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

[POLA]

Originally Posted by Jerry of San Fran

There is water being continuous drained from the site which is not unusual for low areas of San Francisco.

Is that what is really going on there? I ask because that is a A LOT of water, and also because those water tanks are so common. There is even one of them at the Herbst Theater Renovation.

[Jerry of San Fran]

Originally Posted by POLA

Is that what is really going on there? I ask because that is a A LOT of water, and also because those water tanks are so common. There is even one of them at the Herbst Theater Renovation.

Yes Pola, there is lots of water under the Civic Center which explains why the sidewalk on Polk Street in front of city hall on the north side is often cracked like an egg shell and replaced often.

You can see some nice maps here presented by the Oakland Museum http://museumca.org/creeks/1640-RescMission.html that shows the Hayes Creek. Note that it's creek bed flowed at the site of 101 Polk and under what is now the Essex Fox Plaza. That could be why the corner sidewalk at Polk and Hayes is constantly caving in and being repaired.

[chris08876]

AirPano has a new San Francisco 360 panoramas up. Might be interesting to check it out.

http://www.airpano.ru/files/San-Francisco-USA/2-2

[simms3_redux]

Originally Posted by chris08876

AirPano has a new San Francisco 360 panoramas up. Might be interesting to check it out.

http://www.airpano.ru/files/San-Francisco-USA/2-2

While cool, this view appears to be from 2010/11. The change in the skyline just since then is not anything less than striking. I won't even begin to get into what's UC now or all of the little infill projects that have been completed. I like #2 aerial from middle of city because it really shows the density, but like I said, it's pretty outdated.

[chris08876]

Originally Posted by simms3_redux

While cool, this view appears to be from 2010/11. The change in the skyline just since then is not anything less than striking. I won't even begin to get into what's UC now or all of the little infill projects that have been completed. I like #2 aerial from middle of city because it really shows the density, but like I said, it's pretty outdated.

Yea idk why they took forever to upload it. I figured it was really outdated because I was looking for the new projects u/c. Gigapan probably has recent panoramas. If I find a recent one I'll be sure to post it. But in the end, the city still looks amazing from the air.

[Smiley Person]

Composite painting of various under construction, proposed, and potential buildings in downtown San Francisco.

[Jerry of San Fran]

Smiley Person - thanks for the nice colorful perspective of what the city might look like in the near future.

[fflint]

A typically lame piece by John King in the Chronicle nevertheless has a decent roundup of recently completed/under construction/planned residential projects in Upper Market:

Dramatic as it looks on a map, Market Street between the Civic Center and Castro Street for generations has been little more than a broad thoroughfare serving the neighborhoods around it.

No longer.

That mile-plus stretch is undergoing its most profound physical transformation since the now-truncated Central Freeway pushed across it in the 1950s. Six residential buildings have been added in the past year, three more are under construction and a half-dozen more are in the works. When the dust settles, as many as 1,200 new residential units could line its path, most of them perched above shops along the street.
....

38 Dolores


35 Dolores


2175 Market


Market and 14th


Market and 15th


1600 Market


1600 Market

[fflint]

JK Dineen writes in the Chronicle about a new wave of hotel development in the city, which will include the razing of the McDonalds at 3rd and Townsend:

Hotels currently are above 80 percent occupancy, a historical high for the city. Average room rates jumped 13.4 percent over the past 12 months to $203.18, according to STR Global, a hotel industry research group. That was the biggest year-over-year increase in the United States. It also is creating a windfall for city hotel tax revenue, which increased $31.9 million, or 13.2 percent, to $273 million.
....
While the vast majority of San Francisco's 33,000 hotel rooms is clustered in four neighborhoods: Union Square, the Financial District, Fisherman's Wharf and around Moscone Convention Center, the new construction is pushing those boundaries.

"You are going to see more demand for hotel rooms in deep SoMa, Mid-Market and Mission Bay because so many businesses are growing in those areas," D'Alessandro said. "We have heard anecdotally that visitors would like to see smaller hotels outside of the core areas."

The city is also looking at potential sites for a mega-hotel near Moscone Center. Two city-owned garages - the Moscone garage and the Fifth and Mission garage - could be redeveloped with a hotel tower over parking. "These large groups want to have their people in as few hotels as possible," D'Alessandro said.
....

The McDonald's fast food restaurant on the corner of 3rd and Townsend Streets as seen on Saturday July 19, 2014, in San Francisco, Calif. A developer has purchased the property that the McDonald's now occupies, which is a big hang out for Giants fans on game day, but it may be torn down to make way for a hotel. Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

[minesweeper]

Originally Posted by fflint

JK Dineen writes in the Chronicle about a new wave of hotel development in the city, which will include the razing of the McDonalds at 3rd and Townsend

McDonalds' lease lasts through January 2017, so it'll be a few years before we see any activity there.

It's odd that the Chronicle article left out the hotel project at 250 Fourth Street. Olivet University has moved out already, the demolition permit has been issued, and the building permit has been pulled. I wonder if all the construction around that site for the Moscone Station of the Central Subway will delay that project at all.

[Jerry of San Fran]

Concrete has been poured in the foundation in the last 2 days. The view is from the 19th floor of the Fox Plaza.
2014_07_22

[minesweeper]

Hoodline has an update on the 55 Laguna project, which has been branded Alta Laguna:

http://hoodline.com/2014/07/an-update-on-55-laguna

[Jerry of San Fran]

minesweeper - Thanks for the link to the update to 55 Laguna. I had not heard of Hooline before - a nice neighborhood site.

Here is a photograph taken July 22nd of Alta Laguna (55 Laguna) as seen from the 19th floor of he Fox Plaza.

From the left side bottom to right: 8 Octavia (blank east wall); dome of the Baptist Church; 55 Laguna; upper right is Davies medical center and far edge is 100 Van Ness Avenue reclad.

55 Laguna Development - 2014_07_22

[spyguy]

923 Folsom - 114 units, retail, 80 parking spaces



346 Potrero - 70 units, retail, 43 parking spaces



Sort of reminiscent of another Handel building, 170 Amsterdam in NYC

[fimiak]

Wow that is some incredible architecture right there. I am amazed at its sleepy/strange location, and yet this immaculate design...I am really impressed.

I remember 170 amsterdam being half-built last time I was there, but I haven't seen it finished in person.

[The North One]

San Francisco is getting some amazing modern architecture, like damn, they don't mess around.

[Jerry of San Fran]

spyguy - great post! The 346 Potrero Street proposal is stunning! It is one of the most original designs I've seen in a long time. Terrible location. I've been in the area many times through the years. Between a gas station and a Mc Donalds will make for some strange odor combinations. Being that gas stations are disappearing from the city rapidly these last few years I suspect it will be developed into something else sooner rather than later. The new highrise will encourage more development in like kind nearby.

[fflint]

I'm loving the 346 Potrero proposal! It's a pretty out-of-the-way location--except for people who work at General Hospital.

[fflint]

Holy crap--Renzo Piano's designs are dust, but now we've got Norman Foster designing what John King at the Chronicle is calling "San Francisco's second tallest building!" There are actually two proposed towers--one 910 ft. and one 605 ft. AWESOME!

A gasp-inducing plan for S.F. skyline, from the ground up


A computer rendering of the city's future skyline with the proposed 910-foot 50 First St. on the right side of a cluster of three towers
that are not now there. The tallest, in the middle of the trio, is the 1,070 foot Salesforce Tower. The one on the left is 181 Fremont,
now under construction, which will measure 802 feet to the top of its spire. Photo: TMG/Foster + Partners


A skyline view with the proposed 910-foot tower at 50 First St. in the middle. To its right are two towers now under construction
but not yet visible on the skyline: the 1,070 foot Salesforce Tower and the 802-foot tower at 181 Fremont. Photo: TMG/Foster + Partners




The design for the taller tower at First and Mission includes a half-acre of public open space beneath the high-rise, which would
begin 70 feet in the air, held in place by diagonal columns. Photo: Anonymous, TMG/Foster + Partners


A Foster + Partners drawing showing the goal of a wide-open ground-level mix of plazas and paths amid the proposed towers
and nearby buildings. Photo: TMG/Foster + Partners

A new pair of towers proposed for downtown San Francisco would include the city's second-tallest building - and perhaps its most startling public space, an open-air plaza set beneath the main tower's elevated first floor.

The project straddles the northwest corner of First and Mission streets, with a 605-foot tower on Mission and a broad 910-foot high-rise on First. By comparison, the Salesforce Tower under construction on the southeast corner will top off at 1,070 feet.
....
Developer Covarrubias said the target is for the project to be approved next summer, with construction to begin in early 2016. While the paperwork has just been filed, details of the project were shown last month to city planners in a session that included a presentation from Lord Norman Foster, who founded his firm in 1967 and has received such honors as the Pritzker Architecture Prize and the American Institute of Architects' Gold Medal.

[Hallidie]

I hope this new skyscraper trend in San Francisco continues.