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

[mt_climber13]

Originally Posted by simms3_redux

Wake up on the wrong side of the bed today? That building looks phenomenal in person, *especially* considering that we could still be stuck with the bland minimalist concrete facade that was there before (not to mention a vacant obsolete office building that the GSA likely wouldn't even take space in). Oh, and 399 new apartments for that needy part of town! I wouldn't judge that building based on a grainy construction photo, I can almost guarantee you would not be saying what you did if you saw this thing in person. And if you do think it looks like shit, I would be willing to bet that you would be in the small minority, and you wouldn't have to look at it much anyway considering you don't currently live here.

I really lost respect for you the way you jumped on Jerry (and made it personal) for contemplating that in this crazy anti-growth town there was room and a chance that a fire such as that could have been caused by arson. It was not as far-fetched as you saying now that the new skin on 100 Van Ness looks like shit. LoL

I'm sorry that I lost your respect, and hopefully I can get it back.

However, others' approval is not desired nor required. (inspired by To Wong Foo)

I try to live a life of "live and let live." That is, leave people alone and let them find their own happiness. However, I do enjoy a good cage match every once in a while on topics such as politics, world events, etc. And, I'll admit, a lot of times I'm ill equipped, sometimes my mouth (or keyboard) gets the best of me. People shouldn't take things so personally, I don't think Jerry was all that offended or hurt (at least, he shouldn't be). This is an internet forum, not a support group. I had an opinion, I expressed it. I encourage others to call me out on my B.S. as well. But I'm not here to be liked by all. I'm here to share my enthusiasm to the world about high density development, especially in a city that I have a very strong, lifelong connection to.

And yes, I really hate the new skin on 100 V.N.

[Jerry of San Fran]

This view from Harrison and Division Streets caught my eye a couple of days ago. I'm always fascinated by the many different views of new highrises from street and alley as I move about the city. This view will be quite different five years from now. (My pocket camera is limited so the quality is just alright. I may get a nicer camera this summer). Thank you viewguysf for confirming/correcting what I was seeing. There are so many cranes on the skyline I was not sure what was what! :>] Costo is seen on the right.

url=https://flic.kr/p/nKowAx][/url]45 Lansing ? - As Seen Afar

[viewguysf]

Originally Posted by wakamesalad

^That building looks like shit.

It looks great from the southwest and west, from where I see it--a total improvement. I also like it when walking north on Van Ness where it looks much cleaner and sharper.

If it's shit you seek, look about you in Sacramento--you won't have to look far.

[Quest4Six]

When will 399 Fremont Street be completed?

[simms3_redux]

In less than 18 months. The core is above street level now and we have a thread tracking construction progress at the link below.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=118916&page=15

[ozone]

Originally Posted by viewguysf

It looks great from the southwest and west, from where I see it--a total improvement. I also like it when walking north on Van Ness where it looks much cleaner and sharper.

If it's shit you seek, look about you in Sacramento--you won't have to look far.

Oh could you be more of a SF cliche? *Yawn*

[viewguysf]

Originally Posted by ozone

Oh could you be more of a SF cliche? *Yawn*

Sorry--just responding to wakamesalad's blunt dismissal of 100 Van Ness, which is a vast improvement over what it was.

I actually don't think it fit the definition of a cliche, but having moved back here from Sacramento, I certainly can understand why you're yawning.

[cv94117]

Originally Posted by viewguysf

Sorry--just responding to wakamesalad's blunt dismissal of 100 Van Ness, which is a vast improvement over what it was.

I actually don't think it fit the definition of a cliche, but having moved back here from Sacramento, I certainly can understand why you're yawning.

In any case it's certainly better than that POS NEMA. Cordwell, Solomon... did a reasonably good job considering that they had to retrofit an existing building and couldn't do much about form or massing. On the other hand, Handel was given a blank slate for the NEMA site and turned out such crap in comparison that it amazes me. The crown makes me cringe whenever I'm driving down Market Street from either direction or in Hayes Valley. I really think the City should find a way to force the developer to correct it.

[fflint]

Was in a car with out-of-town family yesterday headed east on Oak St. and two of them asked what that ugly building was--it's NEMA. It is okay from the street, but from the east it's a real dog.

[mt_climber13]

Sacramento has some great classical government architecture downtown and Midtown has some great bungalows reminding me of Berkeley and Santa Barbara. East Sac and Land Park have some beautiful homes. But most of the outlying area are horrible suburban sprawl.

SF is my favorite US city and it has awesome architecture (though some of the people are canker sores) But most of SF is pretty boring too- The western, southern, and southeastern neighborhoods.

But it's the weather that kills it for SF. I'll take sun drenched pool parties with bikinis and speedos galore over pasty hipsters on bikes any day

[Quest4Six]

Originally Posted by fflint

Was in a car with out-of-town family yesterday headed east on Oak St. and two of them asked what that ugly building was--it's NEMA. It is okay from the street, but from the east it's a real dog.

What the hell is so bad about NEMA?

[fflint]

It's not bad, it's just kind of ugly coming down Oak Street--the odd decorative fins fail to hide the mechanical equipment on the roof, so this slick tower tops off with a really odd, random profile. Kind of junky looking.

[viewguysf]

Originally Posted by fflint

It's not bad, it's just kind of ugly coming down Oak Street--the odd decorative fins fail to hide the mechanical equipment on the roof, so this slick tower tops off with a really odd, random profile. Kind of junky looking.

And, as I've said before, it's really noticeable when coming down Market Street too. The fins on the west and east sides are way too small. When it's really sunny, they glisten from my view, which is really odd. I don't think all of the silver vents or whatever on the roof and mechanical penthouse were meant to be the starring attraction from certain angles.

[biggerhigherfaster]

I think NEMA looks fine...especially relative to everything around it in the mid-Market, southwest SOMA, and Civic Center area

[viewguysf]

Originally Posted by wakamesalad

Sacramento has some great classical government architecture downtown and Midtown has some great bungalows reminding me of Berkeley and Santa Barbara. East Sac and Land Park have some beautiful homes.

It does indeed have some great architecture, including several cool older highrises downtown. Some of the modern highrises, starting with the Darth Vader Tower, are horrible. We, of course, have bad ones too, but they don't stand out as much.

[viewguysf]

Originally Posted by biggerhigherfaster

I think NEMA looks fine...especially relative to everything around it in the mid-Market, southwest SOMA, and Civic Center area

I, among others, said before how it looks great from Van Ness and other vantage points, but the view from the West is inexcusable--really amateurish. Overall, I like the entire development, including the north tower.

[Busy Bee]

S.F. skyline of future rises today from 3-D printer

John King | Wednesday, May 28, 2014


...


(05-28) 17:14 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco skyline of 2017 is a work in progress - except in the precise resin forms on a newly printed 3-D model of 115 downtown blocks where the dust and noise of today's construction boom is nowhere to be seen.

Instead, nine towers that are in the process of being built are displayed between the Bay Bridge and Mission Street, amid hundreds of other forms within an object that measures 6 feet by 6 feet. The coming attractions range from the 1,070-foot Salesforce Tower, where construction began recently, to the new wing of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where the steel bones for what will be a 200-foot slab are climbing along Howard Street.

The model was produced as a marketing tool and presents a downtown free of imperfections, with no traffic jams or crowded sidewalks.

Even so, and even beyond the cool-gadget geekery of a sculptural object that can be updated in a day, the model created by two local firms offers a taste of tomorrow's city - one where the skyline is no longer synonymous with the Financial District.

"San Francisco will always be evolving," said O'Brien Chalmers, president of Steelblue, which produced the model in collaboration with software design firm Autodesk. "The city was different in the 1940s versus the '70s, or the '90s versus today."

Steelblue, which bills itself as "dedicated to communicating space," uses digital architectural renderings and animation to depict how such projects as the Transbay Transit Center will look and feel upon completion. It massaged its accumulation of physical information for the downtown map, including projects in the works. Autodesk then reshaped the data to prepare it for physical form.


Rest of story at SFGate.com

[ozone]

Originally Posted by wakamesalad

Sacramento has some great classical government architecture downtown and Midtown has some great bungalows reminding me of Berkeley and Santa Barbara. East Sac and Land Park have some beautiful homes. But most of the outlying area are horrible suburban sprawl.

SF is my favorite US city and it has awesome architecture (though some of the people are canker sores) But most of SF is pretty boring too- The western, southern, and southeastern neighborhoods.

But it's the weather that kills it for SF. I'll take sun drenched pool parties with bikinis and speedos galore over pasty hipsters on bikes any day

Well said. I divide my time between the two cities so I get the best of both. But I agree about the weather. Give me hot days and perfect nights over cold wind anyday.

It's funny that most of the people who spit on Sacramento are from Sacramento or some podunk place in the Valley. Or they have never really spent time here. San Francisco is their Emerald City and good for them. Look no sane person would argue that San Francisco is infinitely more attractive and exciting than Sacramento, or most American cities for that matter. But that doesn't mean it's more livable or that other cities don't have their own kind of charm. What's not charming is someone rag'n on their Ex.

[mt_climber13]

Originally Posted by ozone

It's funny that most of the people who spit on Sacramento are from Sacramento or some podunk place in the Valley.

Or Michigan.

[minesweeper]

Market Street Place is finally set to start construction in September on spec:

Two years after buying a collection of properties on the south side of Market between Fifth and Sixth streets, developer Cypress Equities is set to start construction on a $150 million, 250,000-square-foot retail development.

Cypress has bought out its partner, the Carlyle Group, and will start construction in September, CEO Chris Maguire said. The development, known as Market Street Place, will be speculative - meaning Cypress will build it without having any tenants signed up.

[...]

As Cypress marketed the property, it became clearer that the off-price retailers weren't the project's best bet, so the project now is looking to be more upscale.

"We were not thrilled with the options we had on the tenant site. We started considering whether we should think about alternative types of uses," Maguire said. "We had more interest from fashion-forward, speciality retailers."

And Tishman Speyer is talking to the city next week about acquiring the publicly-owned portion of 100 Folsom (aka Transbay Block 1):

Tishman acquired a multi-parcel residential development site at 100 Folsom in June 2013 for a project expected to include about 400 units. But to develop the site, Tishman Speyer needs the publicly owned parcel that makes up about 60 percent of that block.

The Commission on Community Investment and Infrastructure will meet in closed session Tuesday to discuss negotiations over price and terms with Tishman Speyer about the parcel at 235 Main St. and give instructions to staff on how to proceed.