHQ/navy block, and of course this Manchester project.

I agree 100%. This hideous box will block one of the waterfront's prettiest buildings.

East Village Green has a construction cam. Downtown should have more cams.
The Gaslamp especially should have a live one.

https://app.oxblue.com/open/Barnhart...stVillageGreen


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...dd46dcaa_b.jpg

Measure C up by the slimmest of margins...

Hopefully it stays that way

This should pass, but it'll be close... Big issue with the Sports Arena redevelopment is even if they get this passed, idk how this project gets off the ground. There is far too much affordable housing for the deal to pencil. Combine that with the massive uptick in borrowing costs we've seen in recent months, and it gets even tougher.

Gloria picked the winning group based on having the most affordable housing units. Unfortunately, most of our politicians don't understand the financials and I can't see it being financially feasible in today's environment. If you're trying to solve a housing crisis, market-rate housing is better than no housing.

I wouldn't be surprised to see this built in phases, and likely be renegotiated with the city to lower % of afforadable units. Will take a while to get off the ground. Would love to see it get done, cautiously optimistic.

Speaking of the Waterfront
 

What ever happened to the Embarcadero modernization plan? They did that little Part at the end of Broadway for a couple hundred yards what 7 years ago now :shrug: Its almost 2023, I remember years ago when we were discussing it that the whole thing should have been done by now all the way to the Hornblower boats on the North side before Harbor curves towards the airport.
Has anyone heard about this or did funding get allocated somewhere else and it isn't going to happen...

Oh wow you're right. I kind of gave up waiting on updates to the north Embarcadero to the point I forgot it was ever supposed to happen. It felt like it took them decades to just fix up the two blocks between Navy Pier and B Street Pier. That area was done well, but it's such a small piece of the waterfront. The rest is just a long old stretch of sidewalk wedged between the water and parking strips.

Googling doesn't help, everything just talks about Seaport Village (another project which I fear will fall off the radar 10 years from now)

NAVWAR open for bids now.

Wondering what realistic height limits would be for any NAVWAR redevelopment. I know the study they did a while back said 300+ feet but given the proximity to the airport I can't imagine that would be cool w FAA. Maybe on the farthest north end of the project.

I also saw someone on twitter suggest building a park over the section of the 5 adjacent to the NAVWAR complex (kind of like the one in Dallas) which would bridge the new development and Old Town. Great idea imo but seems like the kind of thing that would take this city half a century just to start construction.

Agreed, a park over the 5 freeway there would be incredible.

I don't think a park over the 5 at that location is feasible.

Usually for those ideas the freeway is sunken and they put a "lid" on it.

The 5 at that point is raised over ground level.

A more feasible idea would be to put a "lid" park at the downtown S turn and/or over the 94 just east of downtown.

Same thing happened to North Embarcadero that happens to most every plan that never seems to go anywhere, it got stuck between resistance to change and a lack of funding.

In order to make space for all that you have to remove all the parking. Officially the plan is to build a parking structure a block north of the county admin building, but that's expensive and all the harborfront businesses don't want that because then everyone will head over to little Italy instead of walking the quarter-mile to visit them.

Now that the Navy finally has a new HQ though the Port has acquired the old secondary offices just north of the Marriott. There's a plan to build a sort of parking/transit hub there but it's real early stage. Needs a private developer to step up to the bat, there's some talks but nothing solid yet last I heard.

The FAA would greatly prefer if things kept under 170ft, but their rules say you can go from 350ft at the south end up to 600ft at the northern one. Those figures are in MSL, so subtract whatever the ground elevation is to get height above ground. Also CalTrans will veto anything over 500ft above ground even if it would otherwise be allowed.

https://i.imgur.com/Cp7yDEg.jpg

I thought that parking lot north of the Waterfront Park was a no go because Solar Turbines owned it?

And I didn't realize the port acquired those old Navy offices. I really hope something good goes there. Such an oddly utilized space, but it's ripe for something big. Hopefully it's not just a lowrise garage and bus turnaround.

It's my understanding Solar Turbines just leases the lot. Now I'm sure they'd throw a fit if the Port takes away all their parking, which means it will have to be replaced, but I don't think would have to eminent domain the lot. Anyway it's marked for a transit hub/parking structure in the port master plan.

Nope :)

https://i.imgur.com/w12PrbT.png

:previous:
Will, You say above "CalTrans will veto anything over 500 ft above ground level even if it would otherwise be allowed". I can understand the FAA having a say in height limits because of the airport, but why should CalTrans care about height limits or have a veto on them? :koko:

14 Cranes & RaDD Topped Out
 

The crane at Simone came down recently and the RaDD's last building topped out last week.

0 Cranes - Simone, Alexan Little Italy, Trammell Crow Residential, Union & Ash, https://www.crowholdings.com/alexan-little-italy
0 Cranes - One Broadway Hotel, Manchester Pacific Gateway, Manchester Financial, Broadway & Pacific Hwy, https://www.manchesterpacificgateway.com/
1 Crane - RaDD Block 2A, IQHQ, https://iqhqreit.com/project/radd/
2 Cranes - RaDD Block 2B, IQHQ, https://iqhqreit.com/project/radd/
1 Crane - RaDD Block 3A, IQHQ, https://iqhqreit.com/project/radd/
1 Crane - RaDD Block 4A, IQHQ, https://iqhqreit.com/project/radd/
1 Crane - RaDD Block 4B, IQHQ, Harbor Drive & Pacific Hwy, https://iqhqreit.com/project/radd/
1 Crane - 8th & B 9th Ave. & B St., Bosa, 8th & B, https://thinkbosa.com/project/ninth-avenue-b-street/
1 Crane - 800 Broadway, CA Ventures, 8th & Broadway
1 Crane - West, Courthouse Commons, Holland Partners, Union & Broadway
1 Crane - Radian, Cisterra, 9th & G, https://www.cisterra.com/radian
1 Crane - The Lindley, Milano, Toll Brothers, Columbia & Ash, https://www.livethelindley.com/
1 Crane - Broadway Towers (Tower 2), Pinnacle International, 11th & Broadway, https://broadwaytowers.com/
1 Crane - Jefferson Makers Quarter, JPI Development, 15th & Broadway
1 Crane - Elevate Hotel, K Elevate 10th Street Property, LLC, 10th & Island

8th & Broadway

https://i.imgur.com/noB96IQl.jpg

Dammit. While I like the reintegration of the street grid, a max height of 200' on the tallest lot is ridiculous.