Posted Feb 10, 2019, 6:33 PM
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Elite Member
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Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 24,128
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Quote:
Originally Posted by edwards
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I think this is behind a firewall for non-subscribers. I'll summarize as best I can:
Quote:
Suits, overruns slow condo projects by Chinese developers in SF
Photo of J.K. Dineen
J.K. Dineen Feb. 9, 2019 Updated: Feb. 9, 2019 5:19 p.m.
555 Fulton St., a 139-unit condo building in Hayes Valley, has been under construction for almost five years, three times longer than it would normally take to build four stories of condos above retail.
During that time Z&L has run afoul of city planners, neighbors and elected officials. Dozens of buyers who had signed up for units walked away, as did its anchor retail tenant, grocer New Seasons of Oregon. Dozens of complaints about the project have been filed with the city’s Department of Building Inspection, most of them alleging that the developer regularly started construction work as early as 5:15 a.m. — well before the city’s legal start time of 7 a.m.
Much of the delay was caused by the developer redesigning the building’s exterior, without city permission, after it had been approved. The builder was forced to go back to the approved — and more expensive — glass exterior, which caused more than a year of delays.
. . . the project is “finalizing construction” and the developer hopes to get its temporary certificate of occupancy by the end of March, “weather permitting” . . . . (However, Sup. Vallie) Brown said the developer should not get its temporary certificate of occupancy until a lease has been signed for an affordable grocery store . . . . Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association President Gail Baugh also said the city should not give the developer a temporary certificate of occupancy if there is no deal with a grocer . . . .
Not far from 555 Fulton St. is another another Z&L-owned site: 1554 Market St., just west of Van Ness Avenue. There Z&L excavated a foundation in September 2017, only to abruptly halt construction because, the company now says, costs came in $10 million over earlier estimates.
“The project unfortunately became economically unfeasible, and no lender would fund it,” said Buckner, who added that the group is in talks with a new contractor that “has come in with a more reasonable construction budget” . . . .
Construction costs in San Francisco have more than doubled in five years — the average cost of building a new home in San Francisco is now more than $700,000, and it is even higher for high-rise buildings like the 325 Fremont St. project, which is approved for 118 condominiums in 25 stories. While the building permit for that project was obtained in September 2017, it doesn’t work economically now and there is no timetable to start construction, Buckner said.
“The majority of the Chinese developers have been challenged in that they are taking whatever customs and methods they have in China and bringing them over here,” she said. “That’s been our biggest challenge: getting them to understand that business is done differently in S.F. and the USA. The ways of doing business in China don’t work here. It’s been a big learning curve, especially if they decide to be their own general contractor” . . . .
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https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...w-condo-projects-by-Chinese-13602784.php
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