SAN FRANCISCO | Potrero Power Plant | 29 Acres | 1.6M SF Office | 2600 Housing Units

[timbad]

from SFYIMBY recently...

Potrero Power Station Development Breaks Ground In Dogpatch, San Francisco

Andrew Nelson

Construction has officially started on the Potrero Power Station development in Dogpatch, San Francisco, following yesterday’s groundbreaking ceremony. With Mayor London Breed in attendance, the event marks the beginning of a 29-acre redevelopment that will open up a portion of the city’s eastern waterfront to the public with 5.3 million square feet of offices, housing, and retail around public parks and transit featuring designs by Foster + Partners and Herzog & de Meuron. California Barrel Company of Associate Capital is responsible for the development.

Foster + Partners announced the groundbreaking, along with updated renderings of the firm’s two residential contributions to the project. Block 7A will rise 240 feet tall with 277 new units, retail, and an infinity pool. Block 8 will stand 140 feet tall, adding 249 units, an urban farm, and other high-end residential amenities.

Phase one of construction is expected to build four commercial buildings, $300 million of infrastructure work, a 2.5-acre park, 735 units, including a 98-unit affordable housing building at Block 7B. Potrero Power Station will contribute over 2,600 apartments to the San Francisco housing market along with 100,000 square feet of storefronts, 1.6 million square feet of offices or life science laboratories, and seven acres of public parks at full build-out. Of the units, 780 will be designated as affordable housing.

While the project includes the demolition of six buildings, historic preservation will be focused on three prominent projects, Station A, Union 3 power block, and the iconic 300-foot tall concrete Stack structure. The adaptive reuse of Station A was included as part of the project following community pushback against the idea of its demolition.

The project includes $860 million of public benefits, including an extension of the Bay Trail, a soccer field, 25,000 square feet for a YMCA, daycare, and 36 residential units for a homeless prenatal group.

The first buildings are expected to finish by 2026, with full buildout roughly estimated around 2035. ...


Potrero Power Station site map, illustration by Foster + Partners



Power Station development master view from the Bay, rendering by Foster + Partners


Rendering Looking North Along Proposed Waterfront Park With Pier 70 Mixed-Use District Project (under construction), as Massing in Distance, rendering by Steelblue LLC


Updated design of Blocks 7A and 8 of the Potrero Power Station, design by Foster + Partners


Station A office building, design by Herzog & de Meuron, Adamson Associates



Rendering Looking East Along Proposed Power Station Park Towards Unit 3 Power Block, the Boiler Stack, rendering by Steelblue LLC

[timbad]

as seen from Chase Center

[Busy Bee]

Amazing project. And I'm so glad they decided to retain the smokestack.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Amazing project. And I'm so glad they decided to retain the smokestack.

Ouais, bien vu. They sometimes do the same on brownfields redeveloped here in Paris.
Making the decision to maintain some bits of the heritage of old industry, which is often a good idea.
It adds much character to these contemporary redevelopments.

[homebucket]

Thanks, timbad. Excellent project. Great incorporation of historical preservation and adaptive reuse, with appropriately scaled modern architecture.

[timbad]

looking out from the similar Pier 70 project site next door (copied from its thread)

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by mousquet

Ouais, bien vu. They sometimes do the same on brownfields redeveloped here in Paris.
Making the decision to maintain some bits of the heritage of old industry, which is often a good idea.
It adds much character to these contemporary redevelopments.

Standing there all alone the smokestack reminds me of this Baltimore landmark which served an entirely different purpose of course (it's a "shot tower"--molten lead was dropped from the top and naturally assumed the desired spherical shape and solidified before it hit the bottom):


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Shot_Tower.png

[Busy Bee]

^ very interesting. I'd never heard of that before.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

^ very interesting. I'd never heard of that before.

In a shot tower, lead is heated until molten, then dropped through a copper sieve high in the tower. The liquid lead forms tiny spherical balls by surface tension, and solidifies as it falls. The partially cooled balls are caught at the floor of the tower in a water-filled basin. The now fully cooled balls are checked for roundness and sorted by size; those that are "out of round" are remelted. A slightly inclined table is used for checking roundness. To make larger shot sizes, a copper sieve with larger holes is used.

The maximum size is limited by the height of the tower, because larger shot sizes must fall farther to solidify. A shot tower with a 40-meter drop can produce up to #6 shot (nominally 2.4mm in diameter) while an 80-meter drop can produce #2 shot (nominally 3.8mm in diameter). Polishing with a small amount of graphite is necessary for lubrication and to prevent oxidation.

The process was invented by William Watts of Bristol, England, and patented in 1782. The same year, Watts extended his house in Redcliffe to build the first shot tower. Use of shot towers replaced earlier techniques of casting shot in moulds, which was expensive, or of dripping molten lead into water barrels, which produced insufficiently spherical balls. Large shot which could not be made by the shot tower was made by tumbling pieces of cut lead sheet in a barrel until round.

But the tower in SF is just a smokestack even though it looks very similar.

[timbad]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

But the tower in SF is just a smokestack even though it looks very similar.

although SF used to have them too...

back to this thread, this is the Station A building, which will be preserved:



its relationship to the stack



the end of 23rd St



looking back west down 23rd, at Potrero Hill, where the Rebuild Potrero project will gradually make over a chunk of the visible slope in the coming years. (btw, the gray building on the right just beyond Station A is the southern end of the large power cable that stretches to the PGE Fortress of Doom facility on Folsom, where after years of delays a little open space was finally opened this last year.)



there used to be more to Station A, which the developer recently tore down, somewhat disingenuously. so now it is held up on one side by this structure

[timbad]

Originally Posted by timbad

...

there used to be more to Station A, which the developer recently tore down, somewhat disingenuously.

shots of the recently-demolished portion, from 2015

[timbad]

... and this document has good information on the history and plans for the site. among the images there is this, showing, besides the remnant pictured above, the portion of Station A (boiler room) demolished in the 80s:

[Pedestrian]

Refined Plans for the First Power Station Tower to Rise
July 12, 2021

As designed and since refined by Foster + Partners and Adamson Associates, the proposed 27-story tower to rise up to 237 feet in height upon Block 7A of the Potrero Power Station site, along Humboldt Street at the intersection of the future Louisiana Paseo/Street, will yield 325 residential units, with 9,950 square feet of ground floor retail space, a 6,000-square-foot child care center, and a basement garage for 153 cars.

The tower’s 85-foot-tall podium will front the future Potrero Station Park, stretching to Maryland Street. And in addition to over 10,000 square feet of shared open space, 110 of the block 7A units will have private balconies or terraces.

And with construction on the tower slated to commence in 2023, the refined designs for the development, which can be administratively approved, will be presented, informationally, to San Francisco’s Planning Commission this week.

https://socketsite.com/archives/2021...r-to-rise.html

[homebucket]

237 ft seems awfully short for a 27 story tower, even if it is residential.

Looks great though.

Wonder if craigs will return from LA at some point to take up residence at Craig Lane.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by homebucket

237 ft seems awfully short for a 27 story tower, even if it is residential.

Looks great though.

You're right. The usual standard is 10 ft per floor. I'm guessing maybe it should be 273 ft?

[homebucket]

^ Looks like SF YIMBY has it listed at 264 ft which sounds about right.

https://sfyimby.com/2021/07/new-deta...francisco.html

[Zerton]

This is one of the most interesting developments in the country imo. Reminds me of what's happening at the Battersea Station in London.

[timbad]

looking north (toward Pier 70) along the east side of Station A



... and along the west side. I am not sure the brick building in the background is to be retained

[homebucket]

Excavation Underway For Potrero Power Station Along San Francisco’s Dogpatch Waterfront

BY: ANDREW NELSON 5:30 AM ON MARCH 8, 2022

A recent site visit has shown notable progress on demolition and excavation for the 2,600-home Potrero Power Station development nine months after groundbreaking. Crews have removed several structures while retaining the historic Station A and 300-foot smokestack, both brick structures will serve as focal points in the 29-acre waterfront development in Dogpatch, San Francisco. Associate Capital is responsible for the project.

...

In other positive news for the project, the design review applications for Blocks 7A, 7B, 8, and 15 are approved by the San Francisco Planning Department just a few days ago. The approvals cover three residential apartment blocks and the adaptive reuse of Station A into a modernized office building.

Permits filed to the Planning Department by Associate Capital show that phase one of construction will include all of the above blocks, as well as Blocks 11 and 12. The design review process has been started for the two office/life sciences blocks, with project-specific details not yet published.

The Potrero Power Station project is poised to create 5.3 million square feet across several new buildings, including around 2,600 new homes, over a million square feet of offices and R&D space, retail, a boutique hotel, and nearly seven acres of public amenities and parks.

https://sfyimby.com/2022/03/excavati...aterfront.html

[homebucket]

https://sfyimby.com/2022/03/excavati...aterfront.html