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

[pseudolus]

Originally Posted by peanut gallery

I never realized that church was a re-creation of an historic St. Francis church.

IIRC, the re-creation is the very small building next door, at the corner

[Jerry of San Fran]

fimiak - nice view from 100 Van Ness Avenue. The residents of the Fox Plaza used to have a rooftop sun deck which was closed after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11th. Wind was always fierce above the wall that protected the sun deck.

How is the wind at 100 Van Ness on the roof garden?

[peanut gallery]

Originally Posted by pseudolus

IIRC, the re-creation is the very small building next door, at the corner

Oh, I totally misread that. Makes a lot more sense given the description. Thanks for clarifying.

[SF born and RAISED]

A random photo from last night after the Giants game at 680 Folsom. I love how the LED changes every night. This one is blue and gold for the Warriors.

IMG_20150416_222856 by luv2p0k3h3r, on Flickr

[fimiak]

The wind situation is surprisingly good, apparently they computer-modeled the top glass area specifically to cut down on the western wind. It is of course much worse after 3:30 until about 8:30, late night and mid-day the wind is hardly noticeable. The sidewalk is extremely windy. I will edit this post later and include some pictures of the second floor common areas.

edit: here we are

This will look very very different by 2020.


Floor 2 100 Van Ness


Work in progress



Curved Samsung screen




This overlooks the LePort School



The Gym is larger than this picture shows, but that is Van Ness Ave outside.

[Jerry of San Fran]

fimiak - thanks for the great photos! I'm astonished at the decor in the public areas! The 2nd floor library? looks like Italian Baroque - who would have thought! I though the same thing when I looked at the view to the south - lots of highrise buildings will be in the view in a few years. A lot of people in the Fox Plaza will lose their view of Twin Peaks.

The apartment halls at the Fox Plaza are being remodeled. I will post a picture when the first one is done & you will see why we are jealous of the decor at 100 Van Ness.

[kdeff]

Originally Posted by Jerry of San Fran

fimiak - thanks for the great photos! I'm astonished at the decor in the public areas! The 2nd floor library? looks like Italian Baroque - who would have thought! I though the same thing when I looked at the view to the south - lots of highrise buildings will be in the view in a few years. A lot of people in the Fox Plaza will lose their view of Twin Peaks.

The apartment halls at the Fox Plaza are being remodeled. I will post a picture when the first one is done & you will see why we are jealous of the decor at 100 Van Ness.

Is there a plan to rezone going on?

EDIT: nvm, looking South...for some reason I was thinking east.

[timbad]

quick clockwise walk around the massive 55 Laguna project, starting from the SW, more or less...

looking north up the west (Buchanan) side:



looking into the Waller passageway from the west:



looking back south along the west side, where you can see one of the original buildings with facelift in progress:



another view of the restored building, looking toward the NW corner of the site:



the north (Haight) side, from the NE corner (Haight and Laguna):



looking north along the east (Laguna) side:



looking into the Waller passageway from the east (Laguna) side:



and the SE corner (Hermann and Laguna), with an original building before restoration:

[timbad]

a while back we talked about the Oak St side of Central Freeway parcel P in Hayes Valley, specifically, whether the design had met an earlier-stated goal of varying the long block's facade enough so that it would appear to be a few different developments. I tried to get a few shots now that scaffolding is down in case anyone was still curious:





from corner of Laguna:



here is the north side along what will either be a mews, or Hickory Alley, cant remember:

[timbad]

Originally Posted by jbm

the concourse exhibition center has been fenced off and they have started demolition prep. seen workers in and on the building the last week or so.

going...



(this is actually a couple days old, which at the pace they were working is probably quite out of date)

[timbad]

the project at 650 Indiana in Dogpatch appears to have broken ground. looking north along Indiana:



and south

[Jerry of San Fran]

Originally Posted by kdeff

Is there a plan to rezone going on?

EDIT: nvm, looking South...for some reason I was thinking east.

kdeff - the Fox Plaza business owner is spending $900,000 to remodel the 2 story business (loading dock for the United States Post Office, new restaurant) section, so there will be no highrise soon on that section. Because of the park in the front of city hall there will never be a very tall building on the east end of the Fox Plaza block as it would cast a shadow. There used to be a grandfather clause to build up to 12 stories there. A reminder, the Fox Plaza business section & apartment sections are owned by two different corporations.

There is no change of heights zoned in the neighborhood that I am aware of.

[viewguysf]

Originally Posted by timbad

a while back we talked about the Oak St side of Central Freeway parcel P in Hayes Valley, specifically, whether the design had met an earlier-stated goal of varying the long block's facade enough so that it would appear to be a few different developments. I tried to get a few shots now that scaffolding is down in case anyone was still curious:

It looks like they didn't even try to do that. Was it value engineered away? This is an even bigger bait and switch than Trinity Place.

How do you think the complex looks in person Tim?

[combusean]

Is that wood work from 100 Van Ness's 2nd floor original, or was it done decades ago?

I can't imagine the craftsmanship that must've been involved with that, or even if it was still possible to do that in 2015.

[fimiak]

Seems like it was a good wallpaper job then

Unfortunately they did not actually invest in bringing trinity college's library to 100 Van Ness. Its a rental building after all.

[mt_climber13]

Someone in the planning department seriously loves taupe.

[timbad]

Originally Posted by viewguysf

It looks like they didn't even try to do that. Was it value engineered away? This is an even bigger bait and switch than Trinity Place.

How do you think the complex looks in person Tim?

I think a few things:

- it looks close to what was shown in the renderings, which to me already showed that the block was not really going to appear like independently-developed projects. I was feeling a little betrayed when I first saw the renderings, but this does not really bother me like Trinity does. Trinity went from potentially really cool to super blah; this never had either extreme for me.

- the style is broken up at least a couple times on the block, but because the color palette for the whole block until the corner is so similar, what changes there are get drowned out visually.

- the western corner looks cheaper than the rest. the rest is not exciting, but to me it works fine.

- maybe the zoning prevented this, but seems just considering the surrounding neighborhood, the developer could have gotten away with a little more height at least in some segments, for a little variation.

[SFView]

Could there be another very slender tower next to 50 First Street? This one could be 24 stories tall.

Source of image and related story: http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2015/...ews-and-vistas-of-penultimate-tower.html

[fimiak]

Originally Posted by SFView

Could there be another very slender tower next to 50 First Street? This one could be 24 stories tall.

Source of image and related story: http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2015/...ews-and-vistas-of-penultimate-tower.html

That concept is very unique. It would be a layering of towers that would look very nice. I imagine the construction would have to be very coordinated with 50 First. This is going to be the in the heart of San Francisco's 21st century business district.

[mt_climber13]

How would that even happen? Every window except for the crevices on Mission and 1st streets would be lot line windows. I smell a skunk.