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

[fflint]

The building on fire is called MB360. It was a $227M complex under construction, according to KTVU 2, and would have had 360 rental units. Most of the building has collapsed and the SFFD is concerned more will fall into 4th Street.

[Jerry of San Fran]

FIRE - It was a shocking sight that I saw from my apartment today. You can see a picture that I took here of the fire from the Essex Fox Plaza: SkyscraperPage Forum > Global Projects & Construction > General Development. The property that burned was BRE Properties Mission Bay 360.

From what I saw of the fire as it burned I strongly suspect arson.

[cv94117]

Originally Posted by Jerry of San Fran

From what I saw of the fire as it burned I strongly suspect arson.

Because you're a fire expert and you know what happened, right?

[LMich]

Originally Posted by cv94117

Because you're a fire expert and you know what happened, right?

That was really uncalled for.

Anyway, I'd suspect a construction accident on an active construction scene before I'd go straight to arson.

[timbad]

link to most recent Mission Bay posts:

[mt_climber13]

Originally Posted by LMich

That was really uncalled for.

Anyway, I'd suspect a construction accident on an active construction scene before I'd go straight to arson.

Nothing he said was uncalled for. Jerry's arson claim is the one that was uncalled for, especially since investigators believe that welding was to blame.

[simms3_redux]

Originally Posted by cv94117

Because you're a fire expert and you know what happened, right?

Originally Posted by wakamesalad

Nothing he said was uncalled for. Jerry's arson claim is the one that was uncalled for, especially since investigators believe that welding was to blame.

I think you both are out of line.

First of all Jerry is an honest and decent, non-controversial poster with history on these forums.

Second of all, I would rather jump to conclusions and blame arsonists before jumping to conclusion and blaming welders who may have made an honest mistake costing hundreds of millions of dollars, which would undoubtedly result in their lives being essentially ruined over said mistake (not to mention bad business for Suffolk Construction and the thousands of workers they employ and the executives and managers with reputations at stake and the founders who built the company on hard work and sweat and no mistakes up until this point).

Third of all, it's really not far fetched at all to jump to the arson conclusion in SF. Of all cities in this country, there is a real and present danger of arson in the area from environmental whackos and anti-growth nutjobs. At no other time in the city's history has new construction and urban development been so contested and tied to class warfare and economic disparity. Lots of people in the area have strong religious level feelings about the changes occurring in the city. Combine that with a history of extremism and area political climate and you're bound to have more than a few people who would burn a building down. Santana Row was burned down and is still a mystery, FYI. For all we know this could remain an unsolved mystery and we'll never know. If it's a mystery, you can be sure that welding is not to be blamed, and that there is a high likelihood of arson.

At the end of the day, this is a sad story for a lot of people.

BRE (one of the only female-led real estate investors in the country...such a sad shame, and a local firm)

Suffolk Construction (provides jobs for thousands of middle class construction workers)...having Suffolk in the spotlight is bad for the construction industry locally as nobody will hire them for a while and everyone else is already at capacity, so construction contracts could become more expensive and construction unemployment could rise if those at Suffolk's SF office can't find work elsewhere.

Hundreds of neighbors in the area who are displaced in their new Mission Bay homes.

Mission Bay - one of the last undeveloped areas of the city facing a real setback now


Overall, this is just a really bad thing that happened! I care less about the cause and more about the clean-up and the solution to issues that various parties will face now that the damage is done. If it is arson, then I hope it draws sympathy from voters and crackdowns from the city and state on anti-development organizers who may inadvertently promote such devastating crime.

[Jerry of San Fran]

Thanks for your comments LMich, wakemesalad, sims3 redux and cv94117 - In my comment I used the word "suspected", not know. And no, I am not a fire expert and it was not my intention to suggest such, even thought I have seen many fires from my window on the 27th floor of my apartment building in the last 43 years.

I based my "suspicion" only on what I witnessed yesterday. I found it very curious that the first fire I saw was coming from the south end of the building, followed a few minutes time by a burst of flames coming from the north end of the building. I would not have thought that a fire would have spread so fast upwind. But then, my logic mmight be faulty.

[fimiak]

There was a fire caused by a welding accident on the 88th floor of 1WTC last year. It isnt unheard of.

[hruski]

How about we just don't jump to any conclusions and wait until the official word from the investigation. Jumping to conclusions and building a case in your mind against either the welders or environmental groups isn't fair and is just a waste of time.

Can we talk about skyscrapers again?

[mt_climber13]

Nobody knows the cause. And I'm not the one who claims to suspect welders, it is the investigators who are. Don't shoot the messenger.

To start an uproar and to blame anti-development types of trying to start the city on FIRE and potentially cause mass death is being over dramatic and dangerous. It is just as nutty as those people who block tech workers buses from getting to work. I have a lot of criticisms of SF but in my long experience living there I have found the people to be much more civilized and respectable than to turn to arson and violent solutions to issues they oppose.

Do arsonists strike at rush hour in the middle of the week? Arson is typically done late at night when there would be no witnesses. And this fire happening at 5pm at the end of the work day is more evidence it was probably an accident. Workers leaving, may have forgot to wrap up completely, leaving the destruction to human error. Even a cigarette butt can take down a whole building or city block. It's happened in SF many times in the past few years.

And yes, I may be a little crude sometimes, opinionated, and not polite sitting in the corner with my head down, and I'm sure many of you can't stand me. So what, I have my freedom to speak my mind, I don't care who it pleases or displeases, and I have the freedom to call those of you a little nutty who jump straight to arson.

And if it is arson, then why blame immediately people who vote against development? They have never done a single violent thing in the past to prove eir point. Arsonists are crazy mother f*ckers who need no purpose for their crime. They look at a large wood building exposed like a pothead looks at a bag of Funyons (never been an arsonist, but been stoned many times. And I love my Funyons.)

[brady&market]

Originally Posted by Jerry of San Fran

Thanks for your comments LMich, wakemesalad, sims3 redux and cv94117 - In my comment I used the word "suspected", not know. And no, I am not a fire expert and it was not my intention to suggest such, even thought I have seen many fires from my window on the 27th floor of my apartment building in the last 43 years.

I based my "suspicion" only on what I witnessed yesterday. I found it very curious that the first fire I saw was coming from the south end of the building, followed a few minutes time by a burst of flames coming from the north end of the building. I would not have thought that a fire would have spread so fast upwind. But then, my logic mmight be faulty.

Thanks for all your contributions to this forum Jerry of San Fran! I appreciate seeing all your pictures. Don't let these negative keyboard warriors get you down!

[IMBY]

Originally Posted by wakamesalad

Arsonists are crazy mother f*ckers who need no purpose for their crime. They look at a large wood building exposed like a pothead looks at a bag of Funyons (never been an arsonist, but been stoned many times. And I love my Funyons.)

Arsonists would have no fun in Mexico, as you can't even get insurance on a building built out of wood, concrete all the way!

If I were renting an apartment in one of those adjacent 6 story buildings, and saw this fire, and realizing the potential for what could happen, I'd be out of that building like my pants were on fire! Broken lease be damned!

I just finished reading a book on the history of San Francisco. After the fires in the mid-1800's, which destroyed parts of the city, a movement was made to only build fireproof buildings. Then along came the 1906 earthquake (the actually earthquake damage was minimal itself) where 80% of the city was ravaged by fires. Again: we must build only fireproof and earthquake buildings!

100+ years later?

[fflint]

Originally Posted by IMBY

Then along came the 1906 earthquake (the actually earthquake damage was minimal itself) where 80% of the city was ravaged by fires.

This is a falsehood. San Francisco City officials downplayed the earthquake damage in order to spur redevelopment.

[minesweeper]

Mosso (900 Folsom) is nearing the finish line. Looking north across Folsom:




University of the Pacific dedicated their new location at 155 Fifth Street last week. Eventbrite has leased the top two floors:




That janky old building is still there in front of the renovated 680 Folsom:

[Jerry of San Fran]

1400 Mission is going up very fast! It will block the view of 1415 Mission's progress. In a couple of years it will be nice to see more people on the street at night in my neighborhood.

[simms3_redux]

I got these today.

[timbad]

digging underway at 333 Brannan. here looking south along the east side of the lot, bordered by Stanfurd Alley. didnt see activity next door at 345, both of which are to be occupied by Dropbox



rendering

[rocksteady]

Hello San Franciscan's, I will be relocating to SF soon from Phoenix and was wondering if any of you can recommend the best site to search for places to live. I've looked on zillow and hotpads and it's so hard to trust anyone at face value. I will be in SF on the 25th-30th and would like to check a few places out. Everything seems so insanely expensive for what I'm looking for though. Haha

Thanks in advance.

[a very long weekend]

not the right place to post a question like that - this is a development thread.