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

[easy as pie]

^major fail. this thing dropped nearly 100 units from its last iteration, which wasn't even particularly intensive (with the "mews" or long interior courtyards). and wtf is up with the townhome style walk-up? this site should be treated like the gough and franklin sites, give me a break. where's the grade-level commercial along laguna? you're building on a MAJOR east/west artery, don't underbuild to preempt neighborhood opposition to a project ON THE SITE OF A FORMER FREEWAY RAMP!

[mt_climber13]

Low density developments are no longer San Francisco's forte. All of the excitement is now in mid rise and high rise structures. I don't recall ever being thrilled by the plethora of non controversial 3 story designs that litter the landscape. However, when I think of the de Young, MOMA, Trinity Place, Federal Building, Buchanan and Market, One Rincon Hill, Millennium Tower, Transbay Tower, 181 Fremont, and 555 Washington (RIP), I realize that we are truly becoming a more cosmopolitan high density city of world class architecture (at least east of Divisadero).

[mt_climber13]

San Franciscans are not the only NIMBYs in the country. Although we definitely have a good sized share, I wanted to share with you some classical NIMBYism from New Yorkers, taken from the New York Times article about 4 WTC:

"masayaNYCNYC, NY
FLAG
Sorry, but as emotional a symbol the original buildings were, they were in no way "beautiful twin towers." They were pretty hideous, light-sucking and awkward monstrosities, aesthetically-speaking. They did nothing more than announce their size over all. Beyond that, their aesthetic contribution to a historical neighborhood was tin-eared and negative."

"MNew York, NY
FLAG
Anyone think about the number of birds that are going to slam into that building?"

"e2oneofakindSomers, ny
FLAG
what would you give to see some low and grounded buildings in NYC? I'm wishing someone would come up with an architectural plan that is not intended for the gods. How refreshing that would be. We'd get back our light, the birds, the plantings and most of all, intimacy and community. I think we've lost our humanity. I' m sort of sick of this stuff."

Now, if this type of complaining is coming from a city that is one of the tallest in the world, I don't feel so bad having to put up with deadweight in this city

[minesweeper]

A pair of WSJ articles about SF just dropped:

Tech Boom Hits San Francisco Rental Prices
Prices Soar as Well-Paid Tech Workers Stream Into City After a Long Exodus
By SHIRA OVIDE, June 25, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO—The latest technology boom is helping to stem a decadelong exodus of residents from San Francisco, but the influx of well-paid workers is driving up already-high housing costs and straining public resources.

The promise and perils of the boom are evident in the experience of Genevieve Sheehan and her husband, who are relocating from the Boston area for her new job at social-games maker Zynga Inc. They have endured a grinding hunt for a home.

Ms. Sheehan, a 29-year-old recent Harvard Business School graduate, said open houses were "a zoo." The couple was forced to boost their rental budget 40% to $3,500 a month before they landed a two-bedroom apartment. "A lot of people want to live here and are willing and able to pay incredibly high prices" to do so, Ms. Sheehan said.

Chinese in Talks to Fund U.S. Homes
State Bank in Talks to Provide Lennar $1.7 Billion for Two Long-Stalled Projects
By DINNY MCMAHON and ROBBIE WHELAN, June 25, 2012

Lennar Corp., one of the U.S.'s largest home builders, is in talks with the China Development Bank for approximately $1.7 billion in capital to jump-start two long-delayed San Francisco projects that would transform two former naval bases into large-scale housing developments, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The negotiations aren't final and the financing arrangement could still fall through. But if completed, the deal would reflect a changing dynamic between the U.S. and Chinese economies, as an American company turns to China for help funding a long-delayed and partially publicly funded project that otherwise wouldn't get done.

The developments, Treasure Island and Hunters Point Shipyard, also have the potential to alter San Francisco's housing market by providing nearly 20,000 new homes, a sports arena and millions of square feet of office and retail space in a market that is land-constrained and has had limited new construction. The city has committed hundreds of millions of dollars, in the form of tax-increment bonds, to the projects, which in total are expected to cost $10.5 billion over the next few decades.

[easy as pie]

in any normal case, the lennar plans coming to fruition would be like a nuclear weapon on sf home prices and development, which can't happen soon enough. except that, as the vancouver and toronto examples demonstrate to a fine point, chinese capital means orientation toward a chinese speculative market on the sales side. which real estaters, developers and pro-growth fanatics (like us) would love, but this has been shown - again, in vancouver and toronto - actually to have an inflationary effect on unit prices.

so narrowly speaking, this is the sort of development we should cheer and our mayor should make an appearance to celebrate and that. but narrowly speaking, it does very very little to address the very real affordability issues that we have. one of my favorite arguments in favor of better urban form is that we oughtn't build our towns for the suburbans who come here to work and then leave in the eves, surely it's far worse to have foreign investers' apartments sitting empty in the bayview price our school teachers and carpenters out of the city.

[1977]

Some more info about the the 5M project at Fifth and Mission (Chronicle building and immediate surroundings). IMO, this project has a lot of potential and should really activate the area around Fifth at Minna, Mission, and Howard.

http://news.theregistrysf.com/seeking-serendipity-5th-mission/


Source: www.5mproject.com


Source: www.5mproject.com


Source: www.5mproject.com

[CyberEric]

Originally Posted by minesweeper

A pair of WSJ articles about SF just dropped:

Regarding the first article, I remember a few years ago the media were running stories about how SF was losing all its jobs, that there was an exedus of workers and so forth. Now the articles are about how all the jobs are driving prices sky high.
I have been away from the city for a few months, can someone tell me what is going on? If I were to believe the media, I'm going to have to pay 1k more when I move back to the city I love.

[coyotetrickster]

Originally Posted by CyberEric

Regarding the first article, I remember a few years ago the media were running stories about how SF was losing all its jobs, that there was an exedus of workers and so forth. Now the articles are about how all the jobs are driving prices sky high.
I have been away from the city for a few months, can someone tell me what is going on? If I were to believe the media, I'm going to have to pay 1k more when I move back to the city I love.

There's this funny thing called change. The media doesn't make, but rather reports on it. In the economic downturn, yes, jobs were leaving, along with the people who lost those jobs and didn't want to empty their wallets waiting for other jobs. Now, jobs are back in certain industries and the people with those jobs need to live someplace...

[Gordo]

^The article does say "decadelong" exodus of residents, and I'm not sure where exactly that decade would have been...2010 census numbers were higher than 2000 - is the implication that there was some kind of high hit in 2001 and then a continual drop to 2011, before ramping up again?

[minesweeper]

Originally Posted by CyberEric

I have been away from the city for a few months, can someone tell me what is going on? If I were to believe the media, I'm going to have to pay 1k more when I move back to the city I love.

Anecdotally, I think the reports are correct, and you'll probably have to pay 20-50% more than just a couple of years ago (at least for the northeast quadrant of the city). One of my coworkers looking to move to the city said an open house in Lower Pac Heights was "crazy".

Originally Posted by Gordo

^The article does say "decadelong" exodus of residents, and I'm not sure where exactly that decade would have been...2010 census numbers were higher than 2000 - is the implication that there was some kind of high hit in 2001 and then a continual drop to 2011, before ramping up again?

Yeah, that was some unusual wording, and it seems to be pandering a bit to the typical WSJ reader's impression of California. The author is referring only to domestic migration:

During the decade that ended in 2010, an average of 9,000 people a year left San Francisco for other parts of the U.S., according to California's Department of Finance. The city of roughly 800,000 continued to grow due to immigration from abroad.

[ElDuderino]

Dolby to move HQ to Mid-Market
Casey Newton
Published 01:43 p.m., Tuesday, June 26, 2012

(06-26) 13:41 PDT San Francisco -- Dolby Laboratories will move its headquarters to the Mid-Market neighborhood, continuing the transformation of a neighborhood that is becoming a new technology hub.

The audio technology provider said Tuesday that it plans to purchase the building at 1275 Market St. from DivcoWest. The purchase price is $110 million.

The building, which sits a few hundred feet from the new Twitter headquarters near 9th and Market streets, was formerly occupied by the State Compensation Insurance Fund. DivcoWest and TMG Partners acquired the 354,000-square-foot building from the fund in October for $44 million, according to the San Francisco Business Times.

Dolby, which has about 700 Bay Area employees working in three San Francisco offices, will consolidate most of its operations into the new headquarters, CEO Kevin Yeaman said. Its current headquarters at 100 Potrero Ave. will continue be used as a sales office, he said.

The company is making the move despite the fact it is not receiving financial incentives from the city. Although its new headquarters sits close to the Mid-Market area where companies are eligible for a temporary exemption from the city's payroll tax, the site lies a bit outside of it.

"We're actually excited to be a part of the Mid-Market area," Yeaman said. "There are a lot of exciting things going on there. It's an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a very exciting neighborhood."

In addition to Twitter, technology companies that have moved into the area recently include ZenDesk, Zoosk, One King's Lane and CallSocket.

"They're going to be adding to our whole strategy around Market Street," Mayor Ed Lee said. "They're a good San Francisco company. They mean to grow here and be here for the long term."

The building will be renovated before employees start moving in, likely some time in the next year to 18 months, city officials said. Yeaman said renovation plans are still in the early design phase.

Founded by Ray Dolby in Great Britain in 1965, the company moved to San Francisco in 1976. Its products include surround-sound systems and technology that encodes and compresses audio.

"We are excited about Dolby Laboratories' continuing and growing presence in the city and its contribution to revitalizing the Mid-Market area," Dolby said in a statement.

http://www.sfgate.com/technology/article/Dolby-to-move-HQ-to-Mid-Market-3664405.php

[1977]

That's awesome news! Thanks ElDuderino.

[minesweeper]

Wow, bought for $44 million in October, and sold for $110 million nine months later. Even if you assume $10 million for the retrofit, that's a very handsome profit.

It's quite telling that any large chunks of office space aren't remaining on the market very long.

[ElDuderino]

New SFO control tower will have a torch-like air
John King
Updated 08:56 a.m., Wednesday, June 27, 2012



As the new control tower at San Francisco International Airport takes shape during the next two years, keep this simple phrase in mind: Flair follows function.

The end result will be a 221-foot aluminum-clad tower that's narrow at the base but slides out to the east as it rises, as though craning its neck for a view. At the summit an all-glass crown will pull back and pop up, the see-through finale to the show.

It has the makings of a stylized torch amid SFO's low horseshoe of domestic terminals, at least if reality matches the architectural renderings. But the designers and airport officials call the design a pragmatic response to the challenge at hand - squeezing into a narrow site between two terminals while crafting a perch where air traffic controllers can survey every nook and cranny below.

"We worked hard to keep the tower on a diet," said Alejandro Ogata, an architect with HNTB, the tower's design firm. "All the activities need to be at the top of the building, but nobody wanted a lollipop on a stick."

The $102 million project kicks off Thursday with a ceremony that will include Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. The clearing of the site between Terminals 1 and 2 will be followed by the construction of a facility that should be completed in the fall of 2014. The Federal Aviation Administration will spend another year installing the navigation control equipment.

As might be expected, a tower of this nature is shaped by a multitude of demands. For starters, the FAA requires that SFO's be strong enough to withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake - larger than the 1906 temblor - and promptly resume operations. But it's not allowed to sway in high winds, lest a traffic controller be hit by airsickness.

The height and the upper floor's precise location are determined by the need to have a clear line of sight to all of the airport's critical runways and gates. Lightning protection cables will radiate down from rooftop antennas.

When the decision was made, for seismic reasons, to replace the current tower, which sits atop a 1950s block of offices at the north end of Terminal 2, SFO had to find a place within its existing buildings to insert a new one. That's not the case at most airports, which have enough land to set the control tower away from the terminals.

The one semi-convenient space proved to be a tight square now used mostly for docking and parking. At the same time, the compact dimensions required that the lower neck of the tower be as narrow as possible, since room was needed for a pair of corridors between Terminals 1 and 2, one for general visitors and one for passengers who already had passed through security.

Working within these constraints - and given a site that will be far more prominent from the Bayshore Freeway than the current control tower - the architects sought to enliven the tower without exceeding the budget set beforehand by the FAA, which will pay $69 million of the cost, with the balance covered by the airport.

The tower is shaped as though the aluminum-clad form unfurls from a central trunk of translucent glass; the trunk faces the traffic ramps inside the horseshoe and will glow at night. The base will be clear glass, an atrium-like space with the aluminum panels of the tower beginning their climb at the rear, another way of accenting the height.

The faux-atrium is where the nonsecure corridor will be, along with plants and seating and public art along the way.

"These projects are civic in nature," Ogata explained. "You want to strike a balance between (employee) safety and openness."

On the south edge of the base will be the most public gesture of all, a concession area to serve people waiting for incoming flights at Terminal 1. It's the first step in a planned upgrade to a structure that was built in the early 1960s and last remodeled in 1988 - more evidence that renovation work at SFO will never, ever truly come to an end.

More Pics: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/place/arti...r-will-have-a-torch-like-air-3664702.php
Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[viewguysf]

Originally Posted by ElDuderino

More Pics:

The other renderings are intriguing and interesting too--this is a great upgrade for SFO!

[mt_climber13]

Hi everyone, unfortunately I am moving away from the city for a while Apparently I had one of those jobs that is not included in the "boom." I will be in Sacramento and coming back once a month. Hopefully I will move back the end of this year or next year. I hope you all take lots of pictures and keep us updated.

[viewguysf]

Here are some photos I took with my iPhone during a great Pride Celebration last Sunday--it was fun to hang and dance in the streets with the literally shimmering building above and behind us. What an improvement over the pitiful pink thing that used to occupy that lot!

[IMG]
IMG_0804 - Version 2 by viewguysf, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]
IMG_0805 - Version 2 by viewguysf, on Flickr[/IMG]
IMG_0809 - Version 2 by viewguysf, on Flickr

[1977]

Originally Posted by wakamesalad

Hi everyone, unfortunately I am moving away from the city for a while Apparently I had one of those jobs that is not included in the "boom." I will be in Sacramento and coming back once a month. Hopefully I will move back the end of this year or next year. I hope you all take lots of pictures and keep us updated.

Sorry to hear that wakamesalad. Best of luck on your next endeavor - hopefully, you get back here soon!

Great pics viewguysf!

[Jerry of San Fran]

When I read in the SF Chronicle that Dolby was buying 1275 Market ST. I nearly fell off of my chair! Good news. I look down on the building from the Fox Plaza. I had an interview with Dolby 26 years ago at their Potrero office which is quite nice.

Construction slated is to start in July next door to 1275 Market at 55 9th Street, a 17 story building. The area will be crawling with construction workers for a long time!

A friend asked the cement foreman at 10th & Market Sts. (Crescent Heights development) how hight the highest building will be & he said 40 stories. I get different heights from several sources. I think the decorative part of the top of the building is included by some. Also I'm surprised that it will be built with reinforced concrete in earthquake country.

[1977]

An overview of projects in the mid ("central") Market district:

http://www.oewd.org/media/docs/Central%20Market/CMCBD_DEV_finalq1.pdf