SAN FRANCISCO | Projects: Under Construction, Approved, and Proposed

[Jerry of San Fran]

Originally Posted by BTinSF

Source: http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2009/...castros_hole_in_the_ground.html#comments

Sorry, but I still don't expect to see anything built in that hole during my lifetime.

I agree that we may never see this hole filled. I have been in San Francisco since 1969 and cannot believe such a valuable piece of property has been left vacante for so long, but worse a deep hole in the heart of a community. This piece of property is important and would encourage commerce with it's neighbors. A christmas tree lot once a year is a poor use of the property. I have grown old since the church burned!

[AndrewK]

i think that 8 stories is a bit out of place on that corner, but if they had eliminated the 2nd and 3rd stories in that original rendering, i think it could have flown. a shame indeed.

[peanut gallery]

Does the original remind anyone else of Foundry Square?

[peanut gallery]

Jaime, of the Rincon Hill Neighborhood Blog, picked up an interesting tidbit from the latest planning commission meeting:

The Planning Commission did approve extensions on 340 Fremont, 399 Fremont, and 45 Lansing .. however, they’re conditioning the approval on keeping the lots in decent shape. The most visible hole in the ground’s (399 Fremont) owner is to come up with a plan in 30 days for a nicer looking fence and a plan to put some material over the ground similar to that at 535 Mission Street so that weeds and so on don’t clutter up and make it look so ugly when drivers come off the Bay Bridge on the Harrison Street exit ramp.

So be on the lookout for some action at Fremont and Harrison, but don't get your hopes up.

[BTinSF]

Source: http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2009/01/23/back_from_the_grave_sf_puc_ecopalace.php

Yesterday I noticed a drill rig sticking up from behind the fence at Golden Gate & Polk so today I walked over there and saw a beehive of activity involving our old friends Malcolm Drilling:







I managed to speak to one of the Malcolm workers and asked, rather bluntly, "Are they moving forward with the new building here?" The answer was, "Yes, we are doing the shoring for the foundation because it's deeper than the old building."

I could see not only the drilling activity but a dewatering tank of the sort that is used for foundation excavations.

Now I well remember when I asked a similar question of somebody at 535 Mission and got a similar answer--and then things stopped. So my fingers and toes are all crossed. But, hey, at least it appears clear we will NOT have a parking lot here.

[peanut gallery]

Yeah! Normally, I would say this being a public building would make the chance of another 535 slim. These days, who knows? Either way, this is promising.

[peanut gallery]

Not surprising, but the Redevelopment Agency is suspending the Block 8 RFP process to wait for better times. From The SF Business Times:

S.F. suspends effort on Transbay District site
Tuesday, June 16, 2009, 2:46pm PDT
San Francisco Business Times - by J.K. Dineen

The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency has suspended efforts to develop housing on a key Transbay District parcel after bids for the property came in “well below the potential value of the site in a healthier real estate market,” according to a memo from Executive Director Fred Blackwell.

Blackwell said the agency decided to suspend the request for proposals process for Block 8, a 42,600-square-foot parcel on Folsom Street between First and Fremont streets. The agency is looking for a developer to build two market-rate structures: a 550-foot residential tower and an adjacent 50-foot residential townhouse development. In addition, the RFP called for a 100 percent affordable building 65 to 85 feet.

“Staff believes that waiting a year and issuing a new RFP could potentially result in more interest from developers and higher purchase offers,” said Blackwell.

Blackwell said the agency will issue a new RFP in 2010.

Originally, three teams made bids on the property: AvalonBay and Bridge Housing; Golub Real Estate and Mercy Housing; and Avant Housing and Citizens Housing. The Avant/Citizens team, which had hired star architect Richard Meier Architecture to design the building, withdrew in April. AvalonBay is working with designer Arquitectonica and Chicago-based Golub is working with Solomon Cordwell Buentz. Both architects designed prominent buildings on Rincon Hill: Solomon Cordwell Buentz designed One Rincon Hill and Arquitectonica designed Tishman Speyer’s Infinity.

Blackwell said “the market has changed significantly since the RFP was issued in 2008.”

“For a prime development opportunity such as Block 8, the agency should wait for conditions to improve rather than sell under current market conditions.”

The agency did not release details of the two proposals that were submitted.

[SFView]

Without checking back on the many pages of all the San Francisco threads, here are a selection of renderings from Heller Manus we may not have seen posted exactly identicle to what we see here. Sorry, if there is anything repeated.

All images from www.hellermanus.com

555 Washington Street



181 Fremont Street (Millennium Tower now visible - far left of top image)





Pine and Franklin (the 15 story tower will be at the site of an existing gas station along Van Ness Avenue - the 24 story tower will be on the Franklin Street side)







1415 Mission





10th & Market (a slightly different angle)



340 Fremont Street

[Gordo]

Originally Posted by SFView

Pine and Franklin (the 15 story tower will be at the site of an existing gas station along Van Ness Avenue - the 24 story tower will be on the Franklin Street side)

Isn't that the gas station to the right of the shorter building? It looks to me like the 24 story tower will be on the corner of Pine/Franklin and the 15 story tower will be mid-block on Pine. Am I not looking at it right?

Thanks for the pics, BTW. First I've seen of this rendering of the Pine/Franklin site. The last one that I saw for this site was for a single (much taller) slender building on a four or five story podium, but I remember there being significant whining from the neighborhood about it.

I don't think I've ever seen or heard anything about 1415 Mission. That would compliment the other new buildings across the street nicely.

[metafizarc]

AWESOME! thanks SFview...

[SFView]

Originally Posted by Gordo

Isn't that the gas station to the right of the shorter building? It looks to me like the 24 story tower will be on the corner of Pine/Franklin and the 15 story tower will be mid-block on Pine. Am I not looking at it right?

Oops. Sorry, yes I believe you are correct. The gas station still shows in the rendering.

BTW, you're welcome

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by Gordo

I don't think I've ever seen or heard anything about 1415 Mission. That would compliment the other new buildings across the street nicely.

I posted an article about it when it was first proposed ( http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=4188489&postcount=2145 ). There are now nice buildings built or planned for 3 of the 4 corners of that intersection (only the southeast corner lacks a proposal).

[Gordo]

Originally Posted by BTinSF

I posted an article about it when it was first proposed. There are now nice buildings built or planned for 3 of the 4 corners of that intersection (only the southeast corner lacks a proposal).

Actually, now that you mention it, I do remember you posting that and the discussion about three of the four corners getting new digs.

[peanut gallery]

Thanks for the reminder. This rendering looks so different from what we saw before I didn't make the connection either. Thanks for finding and posting these, SFView. Great stuff!

[Gordo]

I really like that rendering for 1415 Mission. Evokes a bit of Trinity Place going up further down the street, but with balconies (Nativeguy1964 will be jealous ).

I like the buildings on Pine too, even though they don't look to stand out much. I think those fit in better with that area than the past tower proposal did.

[peanut gallery]

1415 evokes a bit of Avalon as well. I think Heller Manus has been influenced by their work with Arquitectonica.

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by Gordo

I really like that rendering for 1415 Mission. Evokes a bit of Trinity Place going up further down the street, but with balconies (Nativeguy1964 will be jealous ).

I like the buildings on Pine too, even though they don't look to stand out much. I think those fit in better with that area than the past tower proposal did.

I expect quite a bit of "value engineering" on 1415 Mission such that the reality doesn't look quite as good as the rendering . . . but, we'll see.

As an aside, pile driving the last 2 days and Golden Gate/Polk. I assume they are driving the angle iron that holds the shoring timbers for the perimeter of the foundation.

[BTinSF]

More from 525 Golden Gate:

They appear to be nearly done driving I-beams around the perimeter. I'm sure they will then drop timbers between them to form the retaining wall for the foundation as they dig it.

This brings up a question. I have seen or heard of buildings being stopped at all stages of construction, due to unforeseen circumstances, including after the foundation has been dug but before any actual construction was begun, but I am not aware of any building digging the foundation without the intention of proceeding to construction at the time that was done. In other words, is there any reason to think this work doesn't mean the city has every intention of proceeding with construction at this point it time? Would they do this if the funding was still in doubt? I thought they planned to stop after demolition of the old building if that were the case.

Anyway, here are today's pics:

Note the line of I-beams along the Golden Gate side of the foundation perimeter--leading to the pile driver which still has a few to do


The site from midblock on Polk


Note the finished I-beam perimeter along the alley side of the site


Ready to dig

[peanut gallery]

Nice update, BT. Since this needs to go deeper than the previous foundation, will they demo the old one? I can see a portion of it in your 3rd shot on the outside of the I-beams. That leads me to wonder if they'll leave it in place since it seems like the I-beams would make it difficult to remove.

If I understand your question, I think this means they have every intention to complete the building or they wouldn't bother with the excavation work. But I don't know if that means anything, really. I'm sure 535 had every intention of completing the building but that didn't stop them from putting it on hold after the piles were driven.

[peanut gallery]

double post.