[timbad]

apparently RH opened this week (sorry for the large photos)

After six years, RH opens S.F. showroom and restaurant at historic Pier 70

J.K. Dineen
Updated: May 12, 2022 9:32 a.m.


The Palm Court Restaurant

... The showroom will finally open on Thursday, more than six years after plans were first announced.

RH has opened deluxe galleries with restaurants in more than a dozen cities, including New York, Chicago, West Palm Beach, Dallas and Yountville in Napa. The San Francisco restoration of a historic Bethlehem Steel building at Pier 70 is perhaps the most ambitious.

Back in 2016, the 80,000 square-foot 1917 classical revival building, had been vacant for decades and over the years had been looted of some of its architectural ornamentation. Graffiti covered some of the wood-paneled and marble-clad surfaces.

The project restored the building’s circular entryway with a stairway featuring ornamental metal railings, octagonal bronze and glass pendant chandelier, cast stone walls over pink marble wainscoting, herringbone-patterned woods and coffered plaster ceilings. RH built a new spiraling staircase to access levels three and four, with a circular skylight two floors above.

Once the studio of naval architects, the third level is now a 10,000 square foot exhibition space with what RH says is the world’s largest collection of modern furnishings, lighting, textiles and decor created by one brand. At the top of the staircase is a vestibule with retractable glass walls that open up onto a garden overlooking the city and the bay.

...

Friedman spent years looking for the right San Francisco building. The company worked on a proposal to take over the Palace of Fine Arts, but it turned out the seismic retrofit that the building required would have been prohibitively expensive. They looked at the shed at Pier 28 as well as more typical retail spaces near Union Square.


The Historic Bethlehem Steel Building

At Pier 70 Friedman was attracted to the Bethlehem Steel building’s “balance and symmetry,” bay views and architectural detail. Yet it was somewhat risky, as Pier 70 is far removed from both the luxury shopping in Union Square and the design district around Showplace Square.

At one point a tech company offered RH “a ton of money” to take over the building. Friedman declined. “We did not come out here to make money on a real estate play. We are trying to create a home for our brand in San Francisco,” he said.

Yet the neighborhood has evolved rapidly since RH first committed to Pier 70. Thousands of housing units have popped up to the south in Dogpatch and to the north in Mission Bay. The Golden State Warriors built the Chase Center, about a 15-minute walk from Pier 70. Crane Cove Park, the waterfront open space RH’s building overlooks, has become a regional destination.

The restoration of the historic building is a major milestone in the larger redevelopment at Pier 70, which will eventually include at least 1,100 housing units and as much as 2 million square feet of commercial space. Brookfield Properties, the master developer at Pier 70, has completed phase one of the infrastructure — streets and sidewalks and utilities — as well as the restoration of Building 12, which will eventually become a “maker’s hall” with boutique retail.

San Francisco Business Times reported last month that the next phases of the project have been paused due to the pandemic and construction costs.

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Friedman is trying to evoke a bit of old-school San Francisco elegance he caught a glimpse of at the Emporium department store when he was a kid.

“We wanted to build a 1930s San Francisco vibe — a beautiful old-world place where, if you want a night out, you come and eat at the Palm Court,” he said.

...

In addition to San Francisco, RH has now rehabbed historic buildings in Boston and Chicago, and is working on projects in London, Milan and Paris.

“The only thing that is consistent with these historic buildings is they are going to take three times as long and cost three times as much as you originally think,” he said. “But it’s worth it. To bring great historic architecture back to life is a gift.”