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

[colemonkee]

"The podium will be clad with a grid of off-white glass fiber reinforced concrete described in planning documents as a ‘linen’ color with medium bronze-tone metal accents. Off-white metal panels, matching with the podium, will be used on the tower."

The white panels with the bronze-tone metal accents sounds promising.

[woahjoey]

Photos from my boyfriend's walk 03/22/2021:

Station entrance at 4th and Folsom


4th and Brannan stop

[Jerry of San Fran]

Muni Station 4th & Brannon - the underground work is almost complete. Trains will be tested for several months before passenger service will be allowed. I call it the train to nowhere (many will disagree with me). It will be interesting to see if the Chinese Americans utilize this service or continue to use the 30 Stockton bus. I would have liked to have seen it continued on a few more blocks.

[timbad]

Originally Posted by Jerry of San Fran

Muni Station 4th & Brannon... I would have liked to have seen it continued on a few more blocks.

they are working on that, Jerry

they held a survey last year, and these were the results to the question of where people wanted stops (beyond North Beach, which is a given)

[AndrewK]

Originally Posted by Jerry of San Fran

I call it the train to nowhere (many will disagree with me).

My in-laws live on Russian Hill, and while I don’t think it will be worth it to take the train to Market, we will definitely take it to Giants games the times that we depart from their house. Obviously a Washington Square Park station would have been ideal, but that may still happen eventually, as Timbad points out.

[timbad]

in the Chron, a proposal to make over Stonestown Mall

San Francisco’s Stonestown Galleria, a suburban-style mall surrounded by 30 acres of surface parking lots, would be transformed into a neighborhood with nearly 3,000 housing units, 6 acres of green spaces and a new 20th Avenue that would become a “main street” lined with shops and residential buildings, according to a plan unveiled Thursday.

The vision, presented in a pair of neighborhood meetings on Thursday, is the first step in a planning process that will take about two years, according to Brookfield Properties, the owner.

As envisioned, the new Stonestown site, which is 42 acres with parking covering 30 of them, will have 2,900 units in 15 residential buildings. The tallest structures — three 18-story and one 14-story — will be clustered near San Francisco State University, on the southern end of the property. The majority of the buildings will be 5 to 8 stories, with some 3-story townhomes in the northwest quarter of the property, closest to Rolph Nicol Playground and homes along Eucalyptus Drive.

The heart of the redeveloped mall will be 20th Avenue, which will run along the current mall’s front door. The east side of 20th Avenue will be lined with residential buildings — about 1,500 units — and smaller retail and restaurant spaces. Across the street will be the entrance of the existing mall, which is currently being revived with a new Whole Foods, a Sports Basement, a Regal movie theater and an expanded Target. ...

overall, parking reduced from 3500 spaces to 2500

[craigs]

The city is looking into undergrounding Muni Metro along that stretch of 19th Avenue, so adding residential at Stonestown (in addition to the Parkmerced densification plans) would make a lot of sense.

[BobbyMucho]

Originally Posted by AndrewK

My in-laws live on Russian Hill, and while I don’t think it will be worth it to take the train to Market, we will definitely take it to Giants games the times that we depart from their house. Obviously a Washington Square Park station would have been ideal, but that may still happen eventually, as Timbad points out.

The Giants games, Warriors, and dozens of concert or special events we'll see pop off in coming years.

Not to mention another ~6k units of housing along the shoreline in and around Dogpatch, Pier 70, Power Plant, and the backside of Potrero all planned or approved.

There will be plenty of reasons to take that train and even more so if it (one day) connects to the Wharf.

[Jerry of San Fran]

316 Turk - more steel going up today.

361 Turk, San Francisco

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by BobbyMucho

The Giants games, Warriors, and dozens of concert or special events we'll see pop off in coming years.

Not to mention another ~6k units of housing along the shoreline in and around Dogpatch, Pier 70, Power Plant, and the backside of Potrero all planned or approved.

There will be plenty of reasons to take that train and even more so if it (one day) connects to the Wharf.

Once COVID is settled down and everything is back up and running, Mission Bay/Dogpatch is going to explode. Rincon Hill is going to look like a sleepy bedroom community in comparison.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Jerry of San Fran

more steel going up today.
361 Turk, San Francisco[/url]

TL 361 is a new apartment development by Forge Land Company LLC currently under construction at 361 Turk Street, San Francisco. TL 361 has a total of 240 units. Sizes range from 250 to 450 square feet. [It is] strategically located and designed to address the workforce housing gap in a central San Francisco location . . . . features 3,000 SF of retail . . . .

https://www.buzzbuzzhome.com/us/tl-361#image-All-1

As an aside, I once had a close call with death right in front of where this building is being built. I was walking up Turk St, back from Union Square in the later evening, and I noticed there was a group of teens in front of the corner of the old YMCA building next to where this building is going up. I walked past them and got almost to the corner when I heard "pop-pop-poppoppop" from behind me--about 12 gunshots. I looked around and several of the kids were lying on the sidewalk. And before I could react, more cop cars than I knew existed in SF began descending on the scene. Someone had pulled a drive-by. I don't have any clue to this day what it was about but I assume "gang-related" as they say.

[rajaxson]

Originally Posted by AndrewK

My in-laws live on Russian Hill, and while I don’t think it will be worth it to take the train to Market, we will definitely take it to Giants games the times that we depart from their house. Obviously a Washington Square Park station would have been ideal, but that may still happen eventually, as Timbad points out.

I agree, a Washington Square Park Station would be great. I work near that area and live just over the hill on the lower end Russian Hill and would definitely walk over to use that station to connect over to the Mission or Castro. Especially since the Van Ness BRT seems like it will also take forever to finish.

Ideally I would love to see it turn, cross the BRT line and run West towards Cow Hollow and the Marina. And of course an underground branch that runs down Geary into the Richmond. But seems like a pipe dream, with current projections and dedicated funding/political will.

[Pedestrian]

^^These are all ideas which have been proposed and seem likely to happen some day but not soon.

As you may know, there's already an abandoned tunnel under Ft. Mason:

Fort Mason Tunnel is an abandoned single-track railway tunnel in San Francisco. It was built in 1914 to bypass Fort Mason. The east portal is near the north end of Van Ness Avenue, and the west portal feeds onto Marina Boulevard at Laguna Street.

The tunnel's construction in 1914 served several purposes. The rail link supplied goods and mass transit to the Panama Pacific International Exposition the following year, and the US Army utilized the line for construction of the Port of Embarkation. The tunnel operated as part of the State Belt Railroad until the route's suspension in 1993.

In 2012, the National Park Service released a final environmental impact report on providing extended service through the tunnel to the San Francisco Municipal Railway F Market & Wharves line. The cost of refurbishment and extension of the rail line was estimated at $60 million in 2017.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F..._June_2017.JPG

One idea was to run the line all the way through this tunnel to the Marina. But again, our progeny may see it though we are unlikely to.

[rajaxson]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

^^These are all ideas which have been proposed and seem likely to happen some day but not soon.

As you may know, there's already an abandoned tunnel under Ft. Mason:


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F..._June_2017.JPG

One idea was to run the line all the way through this tunnel to the Marina. But again, our progeny may see it though we are unlikely to.

Ooh wow, interesting. That would be a great candidate however it may need to be widened for bi-directional travel. And I think Chestnut, Lombard or Union streets would serve as better alternatives to run down.

Then maybe some of those old motels on Lombard could be rezoned for some denser mixed use developments, introducing some affordable housing into the area.

[timbad]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

^^These are all ideas which have been proposed and seem likely to happen some day but not soon.

As you may know, there's already an abandoned tunnel under Ft. Mason:


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F..._June_2017.JPG

One idea was to run the line all the way through this tunnel to the Marina. But again, our progeny may see it though we are unlikely to.

I've always thought that tunnel is better suited to an extension of the F line historic streetcars, as the article mentions, with the Presidio as final destination via Marina Blvd. more of a tourist/excursion line than a piece of an integrated transit system, as I suspect it would be slow. I always thought the $60 million sounded like a relatively small amount of money in the grand scheme of things and was frustrated it hadn't been acted on.

agree with others that, besides Washington Square stop, the Central Subway should continue underground down Columbus to Joseph Conrad Square in Fisherman's Wharf area (a stop there also seemed like practically a given in the options Muni was studying), then west but curving back for a jog south to meet the top of Van Ness BRT (with the thought that BRT might one day be converted to streetcar and this could all be one line). from there I don't have a strong feeling what would be the best route further west (Chestnut, Lombard, or Union), if any, since it is a part of the city I don't spend time in often.

it occurs to me maybe this discussion is better held in another thread? isn't there a transit-specific section to the forum? I never go there.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by timbad

I've always thought that tunnel is better suited to an extension of the F line historic streetcars, as the article mentions, with the Presidio as final destination via Marina Blvd. more of a tourist/excursion line than a piece of an integrated transit system, as I suspect it would be slow. I always thought the $60 million sounded like a relatively small amount of money in the grand scheme of things and was frustrated it hadn't been acted on.

agree with others that, besides Washington Square stop, the Central Subway should continue underground down Columbus to Joseph Conrad Square in Fisherman's Wharf area (a stop there also seemed like practically a given in the options Muni was studying), then west but curving back for a jog south to meet the top of Van Ness BRT (with the thought that BRT might one day be converted to streetcar and this could all be one line). from there I don't have a strong feeling what would be the best route further west (Chestnut, Lombard, or Union), if any, since it is a part of the city I don't spend time in often.

it occurs to me maybe this discussion is better held in another thread? isn't there a transit-specific section to the forum? I never go there.

There's never been an intention to continue it underground, though. Indeed, the tunnel termination just beyond the Chinatown station was built in specific anticipation of bringing the line to the surface there and running it down Columbus on the surface. I'm sure that's what they'll do if they ever do extend it.

[timbad]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

There's never been an intention to continue it underground, though. Indeed, the tunnel termination just beyond the Chinatown station was built in specific anticipation of bringing the line to the surface there and running it down Columbus on the surface. I'm sure that's what they'll do if they ever do extend it.

running it underground at least to Joseph Conrad Square definitely was one of the options given in the Muni survey they conducted (I participated). I think it was the option that received the overall most beneficial rating, as I recall. let's see if I can find it...

the survey itself appears no longer to be accessible on quick look, but at this link, there is this:

[Pedestrian]

^^This isn't surprising. I'd rather it be underground too. I'd rather all Muni Metro lines be underground. I wish SF had an extensive subway system like NY. But that's not usually the way things are done here. They underground only in the most congested parts of "downtown". That's why the thing is above ground on much of 4th St and on Third in Mission Bay. North Beach just doesn't qualify as sufficiently traffic-choked to give the cost of keeping it underground down Columbus serious consideration IMHO.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

There's never been an intention to continue it underground, though. Indeed, the tunnel termination just beyond the Chinatown station was built in specific anticipation of bringing the line to the surface there and running it down Columbus on the surface. I'm sure that's what they'll do if they ever do extend it.

The SFMTA's Central Subway extension website notes that any future subway extension is still in outreach and planning stages (delayed by COVID), so we can't say with any certainty how much would be surface and how much would remain underground.

Originally Posted by MTA

The Central Subway Extension is an opportunity for the SFMTA to evaluate a potential extension of the Central Subway beyond its current Chinatown Station terminal. Possible destinations include North Beach, Fisherman’s Wharf, the Marina, Cow Hollow, and Presidio.

We can say, however, that the existing tunnels extend to Union Street. In the past, the MTA has identified this as the likely site of a Washington Square subway station.

Originally Posted by MTA

Although Chinatown - Rose Pak Station will be the northern terminal of the Central Subway, subway tunnels currently exist north of the station terminating in North Beach at Columbus Avenue and Union Street. During construction of the Central Subway, these additional tunnels were established so that the tunnel boring machines could be removed from the ground in an area where off-street space was available. Passenger service will not operate in the tunnels north of Chinatown Station, but the tunnels are designed to further extend service in the future. As a result, the SFMTA is studying the potential to add a station in the existing tunnels in North Beach, and possibly extend the subway to the north and/or west.

So the plain wording there shows they are definitely considering extending the "subway" at least part of the way to the Wharf, and any extension will likely run parallel to Columbus or Powell before hitting Jefferson.

If the route is to parallel Columbus, it cannot transition from subway to the surface until north of Greenwich, owing to the existing cable car tracks on Columbus between Chestnut and Greenwich.

[mdsayh1]

Though this is a little old this is still a conversation that Muni has alive. That being said it is on a very significant hold now that covid has decimated the revenue of Muni. If you open the Pdf you will see the details of the project and at the end they also reference the loop at Jones street which is indeed moving forward.

https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/...esentation.pdf