SAN FRANCISCO | Mission Bay

[WildCowboy]

Huge news for UCSF's Children's Hospital at Mission Bay. Salesforce CEO and his wife giving $100 million. $50 million already transferred, with the remaining $50 million coming over five years.

He's also dedicated the Salesforce.com Foundation to exclusively support the UCSF Children's Hospital for the next decade. Wow.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...971055670.html

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/06/...his-own-words/

[BTinSF]

The article says he's got over a billion bucks and wants to give it all away before he goes. Not sure how much that means he's likely to give UCSF in 10 years, but surely a lot more than just the $100 million (in 10 years, he'll probably make another $100 million at least).

By the way, do the links work for everyone? If not, PM me and I'll email you the article.

[1977]

Webcam for the The Neurosciences Laboratory and Clinical Research Building aka UCSF 19A. Great view!

http://oxblue.com/pro/open/clarkconstruction/ucsf19a

[timbad]

Happy Fourth of July weekend everyone...

been quiet around here... that was fantastic news for the UCSF med center... and thanks '77 for pointing out the webcam! that's a great vantage point for keeping track of progress there.

just wanted to share a few shots of what else is going on around MB...

first, a double row of tall palm trees has been planted on either side of the Fourth St entrance to UCSF - some in front of the CVRB and some out in no-man's land next to where they have just finished erecting the stone gateway column (which is actually more massive than any of the others put up thus far). here it is, looking west:



and here a shot looking south down Fourth:



work continues apace in the Commons in front of Nektar/Bayer... they have planted the sidewalk-lining, car-screening rows of trees along the north and south edges. here looking east along the south sidewalk, Radiance I in the background:



... and they've got the ground-cover plants lined up and ready to go in next:



on the east end, they are getting ready to pour the little north-south lane that separates the completed Commons parcel from this new one. looking north:



and, it turns out I was wrong about the building along the bayshore that I thought was going to be preserved. *all* buildings were removed. this is looking north along that stretch where they were:



and here is the bayfront from the top of the South St garage. I'll re-post an earlier pic from the same spot to give the before-after. after:



before (Jan 2010):



in case anyone needed a reminder, that section along the water is slated to become open space, with more room made for it by straightening the little jig in Terry François Blvd and pulling the rest of the roadway inland.

in other (non-)news...

- site prep continues at the med center site
- no sign of new activity in front of the CVRB, in the area of the connector roads to the roundabout, behind Nektar/Bayer, or on the Radiance II parcel (which has gone quiet again), disappointingly

[timbad]

hope this isn't a false alarm, but just a quick note to say that I have noticed from the train the last couple of days that they have been clearing overgrowth and taking down chain-link fencing in the area near the future roundabout, so it looks like that project (connector roads) may have finally started!

[WildCowboy]

Cisco grabs another 32,000 sf at China Basin, bringing them up to 85,000 sf. Looks like that building expansion and renovation there a few years ago is panning out pretty well.

http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/...19/story5.html

[timbad]

good news for China Basin!


... well, I think the happy banana can be official - they definitely seem to be doing some substantial work over at the roundabout. this is looking south-southeast down the former MB stretch of Sixth St, newly chewed-up, which until recently had been fenced off except for a narrow pedestrian passage - I think you can make out the passage between dirt surcharging mounds. (the crane in the distance is the one at the neurosciences building site):



here looking west across the intersection of Channel and former Sixth toward what used to be the old golf driving range, and beyond that, the new pumping station and rail crossing to Seventh St. here you can also see that they are tucking into the surcharging mounds that have been in place for the last couple of years:



over at Radiance II, there is a little activity again; I don't know what they're doing, but it doesn't look too significant yet. it's hard to see in the pic, but they have lopped the top few inches off many of the piles:



and a Commons update... ground plantings mostly in. here looking east along the south side:



and the middle lawn is just waiting for its green:



and other random news...

- it looks like they have started working on the courtyard behind the CVRB. I'm curious to see what that space will end up looking like

- behind Nektar/Bayer, altho the pile driver is still parked there, seems they are still just using the area for staging as they finish up that building

[WildCowboy]

In that Radiance Phase II pic, it certainly looks like they're starting to put up the forms for pouring the foundation around the piles. Would be great if they're really starting to go on this one, even if it's only a "Phase 2A". Keep us updated on that one.

Also nice to see some action at the roundabout. Getting that entire street grid in and tied into 7th Street up there will change things quite a bit. Can't way to see the entire stretch of The Commons laid out, even if it takes awhile for all the blocks of green space to be built out.

[peanut gallery]

On Radiance II, are they exposing and cutting all of the piles or are they only working in a small area? That should give us an indication of how large phase IIa might be. Your shot looks like the southeast corner. Is similar work continuing all along MB Blvd? IIRC, that's the tallest part of the second phase and I hope that's what is coming next.

[timbad]

I'll definitely be keeping my eye on it. I believe I noticed cut piles all the way over to the SW corner by Third. it's strange, tho, I don't see huge evidence of the major activity I would expect if this were really swinging into gear. we'll see what it looks like this weekend...

[rocketman_95046]

Radiance is a go!

http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2....html#comments

...As a plugged-in tipster notes yesterday, construction on the first 170 units of Radiance West (aka Radiance Phase Two of Three) has now begun in earnest and the units should be ready for move-in by mid-2012...

[peanut gallery]

Yea! Just to remind everyone, this is what phase II is supposed to look like:

[WildCowboy]

Excellent news. I guess we haven't actually determined which portion of the original Phase Two this constitutes. But from the construction pic, it certainly looks they're at least working where the southeast tower will be.

Wonder if the pool/courtyard comes in this phase...not clear to me how you can easily break down the large complex with an integral parking garage/courtyard/pool core into two phases. I guess we'll see!

[WildCowboy]

Some news on Alexandria's plans for Mission Bay from its earnings conference call last week:

On land, we have put on the market our Mission Bay South parcels for hospital-related office and medical office. We've had extremely strong interest either through a sale, ground lease or joint venture. We also think we can deliver an existing 180,000 square foot requirement for a credit tenant. We are also in the early stages of possible large credit tenant build-to-suit at Mission Bay and looking at that.

Alexandria's "Mission Bay South" campus consists of the skinny old cement plant parcel bounded by Third and Illinois and 16th and Mariposa, lying directly across Third from the UCSF hospital site.

As I believe we've discussed before, it would seem to be a pretty good site for the UCSF physicians' offices should the university decide it needs additional land for that beyond the existing campus boundaries, as appears likely. It has been the lowest priority for Alexandria thus far...while it has developed site plans and architectural drawings for a number of buildings yet to be constructed north of 16th, the South Campus appears to have not moved beyond the conceptual stage, making it a blank slate for the company or any potential purchaser to do as they wish with the site.

[WildCowboy]

I don't think this has been posted here, but it's at least new to me: A page from SOM showing off UCSF's neuroscience building currently under construction. Has a couple of neat features: a "4D" rendering video showing the construction timeline and a rendered walkthrough of the building's public spaces. Also an image gallery with some perspectives I hadn't seen before.

From the southwest:


From the north-northeast:

[timbad]

wow, me like! thanks WildCowboy! the interior makes it look like a great building to have to spend time in, and besides the building itself, I love starting to imagine the new spaces around it as more no-man's-land gets replaced by places we can go: the street on the north side, the plaza formed between the new building and Rock Hall, and the wide pedestrian(?) walkway on the west side which seems to be a continuation of the one that passes in front of the community center.

also just wanted to mention quickly that over at Radiance IIa, there seemed to be activity on all three corners I walked by this last weekend (I didn't wander over to the NE corner), so it's hard to tell yet (for me anyway) what is to be built in the next phase.

nothing visually different enough to warrant photos.

[timbad]

oh, and I'm desperately hoping that Alexandria MB South will be some nice-looking buildings to block out those sandblocks behind them on Illinois where I think Fibrogen is now.

[peanut gallery]

Maybe Bossa is going to do the whole foundation on Radiance II, then just build up whatever section is destined to be IIa? They might actually have to do it that way now that I think about it. We might see activity all over the site until they actually start building up.

[timbad]

just a couple shots from this weekend...

the stone entrance column at the Fourth St gateway to the university has gotten its 'UCSF' hung on it, and they have begun laying the paving bricks around its base:



across Fourth at the CVRB building, still waiting for them to put in the base around the palms of the other side of the entry plaza, which doubles as a sort of front patio for the building. behind it, the 'back patio' continues to take shape, though it's too early to get an idea what it will eventually look like.

and over at the Commons, they have begun putting down the paving stones on the east end of the new parcel. looking north towards the Radiance II site:



you can also see that the little lane separating it from the next parcel over the the east (right) has been poured. otherwise on the Commons, progress has seemed to slow as it looks like they had to redo some of the concrete work completed earlier - so everything else looks much the the same as in the last photo posted here.

speaking of Radiance II, they have definitely placed wooden framing around the piles on both south corners, and have dug some terracing in the NW corner.

over at the roundabout, work continues on churning up and crushing the former surcharging mounds, and relocating some temporary above-ground piping. for now, one can no longer cross from the SW corner of MB (Owens) through to the north side, walking or driving.

[rocketman_95046]

Originally Posted by peanut gallery

Maybe Bossa is going to do the whole foundation on Radiance II, then just build up whatever section is destined to be IIa? They might actually have to do it that way now that I think about it. We might see activity all over the site until they actually start building up.

You are probably right. I would imagine that they would build all of the parking and then phase IIa.