I'm cross-posting this article that Reminisence posted in the One Rincon thread because I wanted to add some photos and thoughts that aren't related to One Rincon, but more the general development plan for the area. First the article:
Rising skyscraper is sign of things to come for Rincon Hill area
Carl Nolte, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
San Francisco's Rincon Hill is a place caught between a fading industrial past and a radically different future.
At the top of the hill is a 641-foot condo tower called One Rincon Hill. In about six months, the first residents will move into the building; soon after that, work on a second tower will begin.
Rincon Hill and the southern part of San Francisco will never be the same. In five years, maybe 10, old San Franciscans won't recognize this part of old San Francisco.
City planners see a new neighborhood, as many as 20,000 new residents living in townhouses and condos. They see tree-lined streets, shops, new parks, a community center in a beautiful historic building.
One Rincon is just the beginning; people who don't like the look of the building better get used to it. One Rincon is just the tip of the iceberg - "a distinctive new element on the city's skyline," according to San Francisco's Rincon Hill plan.
Just now, Rincon Hill is a neighborhood in transition.
The new neighborhood even comes with a dispute over new money and an old building.
The historic Sailors' Union of the Pacific, right across the street from One Rincon, is in dispute with the city over money and plans for a community center.
But just now, the hill is a curious blend of contrasts, jumbled together.
First Street is frequently choked with traffic - Fremont Street, one block east, is usually empty.
On First, a new condo is for sale for $1.399 million. The building comes complete with a doorman, a gym and a million-dollar view.
On Fremont, a block away, a homeless man lives in a plywood shelter in a building that is about to be demolished to make way for condos. Two more men take an afternoon nap on mattresses on the sidewalk.
On Folsom Street, a block from the One Rincon tower, is Klockars Blacksmith Shop. "Anything you need, we make," is their motto. It is one of the last remnants of the city's industrial past.
There are empty lots with weeds growing. There are lots stacked with structural steel. There are posters advertising events that happened months ago next to notices advising of big plans for the months to come.
Demolition permits have been issued for three of the five old concrete buildings that line the eastern side of Fremont. One of them, at Fremont and Harrison streets, was the Apostleship of the Sea building, a Catholic charity that took care of mariners down on their luck.
Later it was a homeless shelter. "A Man's Place," the sign says.
"Keep Out" the sign says near a mosaic of the Blessed Virgin. The shelter is closed, but the homeless still sometimes sleep on the outside corridor.
On this site will rise a 40-story condo tower called the Californian on Rincon Hill.
The hill had a strong maritime feel to it. The west side of Fremont near the top of the hill had two union halls - the Seafarers International Union and the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association. The doors are padlocked. Both have moved away.
Condo towers will be built in their place.
The Sailors' Union of the Pacific building at First and Harrison streets is the sole survivor. It is an Art Moderne classic, built of white stone and concrete, designed by William Gladstone Merchant and opened in 1950.
The building is a landmark in every way. It is near the site of the infamous "Battle of Rincon Hill" where strikers fought San Francisco police during the landmark 1934 waterfront strike.
Outside are two busts: one of Andrew Furuseth, the "emancipator of seaman," who helped start the union in 1885. The other is of Harry Lundeberg, who led it until his death in 1957.
The building has a soaring central hall, balconies shaped like parts of a ship; it has a 2,000 seat auditorium, space for a restaurant and bar, lots of room for amenities.
It was built in another era, when going to sea was famously tough.
There are no elevators, no facilities for the handicapped. "What did sailors need elevators for?" said Gunnar Lundeberg, president of the union and Harry Lundeberg's son.
In those days, the American merchant marine was bigger. Now the union hall is too big for the union. When the city came around to see if the Sailors' Union would be willing to share the building as a community center for a new Rincon Hill neighborhood, the union was eager to cooperate.
Funds to bring the building into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act would come from fees paid by the developers - technically a community infrastructure impact fee of $11 per square foot.
This, the city says, would generate $22 million to pay for parks, sidewalks, pathways and a community center at the SUP building.
Michael Kriozere, developer of One Rincon, even got his architects to draw up preliminary plans for a community center. Lundeberg, the union president, has them in his office.
He says the retrofit would cost $2.5 million. So far, the city has not passed on any money. Dean Macris, the city's planning director, hopes the money will come, but has no timetable.
"We went to hearings, we went to meetings, we had the plans drawn up," said Lundeberg. "And what happened? Nothing. Here we sit."
The union is impatient, but the city is biding its time.
"The Sailors' Union building is one of a dozen projects in the neighborhood," said Joshua Switzky, the planning department official responsible for Rincon Hill.
"We are looking at the options. There is no specific time trigger."
"You know what I think it is?" said Lundeberg. "I think it is a lack of will by this administration."
The city feels differently. One city official said the problem is that it is too soon to build a community center on Rincon Hill. The neighborhood is not ready for a community center, he said; there is no community yet.
The present has not caught up to the future.
Source:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl.../BA4TRKO29.DTL
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