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

[BTinSF]

Friday, June 13, 2008
Billion-dollar push on public housing
TMG, Related join nonprofit builders to overhaul S.F. projects
San Francisco Business Times - by J.K. Dineen

In a potential $1 billion investment into some of San Francisco's most downtrodden neighborhoods, developers -- including TMG Partners and the Related Cos. -- are teaming up with nonprofit builders to rebuild and expand three public housing projects.

The program, dubbed Hope SF, calls for replacing some 1,500 units of existing public housing at three developments: Sunnydale, Westside Court in Western Addition and Potrero Hill. In addition to replacing the existing housing, densities at the three projects would be doubled with another 1,500 market-rate condos and affordable rental units.

In the largest of the proposed redevelopments, Related of California, an affiliate of New York-based Related Cos., would team up with Mercy Housing to build 1,498 units in Visitation Valley's distressed Sunnydale development. Under the $400 million proposal, Related and Mercy would build 1,070 public housing and affordable rental units, as well as 428 affordable and market-rate condos. In Potrero Hill, Bridge Housing Corp., together with its for-profit arm Bridge Infill Land Development, would construct 805 public housing and affordable rental units, as well as 446 affordable and market-rate condos, also about a $400 million investment. At the 136-unit Westside Court in Western Addition, EM Johnson Interest and TMG Partners are proposing to replace 136 units of public housing and add another 80 to 100.

A fourth project, John Stewart Co.'s $350 million redevelopment of the Hunters View project in Hunters Point, was proposed two years ago and is currently before the Planning Commission.

Bridge Housing CEO Carol Galante said "one of these projects alone would be unprecedented, to have three at once is really unprecedented. In the case of Sunnydale and Potrero Hill, you're changing the whole landscape."

Son of Hope VI

Hope SF is San Francisco's answer to drastic cuts to the federal Hope VI program. Over the past five years the budget of Hope VI, which provided funds to rebuild public housing in North Beach, Hayes Valley and the Mission, was slashed from $600 million to $90 million. With the federal financing dried up, the city and development partners are looking to subsidize the public housing rebuild with a mix of revenue from market-rate condos, as well state money, city funds, tax-exempt bond financing and low-income tax credits.

In addition to providing financing, mixing market-rate units into a public housing project creates a healthier, economically diverse neighborhood. Bill Witte, president of Related's West Coast operation, said the goal is to "create a more balanced mixed-income area while not losing any low-income housing." In Potrero Hill, Bridge is in the process of acquiring neighboring parcels to allow room for more market-rate housing, Galante said.

"Our job is to try to expand the footprint to some adjacent property so we can do more mixed income," said Galante. "You need to have some diversity there."

Starting from scratch

By razing the existing projects and starting from scratch, the developers have the opportunity to create housing that looks and feels like part of its San Francisco neighborhood, rather than drab, concrete warehousing for the poor. The public housing projects in Sunnydale, Potrero Hill, and Hunters Point are disconnected from the neighborhood street grid.

"Sunnydale is about as physically isolated from the neighborhood as you can get," said Witte. "Physically and emotionally, it's always been a bit of an orphan."

Michael Johnson, who worked on rebuilding the North Beach development with Bridge Housing and John Stewart Co., said he would work with the neighborhood and current residents to create a design that feels and looks like part of the Western Addition. Unlike the other three Hope SF projects, tenants would have to be moved out of the Westside Court while the project is being rebuilt.

"Clearly one of the goals is to have the appearance of the new housing be compatible with the surrounding buildings, (and) the Westside Court buildings do not," said Johnson. "They stand out as 50-year-old concrete block buildings."

While all the buildings involved in the program have vast experience in market rate and affordable housing, John Stewart Co. will in a sense be leading the way with the Hunters View development. This month that project is before the Planning Commission for certification of its environmental impact report.

John Stewart Co. President Jack Gardner said the approvals will allow his company to apply for $40 million in state funds in the fall. Thus far the Mayor's Office on Housing has dedicated $5.5 million for the Hunters View development and John Stewart Co. has raised another $2.5 million privately. They hope to break ground on the $350 million project by the end of 2009 using tax-exempt bond financing and low-income tax credits.

"We are tackling some of the tough issues around doing this kind of work without federal Hope VI money," said Gardner.

Mercy Housing project manager Ramie Dare said the Hope SF proposal is being closely watched in other cities.

"The city is really in the forefront, taking a leadership on how to build these projects within the federal funding constraints," she said.

[email protected] / (415) 288-4971

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/06/16/story1.html?t=printable

[livin' in the city]

Downtown Dave what is going on with the demo. site to the left of your 2nd Argenta shot?

[BTinSF]

Broadway Partners has designs for a new tip of the Spear

A new address. A new lobby. And 67,000 square feet of sparkling new bay view office space. That is what Broadway Partners is offering at the former 120 Howard St.

A year after acquiring the eight-story south financial district brick structure from Beacon Capital Partners as part of a national portfolio, Broadway says it will rename the property 188 Spear St. and move the lobby from Howard Street around the corner to Spear Street.

In addition, Broadway has received entitlements to add four floors -- some 67,000 square feet -- at the top of the building. Christopher Roeder of Jones Lang LaSalle, who is leasing the property with Wes Powell, said the reinvigorated, expanded building would offer a more affordable alternative to new construction projects like 555 Mission St. The top floors will lease in the $60s, the middle floors in the $50s, and the lower floors in the $40s.

With the addition, the building will be able to accommodate a 150,000-square-foot user. Broadway Partners has decided not to do the addition on a speculative basis, but anticipates a 12-month construction time frame once a tenant is snagged. The addition will have nine-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling glass, and is being designed by Brereton Architects.

Roeder said the building is a great position to pull in one of the large tenants with a 2010 lease expiration date. He compared it with the Landmark at One Market.

"It's perfect for a big company looking for something a little different," said Roeder "It's not a typical Class A ivory tower office building."

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/06/16/newscolumn1.html

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by livin' in the city

Downtown Dave what is going on with the demo. site to the left of your 2nd Argenta shot?

I walk by there several times a week. The answer is, "Not much." They posted the building permit (below) several weeks ago now, but no activity has yet begun.

PS: I assume you are familiar with the plans for the site which has a thread: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=128011


Taken by me.

[Gordo]

Good to hear that things are moving forward on demolishing some more projects with re-builds, but I really wish that the new units would just become part of the new "affordable housing" programs of the past few years, rather than remain under the jurisdiction of the SFHA. Make some units sub-20% AMI or something.

Also, none of those projects seem to be dense enough. Only 80-100 more units at Westside Court? That's an entire block that is less dense than most suburban apartment complexes now. There's no reason that it couldn't accomodate 300 - 400 more units, and not look out of place in the neighborhood. I would assume that that block is the least dense for several blocks in any direction right now.

The other places, especially Sunnydale, aren't even connected to the neighborhood surrounding and don't need to "blend in", so significant density could and should be added (probably even more than Westside Court).

[BTinSF]

I'm hesitant to debate this issue here--if people want, maybe we should start something in the Bay Area section--but I'll give it just one response.

Let's be clear that "public housing" is a very different thing from "affordable housing". "Public Housing" is very low rent housing for the poorest, often unemployed and/or unemployable, among us. And it is only rental. Because of that and because the people it serves often have massive problems aside from the need for housing, intense and effective management is a must.

"Affordable housing" is housing that can supposedly be afforded by people up to well above the area's median income level. By and large, these are not "poor" people and they are rarely unemployed. They are what would be considered the solid middle class almost anywhere else in America--they just can't afford $700K for a condo or $2500/month rent for a 2-bedroom. "Affordable housing" is not exclusively rental--some of it is for sale. And what is rented is managed by non-profits in much the same way that other rental units are managed with few special requirements.

As far as density goes, with respect to "affordable" units, they can and should be as dense as the zoning allows in the same way and to the same degree as market rate housing because there are no special "issues" with regard to the people living there.

But "public housing" is different. We have all seen how the dense developments of the 1950s and 60s--Google "Cabrini-Green" or "Pruitt-Igoe" if you have any question what I mean--were a disaster. Nobody wants to recreate anything like that again. Public housing has to be carefully designed and minimization of features that enable criminal or gang activity and that allow some residents to prey on others are of paramount importance--much more important than any of the issues we talk about so much here.

[Gordo]

BT - I 100% agree. What I was talking about was taking the "public housing" portion and making it a smaller portion of the overall development.

Right now they are talking about making the Potrero Hill development be 805 "public housing" and "affordable" rental units and 446 "affordable" and market-rate condos. I was simply saying that we should look at increasing the number of affordable rentals or condos, as well as increasing the number of affordable or market rate condos. Market rate rentals could also be an addition. In other words - "dilute" the public housing further by increasing the density of the other uses on site.

[BTinSF]

More on the Schlage Lock site courtesy of Socketsite ( http://www.socketsite.com/ ):

Here's the site.



And here's the plan for the site.



"The plan for the site includes 100,000 square feet of retail in addition to the 1,200 homes. It also includes a large park and the restoration of the historic Schlage Lock headquarters. The cleanup [which is slated to last 30 months] will start as soon as the city approves the EIR, [Paragon General Manager Steven Hanson] said."

[peanut gallery]

55 Ninth - hubba, hubba!

300 Grant - I guess we'll know this is going to happen when the demo notices go up on the 3-story that sits there now. It's not a bad little building, but the new one will make better use of the footprint.

[peanut gallery]

This shot is wonderful, Wonderland, and needs to be posted on every page of this thread until something significant changes the skyline.

Originally Posted by WonderlandPark

The grand new SF skyline from Potrero Hill on Wednesday:

[WonderlandPark]

Thanks, besides ORH 2, what else is going to start this year? I don't mean Transbay, that is further in the future.

This view would not see 10th & Market, but how close is, say 45 Lansing or 535 mission to launch this year? *corrected and added 535 Mission, I see the other thread.

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by WonderlandPark

Thanks, besides ORH 2, what else is going to start this year? I don't mean Transbay, that is further in the future.

This view would not see 10th & Market, but how close is, say 45 Lansing or 535 mission to launch this year? *corrected and added 535 Mission, I see the other thread.

If you read through the 45 Lansing thread, you'll see the uncertainty AND the hope that it gets going this summer--based on periodic SF Business Times articles suggesting as much. The second ORH tower is much more of a certainty with the choice of a contractor imminent. 350 Bush is also a possibility and would be in your shot but pretty much lost in the skyline. One Hawthorne is in there too but I don't think it'll matter much (at 240 ft, too short).

[peanut gallery]

^^^ Yeah, other than ORH2, the most prominent changes this year will be the north Mission Bay projects, not because of size but because they are so much closer to the camera from this angle. And now that I think about it, ORH2 won't even be visible from here until sometime next year.

[Jobohimself]

It's not such a bad little skyline...


It just needs some love, is all.

[peanut gallery]

Quick rundown from my lunchtime walk:

535 Mission – all fenced off with evidence of test drilling, but no crews onsite while I was there. Somehow the space looks even smaller without all the cars parked in it.

555 Mission - they've removed the construction barrier over the temporary sidewalk (and the temporary sidewalk itself) and returned foot traffic to the original sidewalk giving a much better view of the building where it meets the ground. The large clear glass wall abutting the sidewalk will make this a very nice space along Mission. Much better than the way 560 Mission across the street sets back the glass behind large pillars. They are also installing the hardscape in the public plaza. It's a dark stone and looks very similar to the stone used in front of the Foundry Square buildings.

New SPUR building on Mission – being steel-framed and a small footprint, this one is rising rapidly. Vertical beams on the second floor (from street level; the building also goes down at least one level) rise above the construction fencing out front.

One Hawthorne – Not sure what's going on here, but a backhoe was scooping out a large puddle of what looks like (but I doubt is) wet cement. Otherwise, nothing obvious has changed in the past week.

ORH – landscaping is going full tilt. A bunch of trees now line the driveway and today they are adding shrubbery around the trees. You also now notice civilian foot traffic going in and out of the building with all the new residents moving in..

Foundry Square III update – there are signs posted onsite giving notice about a Planning Department public hearing scheduled for the 26th on the proposal to demolish Club NV and the parking lot. Baby steps, but something is happening at least.

No pictures at 11, as your trusty reporter left his camera at home plugged into his Mac.

[fflint]

535 Mish: I saw a crew drilling there yesterday around lunchtime.

[CityKid]

Just moved to the neighborhood and look who I saw:

[BTinSF]

I thought that was going to be a pretty good-looking project and it is. I see it mostly from the other end as a sometimes customer of the "Bread & Butter Market" on the corner. I posted some pics earlier but now they've removed more of the drapery and I hadn't walked up to the corner to see it. Glad you're in the 'hood and did.

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by fflint

535 Mish: I saw a crew drilling there yesterday around lunchtime.

See the 535 thread--I took their portrait yesterday. One even smiled at me.

[Downtown Dave]

The scaffolding around Argenta continues to come down; perhaps by next weekend we shall see the building fully exposed. Nothing continues to happen at 10th and Market:







Bonus view of Mercy housing: