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

[1977]

SF Flower Mart video:

Video Link

and the website

[timbad]

Originally Posted by 1977

SF Flower Mart video:...

thanks for that. that area feels like a mini black hole to me right now; I live nearby and hardly ever venture over that way - it's strange to imagine so much activity materialize there.

couple random things...

from last Monday, Moscone looking east



and west



and the nearby small hotel on Fourth, which is taking forever. my speculation is that they are in no hurry to open with the subway station construction ongoing next door and blocking off the sidewalk, but I don't know. in any case I did notice some progress had been made since the last time I paid attention



seen head-on, Fourth St side

[JWS]

That hotel is the Virgin Hotel and they are taking reservations currently for November 15th and beyond.

[Pedestrian]

Michelin-starred chef to open $20 million restaurant extravaganza in Union Square
By Katie Burke – Food/Hospitality/Retail Reporter, San Francisco Business Times
Aug 27, 2018, 12:17pm PDT Updated 6 hours ago

Opening a restaurant in the Bay Area is already no easy task. Across from Macy's Union Square flagship, San Francisco newcomer Claude Le Tohic will open four.

The Michelin-starred and James Beard Foundation award-winning chef is behind the top-to-bottom overhaul of 165 O'Farrell St., a six-story historic building that will debut later this year as French culinary emporium ONE65. Starting with a patisserie and cafe on the ground floor, ONE65 will have three additional restaurants stacked above: ONE65 Bistro, ONE65 Lounge and O' by Claude Le Tohic, a fine-dining outpost.

All told, Le Tohic said the initial investment is close to $20 million.

"You can spend $5 in the morning and finish with $500 at night," Le Tohic said as he navigated loose wiring and uneven floors on the ground floor. "The concept is for everyone, and Union Square is a good location for it because you have the mix of locals and visitors and internationals" . . . .

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco...bdA37c%2FluRxObP&t=1535423146&j=83507481

[Pedestrian]

This is bleak news:

SF residential projects languish as rising costs force developers to cash out
J.K. Dineen Aug. 27, 2018 Updated: Aug. 27, 2018 6 a.m.

While the next crop of luxury condo towers like 160 Folsom, which developer Tishman Speyer has branded as Mira, continue to rise in the fast-growing eastern end of South of Market, other approved housing projects across the city, like 2675 Folsom St., are stalled and on the market because of soaring construction costs and fees, developers and other industry sources say.

The growing number of developers seeking to cash out rather than risk losing money on building is fueling concerns that residential production will start to decline even as the Bay Area’s housing crisis worsens.

Last month Axis Development put 2675 Folsom up for sale. The 117-unit project was approved in 2017 after a contentious political battle but has not yet started construction. Other entitled projects that are languishing before work has even started include the 304-unit One Oak St., the 299-unit development at 1270 Mission St., the 186 units at 1028 Market St., and the 220-unit 1601 Mission St. Some are seeking new financial partners and some an outright sale.

“Most entitled projects in the city are for sale right now — either publicly or privately,” said Bill Witte, president of developer Related California, which has 1,300 units under construction in the city. “We’re at that point in the cycle.”

There are 6,750 units under construction in the city, about 1,000 units more than a year ago. While that is well above the historic average, there are another 15,000 units that have been approved by planning officials but have not started construction. Projects containing 6,690 of those units have secured all the permits needed to start construction but have not broken ground, Planning Department documents show.

. . . construction cost increases of 10 to 15 percent annually over the past five years is mostly to blame for the delays . . . .

Chris Foley, a real estate investor and partner in brokerage firm Polaris Pacific, said that in the current construction environment a condominium developer needs to sell units for at least $1,400 a square foot for a wood-frame building and $1,800 a square for a taller, steel-frame midrise or high-rise . . . .

That’s the case with three buildings rising near the new Transbay Transit Center: Mira, the Avery at 400 Folsom St., and One Steuart Lane, which overlooks the Embarcadero at the foot of Howard Street. Unless there is a remarkable drop in the market, units in all three of those buildings will probably have an average sales price of more than $2,000 a square foot and penthouses could fetch $3,000 or even $4,000 a square foot. A 3,326-square-foot penthouse at 181 Fremont St., which opened last spring, recently sold for $15 million, or $4,500 a square foot . . . .

Developer Oz Erickson of the Emerald Fund said it would be impossible for his company to get financing for any project with a requirement of more than 15 percent affordable units. The group’s recently completed tower, 429 units at 150 Van Ness Ave., was approved when affordable housing requirements were 12 percent . . . .

“Really 100 percent affordable (which has a mix of financing tools not available to market-rate builders) is the only type of project that pencils out there with current construction costs,” . . . .

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...t=newsletter&utm_campaign=sfc_greatreads

[fimiak]

They left out 500 Folsom, 706 Mission, 875 California (at Powell on Nob Hill) and the two Oceanwide developments. Still a bummer, but I am not surprised with the prices rising due to the recent steel tariffs.

[timbad]

a look down 22nd St at 1395 22nd, from approximately the location that the stairway would land at the top (east slope Potrero Hill)

[gillynova]

[1977]

Thanks for the photos, gillynova and timbad.

[timbad]

as a neighbor and someone who has commented previously about how this site's use has become an anachronism for the area (and I'm sure there are many of us who think this), I'm stoked to hear about this

[SFBuildings888]

Originally Posted by timbad

as a neighbor and someone who has commented previously about how this site's use has become an anachronism for the area (and I'm sure there are many of us who think this), I'm stoked to hear about this

Interesting.

[timbad]

I liked this one especially

Originally Posted by gillynova

[timbad]

Originally Posted by timbad

...this

the best thing about this one in my mind is that it takes another big step in linking up the streets in the area, eliminating a chunk of 'no-man's land' and making things more cohesive. this is looking NE from where Carolina currently sort of peters out, just short of the newly-reactivated Channel St, which you can see on the right bordering the 100 Hooper project

[timbad]

Dogpatch and Potrero Hill...

3rd and 19th



Tennessee and 19th, with some ambitious scaffolding



950 Tennessee



just mentioning that the 22nd St greenway work is just about complete



the southern section of the southern Indiana project





it curves away from the street behind another warehouse apparently on a separate parcel on the actual corner with 22nd St. when that one eventually gets developed, it might be nice to keep a curving public walkway through there since it aims nicely at the Caltrain station (even if the rail line gets moved a block inland, as is being discussed)



over on the north slope of Potrero Hill, the massive one between Mariposa and 18th St now peeks above the fencing on the east side (Arkansas St)



18th St side



seen from the west



at 17th and Arkansas, the little project has gotten some more finishing details and is looking pretty spiffy to me



sort of still in the neighborhood, another look into 100 Hooper

[timbad]

other randomness...

the Flax site on Market



55 Laguna





455 Fell (at Laguna)



Eddy and Taylor



the 950 Market St project on the left, showing its relation to 6x6 across the street (on the right)



Moscone, from Mission



was surprised to see this one is getting going already







in the shadow (maybe not literally) of 500 Folsom, a little public greenspace is about to come into being on Guy Place in Rincon Hill







up the street, I couldn't tell if there had been new demolition activity at the gas station on the corner with Harrison (next to Jasper), but it did look like some foliage had recently been taken out





that would be this:

[1977]

Great update as usual, timbad.

Really glad to see movement, even if minimal, at First and Harrison as it was a pretty big eyesore. 633 Folsom as well!

[timbad]

Originally Posted by 1977

...
Really glad to see movement, even if minimal, at First and Harrison as it was a pretty big eyesore. ...

it occurred to me today that the foliage could actually have been cleared from the site of the little greenspace, and just dumped there. there had been a decent-sized tree there that is gone now. but I am hoping it is related to movement on the gas station site.

[1977]

Originally Posted by timbad

it occurred to me today that the foliage could actually have been cleared from the site of the little greenspace, and just dumped there. there had been a decent-sized tree there that is gone now. but I am hoping it is related to movement on the gas station site.

I hope not. I took the excavator being onsite as a good sign, but I guess we'll see.

[alpallord]

I walked by the gas station yesterday, it was in the process of demo, building already down and starting to dig up tanks.

[JWS]

Great wrap up of some smaller infill projects Timbad, many of which I forgot about!

I looked at permits for a few.

Looks like 950 Market has permits and is going forward. I am super surprised that this one is going forward while 1028 Market is on hold/being sold as entitled. Anybody know about 1066 Market [edit: bad news, looks like they have withdrawn their shoring and excavation permits]? Would love to see at least two out of the three get built. In many ways if most don't get built this cycle we're even worse off, as we're left with empty or demo'd commercial space in a location that is already struggling with having enough foot traffic to curb the drugs/mental illness issues, and the empty mall certainly doesn't help. I'd rather have active street fronts even with Metro PCS and liquor store tenants rather than empty boarded up buildings and demo'd buildings that will languish until the next cycle.

Also surprised Folsom is going forward. Really wish the three Folsom projects that are housing (655 Folsom, 667 Folsom, and 95 Hawthorne) would go forward, as those are far more valuable to helping our housing shortage and adding density. Have not heard anything from any of them [edit: 655 Folsom has at least applied for a construction permit that has been in process for TWO AND A HALF YEARS, and the other two have not even applied] and I so feel like they'll be next cycle or not at all.

Happily surprised the gas station next to Jasper is going forward. They seem to have at least some of the permits to start building, so hopefully we squeeze that one in this cycle as well.

All of the above (those getting built and those in limbo) are excellent infill projects that I wish all would go forward. But alas, at least we're getting some.