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

[Jerry of San Fran]

sims3 redux - Nice picture of Rincon II. It should be breaking the skyline in the Civic Center soon!

[simms3_redux]

Originally Posted by Jerry of San Fran

sims3 redux - Nice picture of Rincon II. It should be breaking the skyline in the Civic Center soon!

I took the below in early April.

Originally Posted by simms3_redux

Taken last week from the office...starting to poke up.

And I took the below just now:

[minesweeper]

Another Upper Market vacant lot is slated for development:

Graystar joining housing rush in Castro
By J.K. Dineen, May 23, 2013, 5:27pm PDT

Graystar is fueling up on Castro apartments.

The South Carolina-based developer, which has 200,000 rental housing units under management, has filed an application to build 87 units at 2198 Market St., a former Shell gas station. The project is being designed by HellerManus.

The project site consists of a triangular shaped lot with frontage on Market and Sanchez Streets. The site was recently rezoned as part of the Market and Octavia Plan Area. “The idea is to reflect the excitement of the area, but also respond to the scale on Market Street and Sanchez Street,” said Clark Manus, a principle with HellerManus.

It sounds like this one is still being designed at this point, so it's probably at least a year or two from ground breaking. It'll be across the street from two other projects already under construction, 2200 Market and 2175 Market.

[easy as pie]

yeah, graystar has been getting that together for a little while now, negotiating the bmr numbers with the community per a bax article a couple months back, but that the despicable value architects heller/manus are designing it is a bit of a scoop, hopefully they don't fuck it up too badly. should be a great new addition in terms of scale, intensification and getting the retail wall to the end of the block, however.

[fimiak]

Here is a good San Francisco Magazine article with SFMoMA renderings.

Probably a must-read for anyone interested in the expansion.

http://modernluxury.com/san-francisco/story/sfmoma-the-reboot

The exterior will be clad in a custom composite material: glass fiber-reinforced concrete.

Instead of focusing on the grand boulevards, the design opens up access to the smaller streets—”a very important change psychologically,” Benezra says. Minna and Natoma streets could become new hubs for restaurants and shops.

[cv94117]

Originally Posted by easy as pie

yeah, graystar has been getting that together for a little while now, negotiating the bmr numbers with the community per a bax article a couple months back, but that the despicable value architects heller/manus are designing it is a bit of a scoop, hopefully they don't fuck it up too badly. should be a great new addition in terms of scale, intensification and getting the retail wall to the end of the block, however.

Please, keep Heller Manus out of the neighborhoods. Leave it to a crappy out of town developer to hire them.

[tech12]

Heller Manus did design 181 Fremont though. Sure, they've designed a ton of ugly buildings over the years, but maybe 181 Fremont isn't a fluke, and they're starting to get past their days of shit-tasticness. I hope so, at least.

[spyguy]

[timbad]

a lot of the upper Market St projects are all still in their burkas, but we can at least get a sense of what their bulk will feel like once they are done. west to east, here are some of them (I didn't get a shot of Icon, closest to Castro) on a gray Memorial Day:

north side of Market at 15th, former Thai restaurant, looking west:



kitty-corner from it, former gas station on south side of Market, being excavated:



the Whole Foods at Dolores, as seen when approaching from the east:



... and from across the street:



kitty-corner from there, former gas station on the corner of Buchanan, looking east:



and looking west from across the street:



next to the LGBT Center, former hole in the ground:



and looking west:



Market and Octavia is still being dug out; hard to get a good shot of the work. this is looking south down the length of the lot:



and the BMR component of the Buchanan project, at Page and Franklin, what could be a gateway into Hayes Valley, tho there are a couple parking lots just north of this intersection crying out to be filled with something productive:



... and a bit more in context, with glimpses of some of the other projects in the distance:

[jbm]

looks like the crane at 100 van ness is fully installed now, as it is higher than the roof. also looks like more of the top floor and the roof were removed today.

[fflint]

Originally Posted by fimiak

Here is a good San Francisco Magazine article with SFMoMA renderings.

Probably a must-read for anyone interested in the expansion.

http://modernluxury.com/san-francisco/story/sfmoma-the-reboot

I think this is the coolest building going up in the city--here's a couple photos of the model from sfgate:

[DIESELPOLO]

I really don't "get" the MoMA expansion. I'm sure the interior is going to be great, but the exterior is a head scratcher for me.

The development lining Market Street, especially all these corner lots, is so exciting. At this point, I am salivating for the building envelope and glass to go in to complete the image for me.

[cv94117]

Originally Posted by DIESELPOLO

I really don't "get" the MoMA expansion. I'm sure the interior is going to be great, but the exterior is a head scratcher for me.

The development lining Market Street, especially all these corner lots, is so exciting. At this point, I am salivating for the building envelope and glass to go in to complete the image for me.

Right. Cool building, but nearly all of the perspectives shown in the model shots and renderings will never actually be seen by anyone unless flying around in a helicopter. A bit can be seen behind the Botta building when standing in YB Gardens and the only really visible portion from the street is the Howard street entrance - which appears to be a mostly a high flat blank white wall. I'm a big fan of the architect, but I'm very skeptical of how this will look from the street.

[ozone]

Originally Posted by cv94117

Right. Cool building, but nearly all of the perspectives shown in the model shots and renderings will never actually be seen by anyone unless flying around in a helicopter. A bit can be seen behind the Botta building when standing in YB Gardens and the only really visible portion from the street is the Howard street entrance - which appears to be a mostly a high flat blank white wall. I'm a big fan of the architect, but I'm very skeptical of how this will look from the street.

Most cities would love to have San Francisco's problems. This shoehorning is getting a bit Manhattan like. As far as the design goes. Form is following function and site restriction. Hey its a hell of lot better than a square box. San Francisco has built some of the best new museum buildings in the world within a generation. Remember the old de Yong and California Academy of Sciences were nothing to write home about but lots of people hated the new designs. And most changed their minds once they were completed. This will only make a great museum better.

[tech12]

The self-entitled wealthy four seasons NIMBYs are drafting a ballot measure to get the Mexican museum tower reduced in height to 350 feet, just so they can save their views:

http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2013/05/four_seasons_homeowners_drop_the_dreaded_b_word.html

They're hiding their motives behind some "save the parks from shadows" BS, saying the new tower will cast too much shadow on union square. Never mind the fact that the amount of shadow is negligible and only in the mornings, and that their own four seasons tower already casts more shadow on union square than the Mexican museum tower will. It's just more abuse of the system by wealthy assholes who want to keep their views, with misleading ballot measures to stall/kill already approved projects, just like those NIMBYs who recently drafted a "no wall on the waterfront" ballot measure to block 8 Washington and the warriors arena. And the ballot measures are going to sound good to your average ignorant voter too, as "save parks from shadows" and "no wall on the waterfront" sounds good if you know nothing about it or drank the NIMBY kool aid, right? I'm afraid these have a chance of passing.

[ozone]

Originally Posted by tech12

and that their own four seasons tower already casts more shadow on union square than the Mexican museum tower will.

Maybe someone should start a petition drive to remove a few floors off the top of the Four Seasons? You know, in order to "Save the Park."

[theskythelimit]

With regards to the MoMA expansion, it looks like the guests at the W Hotel will loose their view. At least the first 10 or so floors.

[Jerry of San Fran]

I took this picture from the 24th floor in the Essex Fox Plaza. The concrete skin removal should commence very soon. The wind pattern in the neighborhood should change for awhile. With the highrise getting it's windows at Market & 10th (NEMA) it will be interesting to see the wind patterns & how they change. The Fox Plaza is famous for it's strong street wind. I've had my furniture creak with the building in a winter storm! We used to be able to visit the roof deck (no more) - one could see the block long building move like a snake in the wind.

There have been two kinds of hawks that nested & roosted in & on the building for 30 years. They will now have to find a new home


100 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco by Apollo's Light, on Flickr

[Jerry of San Fran]

SFMOMA - I think the new addition is an odd piece of architecture. Someone has called it an iceberg. The De Young was compared to an aircraft carrier :>} I will hold my judgment till it is built as artist renderings rarely look like the real thing. I can see the "eye" of the museum, so I should see the top 3 floors of the new structure from my apartment in the Essex Fox Plaza.

[simms3_redux]

What's funny about the Four Seasons is that it's pretty short itself - under 400 ft. If Museum Tower is reduced to 350 ft (it won't be - sounds like Millennium Partners, which is a large and well respected developer, has educated the committees on their proforma and what makes sense financially...like 500 ft or nothing, take it or leave it) then only the top few floors will have their views preserved at their horizon level.

The north south profile of th Museum Tower seems relatively narrow, and that's a profile that some at Four Seasons along the eastern edge get. I would suspect that its's the units on the upper SWC of Four Seasons that are complaining the most. Anyone below the top floors is either complaining for no tower at all, or they aren't complaining as 350 ft does nothing to "help" their views.

Anyone know who lives on the top 2-3 floors, specifically the SWC, of the Four Seasons? They're obviously worth tens of millions - hard to "sympathize" with sophisticated city condo buyers of that level, but I guess you never know. Millennium Partners ironically also developed the Four Seasons and is selling the retail component right now(across their portfolio). This story is almost comedic.

Between billionaire owners in Presidio Heights sparring over the height of someone's tree in someone's backyard blocking someone else's (Larry Ellison's?) balcony view, to the Democrat Party weighing in on why a development along the waterfront should not happen due to views and a "wall", to the supe for Telegraph Hill who is out of his f*cking mind to the billionaire residents on the top floors of the Four Seasons saying screw you to the 30 floors below them and asking for a height reduction to preserve their precious top floor views as if they own the flippin city, LoL. Oh rich people.