Popular Real Estate Blogs: Construction Watch: 650 California Undergoing Lobby Facelift to Attract Tech Crowd

Monday, August 5, 2013, by Dylan Pilaar

650 California, a Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed tower that features prominently on the San Francisco skyline, is currently covered in scaffolding at street level and is undergoing extensive renovations. Signs lining the construction barriers proclaim the address will be "Redefined." Nevertheless, fans of the 60's skyscraper need not fear, since the building's facelift only applies to the lobby and not to the tower's exterior. Behind the lobby's transformation is Tishman Speyer Properties, the company that purchased the tower in 2012. The project involves updating and expanding the entrance to the building and bringing in more light and hopefully more tenants as well. This is only the most recent improvement to be implemented, the last one being an environmentally friendly renovation by the previous owners that led to LEED Gold certification back in June of 2011. Though San Francisco's office vacancy rate is the lowest in the U.S, older towers in the Financial District like 650 California have to reinvent themselves to appeal to a new generation of companies that tend to prefer the lofty spaces of SoMa to the hulking towers of Fidi.

Here's 650 California's lobby before the renovation:

And here's what it will look like when complete:

Bonus construction shot:
· Tishman's 650 Cal buy adds to recent string of big deals [SF Business Times]
· San Francisco has lowest office vacancy in U.S. [SF Business Times]