Seawall Lot 337 - current parking lot for AT&T Park and future home to...something - will remain a parking lot for the next five years, if a renewal lease is approved by the Board of Supervisors this afternoon. The space is currently leased to China Basin Ballpark Company, LLC, and they use the lot for commuter, baseball game, and special event parking. While all the hullabaloo over the site's future development continues to simmer (apartments and retail? artist space? Warriors stadium? oh my!), Port staff and CBBC have quietly negotiated terms for a five-year interim lease for special events and parking. It's not all for the sake of biding time though - the lease includes a high-season (ie. baseball season) base rent from April through October of $355,000 per month. Jeez, and we thought our rent was out of the park.
· Lease for Real Property - China Basin Ballpark Company, LLC - Seawall Lot 337 [SF Gov]
· Mission Rock Plan Approved, Now More Open About Warriors Arena [Curbed SF]
· Previous coverage of Seawall Lot 337 [Curbed SF]
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Development Watch: Seawall Lot To Stay a Parking Lot (For Now)
Sunday, March 4, 2012
No Salesforce in Mission Bay?: Salesforce.com has suspended development of its...
? Previous: Bike Commuting; Fighting Graffiti, One Berkeley Person At a Time; Meet the New HVNA Board Members; More!
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Development Watch: "Sister" Project to Infinity Towers Back Before Planning Commission
[Super old rendering of 201 Folsom, seen here with Infinity design pre-Arquitectonica intervention, via SF New Developments]
Tomorrow the Planning Commission will hear an informational presentation on the "sister" project to the Infinity Towers. Approved back in 2003, the project is for two residential towers, 350 and 400 feet above an 80-foot podium, at 201 Folsom Street across the street from the Infinity I & II. The original approval motion recognized the potential for design of the project to change before construction and included a condition of approval that the Planning Director approve the final design after an informational hearing at the Planning Commission. The new design reduces the number of parking spots in the podium section, originally included for the neighboring US Post Office sorting facility that's now defunct, so the podium has been redesigned. There will be less dwelling units than originally planned, but more commercial spaces and open space. And oh yeah, the project architect is totally new (from Heller Manus to Arquitectonica). The agenda didn't include the new plans, so we'll fill you in after the hearing tomorrow.
· Memo for Informational Hearing on 201 Folsom St [Curbed SF]
· Hope Yet for Rincon Hill's 201 Folsom St [Curbed SF]
· Infinity's Cousin Still Coming, One Day [Curbed SF]
· Past Coverage of The Infinity [Curbed SF Archives]
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Development Watch: Metro Theater Wants to Pump You Up
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Development Watch: East Bay: Joy in Richmond as New Lab Location Announced
[Image, courtesy the City of Richmond via SFist]
UC Berkeley has an 80-year history of collaboration with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and yesterday morning they announced that UC will consolidate their bio-sciences programs on a university-owned bayfront site known as the Richmond Field Station. They'll begin to draft environmental impact reports, and since the lab is a program of the U.S. Department of Energy, start looking for approval from Washington. And while the site is in RIchmond, one of the Bay Area's most troubled communities, the 100-acre site is separated from most of the population by the I-80 freeway. Of course, "jobs" were mentioned, and Berkeleyside has more details on the RIchmond perspective. No word on relocating the other UC programs currently on the site- there are sculpture studios and engineering programs, among others- or the non-U commercial tenants like the EPA and Schlumberger. Also no word on when construction is expected to begin, but the new facility is certain to put Richmond on the global science map.
· Berkeley Lab [US Dept of Energy]
· Lab Choice May Be Beneficial to Berkeley in the Long Run [Berkeleyside]
Friday, January 13, 2012
Development Watch: The Embarcadero: Tennis Gone AWOL in 8 Washington Street's New Look
San Francisco Waterfront Partners has released a new look for their plans for 8 Washington Street, a contentious bit of real estate on the Embarcadero, and it does not include tennis. The Golden Gateway Club has aligned itself with the developer and will shut down the tennis courts, replacing it with a gym/health club, indoor and outdoor pools, and the flavor of the decade, a green roof. The condo towers don't seem to have changed much, but where once there were walled-off private tennis courts there will now be a public park and playground. Jackson Street will extend to the Embarcadero once again as the Jackson Street Commons, Drumm Street will be reinvented in much the same way along the pool and playground, ending in the triangular park at Broadway. It's a complicated land swap deal- Ports owns Seawall Lot 351, currently a parking lot for their Ferry Building tenants, and the Golden Gateway club property/sliver is leased from the Revelopment Agency- a legacy of a time when people played tennis in the shadow of the Embarcadero, and Jackson Street ran through what was once a produce market.
As re-programmed by Craig Hartman at SOM and landscape architect Peter Walker, the most recent proposal has 165 units of housing planned in the height-staggered towers, which will fund 33 units of offsite BMR housing. All units will get parking spaces, plus 255 public parking spaces (in part to fulfill Ports' lease obligations across the street) and 81 bicycle spaces plus along with food and retail on the Embarcadero. Does the club think there's more money in swimming and spinning classes- the only other gym on this stretch of the Embarcadero is the YMCA. Ports is behind the project, but there is the usual field of NIMBYs arrayed against it. Meanwhile, the folks (folk?) at the opposition, Friends of Golden Gateway (FOGG) ended the year on an upbeat note, going into the holidays thanking their allies and sure of prevailing over the development… and saving the tennis courts.
· 8 Washington Street/Seawall 351 Coverage [Curbed SF]
· 8 Washington Overview [SF Waterfront Partners]
· FOGG Seasons Greetings [FOGG]
[All images via SOM/PWP Landscape Architecture/San Francisco Waterfront Partners]
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Curbed Awards: Best Game Of Development Chicken, 2011 Award: Larry Ellison and the ACEA
As is our yearly tradition, it's time to make up a bunch of awards and hand them out to the most deserving and important people, places and things in the real estate, architecture and neighborhood universes of San Francisco!
Remember the winter of 2010? San Francisco went all out for the 34th America's Cup race, a thrilling Christmastime marathon of bidding, counter-bidding, dark horses (Valencia, Spain) and at least one red herring (Newport, RI) that resulted in a deal exchanging 75 years of development rights for infrastructure improvements offset by rent credits. The race is predicted to bring in lots of money (tourists and jobs,) a private group has agreed to defray the city's estimated $32,000,000 in expenses (fire, police OT, etc.) and the development rights to Piers 30/32, 26 and 28 have been sold for $55,000,000 worth of investment by the America's Cup Event Authority, the organization controlled by Larry Ellison, the man who brought the Cup back to America. Now, we love Larry Ellison- and we're excited there's going to be a race here. He employs a lot of very smart people, and there's a reason why he's one of the world's richest people. So even if no one shows up for the race in 2013- the America's Cup World Series races so far have been a yawn- this has got to be one of the best real estate deals since 1867 when we bought Alaska from Tsar Alexander II.
Included in the deal is the deed to Seawall Lot 330, a choice bit of real estate, currently a parking lot just south of the Bay Bridge and once planned by Ports to be part of a cruise terminal complex. Revisions to the agreement outlined in this March, 2011 report by the Budget Office (.pdf) include additional options for development rights to Piers 19, 23, 27, 29 and 80. If transferring title to Seawall Lot 330 fails- it requires legislative approval- the ACEA will lease it and Ports will forgo their 1% participation deal in the future sale of condos built there.
In a recent development, Mayor Lee and the ACEA agreed to shift marina development rights further south to Mission Bay from Rincon Park. It's unlikely the ACEA would have been able to get a dredging permit for their planned mega-yacht berth there- the investment that would have triggered the marina development rights- and Mission Bay needs all the help it can get. Plus a marina makes more sense where thousands more people are expected to work and live over the coming decade. As for those decades, the ACEA, Larry Ellison, and their assignees or heirs, are in until something like 2079.
· A-Cup Coming to SF: Rhode Island Feeling Slightly Soiled [Curbed SF]
· Running Silent: A-Cup Committee Plays it Close to the Vest on Fundraising [Curbed SF]
· Team Ellison Gets Seawall Lot 330, Let The Howling Begin [Curbed SF]
· Cruising; Working The Waterfront With Jimmy R. [Curbed SF]
· America's Cup/SF Budget Office Report
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Development Watch: High-Speed Rail and Transbay Terminal: Build It Anyway?
Transbay Transit Center Demo from steelblue on Vimeo.
With all the Occupy Wherever-Everywhere this past month, we might have missed the Feds eliminating any money next year for high-speed rail and an increasingly bleak outlook for fast trains beyond 2013. And as Matier & Ross point out, there's speculation about the consequences for the glittering Transbay Terminal now under construction. Above, video from more optimistic times. The Transbay Authority says it's still on, but Supervisor Sean Elsbernd thinks:
What we could wind up with is a big basement under the most expensive bus station in the worldThere's still a few billion dollars committed to building the first section of high-speed rail through Bakersfield, but as for the entire Anaheim-San Francisco route, the estimates are up and many would-be riders are yet unborn. Undeterred, the draft EIR for the entire project- terminal, tower and elevated park- wends it's way through the EIR process.
· S.F. Transbay Terminal Project Has Murky Future [Matier & Ross/SF Gate]
· Feds Ax High-Speed Funding, Approve Vegas Train Right of Way [Curbed LA]
· California Bullet Trains New Plan: $98.5B, LA to SF in 2033 [Curbed LA]
· Transbay Terminal Draft EIR Dramarama [Curbed SF]
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Development Watch: 45 Lansing Win Is Butterfly's Loss
Bravely, Miami-based Crescent Heights, the folks behind the Metropolitan building on First Street, went ahead and purchased the Lansing parcel-- for a substantial discount-- in 2010. Perhaps they’ve worked to lift the butterfly curse in the months in between, for now, according to the recently resurrected 45 Lansing webpage, the condos are “coming soon.” Reader will note that no butterflies appear on this mysterious splash screen, a bit worrisome for current garden residents. Unlikely these flora and fauna tenants will receive compensation.
· 45 Lansing [website]
· Big San Francisco condo site sold at big discount [SF Business Times]
· First Day's a Good One in Building Rincon Hill's Butterfly Eden [Curbed SF]
· Rincon Hill Eats It [Curbed SF]
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Development Watch: Lenny Kravitz to Work His Magic on Revamped Condo High-Rise
Of course, Kravitz (and his firm, Kravitz Design) is no stranger to the area, having designed spaces for the Setai Hotel and The Delano. We're told sales at Paramount Bay will be begin in fall (prices have not yet been confirmed). So what can future residents expect from Kravitz's interior design in their (surely) swank new digs? Per the reps: "The team will deliver a fresh take on their modern, sophisticated and sexy style to the 47-story bay front tower. Residents can expect a look that is reminiscent of Kravitz's own eclectic global lifestyle."
Will rooms have "Black Velveteen," perhaps, or "A New Door?" What about "Silver and Gold" or "Lonely Rainbows" pained on the walls? Please, someone make us stop!
· Lenny Kravitz, Lover of Louche, Decorates Like a Rock Star [Curbed National]
· Paramount Bay [official site]
· Kravitz Design [official site]
· Songs [Lenny Kravitz]
Friday, May 13, 2011
Development Watch: The Fillmore: MUNI Sub-station to Become Grad School Project
[Photo Credit: Sf Redevelopment Agency]
Yet another plot twist in The Chronicles of Adaptive Re-use, with the announcement that graduate students at USF would undertake an assessment of the vintage MUNI sub-station at Fillmore and Turk Streets. The Redevelopment Agency bought it in 2003 but was unable to find a deal or developer. Meanwhile, they apparently shifted funds earmarked for the building to subsidize the long-suffering reincarnation of Yoshi's. The city bought the building back in 2009. No report is expected from the students until next year, but they're working with Brothers for Change. And there's more housing happening a block away. Baby steps, people.
· Brothers for Change [Brothers for Change]
· USF to Tackle Future of Old Muni Substation [SF Examiner]
· The Fillmore: Affordable Housing on the Way [Curbed SF Archives]
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Hitler's Old Nazi Resort: In today's absurd development news: a...
? Previous: Open Mic Night at Your Local Laundromat
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
London Luxury Development Opens This Week: The London luxury development that contains...
? Previous: At Home With Designer Peter Dunham
? Next: Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez Make Out in Swank Caribbean Hideout