SAN FRANCISCO | Mission Bay

[WildCowboy]

Mission Loc@l: Mission Bay Roundup

Fourth Street through Mission Bay set to open by mid-March at the latest...I see on the UCSF CVRB webcam that they're striping the block there on UCSF's campus.

Also noted is that plans for the big city bond to pay for a forensic science lab at 1600 Owens has been scrapped...too bad...would really like to see that project get off the ground to fill in the gap between 1500 Owens and everything else. "Latte Lane" can only tie things together so well. Police/fire HQ on Third by the old firehouse is apparently still a go though.

Also discussion of Mercy's affordable housing planned for 1000 Fourth Street at Channel. Not sure what the scheduled timetable for construction start, but at one point I had heard January 2011.

Regarding the Giants/SWL337 stuff, it always annoys me when there's a competitive bid process to pick a winner, and then that winner's plans implode. Here's hoping they can hold things together in some form, as it's good to have the Giants involved there. Still would have liked to seen a small arena that was proposed by one of the other groups for that site and almost wish could have another shot at making their plan work before the Giants thing gets decimated.

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by WildCowboy

it always annoys me when there's a competitive bid process to pick a winner, and then that winner's plans implode.

Standby. Every day may be the day the news comes out that that has happened to the TransBay Tower. I just can't imagine Hines building it any time soon and it wouldn't surprise me to see them try to sell the rights to build it.

[viewguysf]

Originally Posted by BTinSF

Standby. Every day may be the day the news comes out that that has happened to the TransBay Tower. I just can't imagine Hines building it any time soon and it wouldn't surprise me to see them try to sell the rights to build it.

Yes BT, I agree with you. There is absolutely no demand for new office space, especially a mega tower.

[peanut gallery]

Sorry, going way off topic here...

Hasn't Hines already paid the TJPA for their rights? If so, I really don't care what they do with them. I just want the new terminal built. The tower (and the other SOMA proposals) will improve the aesthetics of the skyline, but a new world-class terminal with rail is far more important to the city and region.

Back to Mission Bay: I really hope the Giants get their proposal back on track. That will be the most dynamic part of the area, both in terms of building height and public space.

And thanks for the sneak peek, timbad!

[timbad]

from an email sent Friday, the next little step in getting closer to a UCSF Medical Center...:

"Starting Monday March 15, workers will begin crushing the foundation slab that remains after the warehouse demolition. Because it is considered noisy work, it will be restricted to the hours of 8 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday. This activity is expected to be complete in about one month."

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by peanut gallery

Sorry, going way off topic here...

Hasn't Hines already paid the TJPA for their rights? If so, I really don't care what they do with them.

Just saw this. You know, I wonder what the status is and I worry about it. The city has a deal with Hines, yes, but that may be no more than a promise to pay and we all know what promises mean in the development world today. I don't think the city actually has the money in its own bank account at this point. But I could be wrong. Nobody ever reports this kind of detail.

[timbad]

from an email sent a few days ago...

"On Friday March 19, the City and County of San Francisco plans to open Fourth Street to traffic through the UCSF Mission Bay campus, ending (of course) at 16th Street.

Please see article on UCSF website for more details: http://today.ucsf.edu/stories/ucsf-p...t-mission-bay/ "

[timbad]

here are a few shots from this morning, showing the status of Fourth Street on its last closed day.

looking north from the intersection with South Mission Bay Blvd (next to the CVRB):



looking north from the intersection with Nelson Rising Wy, a block south of the previous shot. to the right is the CVRB with its newly-installed ?shade screens? you can also see one of the pedestrian crossing islands put in within the last couple of months, and which are mentioned in the UCSF article linked to in the previous post. I saw a street sweeper/cleaner active as I walked by this morning, tho not visible in the photo:



looking south from about the same spot as the previous photo, Sixteenth Street in the far distance, and a clearer shot of a pedestrian crossing. this has/had been the northern terminus of the open section of Fourth Street through UCSF for years. Rock Hall to the right, student housing to the left. just behind where the U-Haul truck is is where UCSF is planning to have the city put in another traffic light in the next few months; it's an important pedestrian crossing point. not sure what PGE was up to.



... and a couple random shots... first, in the courtyard behind the CVRB the windows were also getting their shades placed today:



the pumping station in front of the Diller Cancer building has gotten most of its exterior finishing touches, though plenty of digging still undone around it. in the background, I believe the windows you can see on the CVRB will also get those screens eventually, but not sure, since I don't think the sun will hit them much):



and maybe the most intriguing, there seemed to be activity in the lot of the Commons in front of ex-Pfizer. it's hard to see in this shot, but in the distance there is a back-hoe, and you might be able to pick out the construction worker just behind the near fence. I was in too much of a hurry to be able to investigate further, but I'll see what I can see this weekend. I'm keeping my fingers crossed they are finally starting this next section of Commons.



the exterior of ex-Pfizer is all but done: sidewalks are all re-laid, street re-paved, even the outside planters have their little plants in them.

[timbad]

and I just came across this here:

"Roadwork

Phil Owen, president of the Mission Bay Development Group, updated the committee on what’s happening with roadwork.

Owens said that the company will start the bid process for roadwork in the northwest corner of Mission Bay. The traffic circle and roads there will connect Seventh Street and the north of Channel area to the south of Channel area. Once the work begins – Owen said the company’s hoping for around May – it will be an 18-month project."

here it comes - Mission Bay is about to get noisy again!

[WildCowboy]

Thanks for the shots, timbad.

I know that the city is planning for street parking to be allowed along Fourth Street, but I wonder if that includes the block "between the Commons". Those turn lanes, when combined with parked cars, appear to make the travel lanes rather narrow.

Fourth Street was supposed to be very bike-friendly, and given the Caltrain station right up the street and the fact that riding on Third is taking your life in your hands, it's disturbing if cyclists will be pinched as much as it appears there. In fact, Fourth should have a striped bike lane given the flat road, university campus, and transit connections, so this is quite a disappointment in that regard. May not be bad at first, but it will get much busier over time.

[BTinSF]

Friday, March 19, 2010
Bonds sale to unlock door for UC San Francisco project
San Francisco Business Times - by Ron Leuty

With the sale of up to $250 million in bonds from a little-known state entity, construction will start by the end of the month on a first-of-its-kind neuroscience research center on UCSF’s Mission Bay campus.

The California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, or I-Bank, expected to sell the bonds March 19 through the state treasurer. Proceeds of the bond sale will funnel through a nonprofit group set up by the University of California, San Francisco, to private developer Edgemoor/McCarthy Cook Partners LLC.

Edgemoor/McCarthy Cook, which was set up by Edgemoor Real Estate Services and McCarthy Cook & Co., is subleasing the patch of ground from the nonprofit group that leased it from the UC Regents. Then Edgemoor/McCarthy Cook will lease the finished building to UC, whose rent payments over 30 years will pay principal and interest on the bonds . . . .

Clark Construction Co. is the design-builder of the 237,000-square-foot structure, which will house about 500 UCSF employees and be ready for move-in by spring 2012. According to I-Bank documents, about 360 of those will be new neuroscience research jobs . . . .

Source: http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/...22/story4.html

[timbad]

Originally Posted by WildCowboy

I know that the city is planning for street parking to be allowed along Fourth Street, but I wonder if that includes the block "between the Commons". Those turn lanes, when combined with parked cars, appear to make the travel lanes rather narrow.

and currently the sidewalks between the Commons do jut out a little more than on the rest of the Fourth, making the street slightly narrower there. I had figured that was intentional, since one might imagine more pedestrian traffic there. parking on that stretch would seem strange to me, but I'll see tomorrow.

I wholeheartedly agree that Fourth should be bike-friendly, and that it would be disappointing if there wasn't much evidence of a significant effort to make it so.

[peanut gallery]

Thanks for the updates, timbad. I've been waiting for the circle to get underway. And it will be great to see more of the commons completed. Were you able to confirm if they are indeed working on it?

[timbad]

and here it is, an open Fourth Street, taken from the CVRB looking north:



and here's a shot of the CVRB from the front, since we haven't had one in a while (you can see that the front windows did get those screens):



and here, looking south from Mission Bay Blvd North, I think you can see clearly how the curbs between the Commons stick out a little, and that the signs say 'no stopping':



and here is confirmation that they are certainly doing something in the Commons in front of ex-Pfizer . there used to be a rectangular set of berms in the middle of the lot that held collected water for long stretches; it has all been graded (the Canada geese I used to see over there a lot are probably not pleased). looking west:



and looking east:



a while back I think it was WildCowboy who pointed to a story that indicated this segment had gotten some (?stimulus) funding, so here's hoping this is really it going forward. and now if we can only frame it with a little Radiance to the north...

[WildCowboy]

Originally Posted by timbad

a while back I think it was WildCowboy who pointed to a story that indicated this segment had gotten some (?stimulus) funding, so here's hoping this is really it going forward. and now if we can only frame it with a little Radiance to the north...

Yep, here is my post from last October about the stimulus funding for this block of the Commons. That has to be what's going on...glad to see it underway!

And good news about the no parking in the Commons block of 4th. Would prefer a dedicated bike lane, but at least glad to see that it appears to provide a wide travel lane throughout for sharing the road.

[1977]

Are the Golden State Warriors moving to San Francisco (Mission Bay)??

http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2010/0...ay_stadium.php

[1977]

By the way, thanks for all of the photo updates Timbad.

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by 1977

Are the Golden State Warriors moving to San Francisco (Mission Bay)??

http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2010/0...ay_stadium.php

Very possibly:

-Larry Ellison, of course, is the biggest name and richest man involved in bidding for the Warriors.

They’re for sale. He’s obviously the buyer-to-beat.

But, according to two sources who have accurately predicted every bit of this process for almost a year now, Ellison is by no means the only party interested in purchasing the Warriors.

At least five or six other groups have expressed tacit interest over the last year or so. Those groups were told to hold off on expressing official, public interest or even making a general bid until “the gun goes off,” I was told.

Well, the gun went off this morning, with the Warriors’ announcement that they’ve hired Galatioto Sports Partners to facilitate a sale.

Let’s go through a few of the details, as has been explained to me, knowing that things can change rapidly when hundreds of millions of dollars are involved…

* Sal Galatioto is a known presence in ownership circles and he has unofficially been gauging interest in a Warriors purchase for a few months, and passing along the information to Cohan.

Ellison, as is his style, got out early with an aggressive attempt that apparently did not involve GSP.

Ellison’s reported $315M valuing of the franchise (Cohan owns 80%)–believed to have been made in a face-to-face meeting with Cohan last summer–is the only number on the board right now.

* According to my sources, almost all of the major parties interested in the Warriors are looking to possibly move the team to San Francisco, in a newly built (privately financed) arena in Giants’ parking lot adjacent to AT&T Park.

That includes Ellison, I’m told, though I believe he’d want to own the Warriors wherever they play–his company’s name, after all, is on the current arena.

* One keenly interested potential purchaser, I’ve heard, is 24-Hour Fitness founder Mark Mastrov, an East Bay guy who is close to Magic Johnson.

I don’t know if Johnson would be involved as a partner in a Mastrov group (Johnson would have to divest his 5% stake in the Lakers), and I don’t know if a Mastrov purchase would mean an attempt to move to San Francisco . . . .

* This could drag out. Sales sometimes do. Lots of money is at stake, background checks are necessary, sometimes offers rise or fall depending on outside influences (stock market, overall economy).

But to go this public, I’m told, means that Cohan is ready to sell this fairly rapidly.

A decent time-frame might look like this…

Bids in a matter of a month or so. Further negotiations over a few more weeks or months.

Possible sale agreement by mid-summer . . . .

Source: http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakam...sf-bid-likely/

[peanut gallery]

Like the Curbed article says, it would mean a pretty major reworking of the Giants' plan. But last we heard, the financial part of the plan needs reworking anyway so why not start with a privately-financed arena? I'm still not sold on the need for a third state-of-the-art arena in the metro, but if that's how Ellison (or whoever) wants to spend his money, who am I to say?

Now if the Yorks would just follow Cohan's lead, I would be ecstatic.

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by peanut gallery

I'm still not sold on the need for a third state-of-the-art arena in the metro, but if that's how Ellison (or whoever) wants to spend his money, who am I to say?

I've never been there so I wouldn't know, but is the Oakland arena still "state of the art"?

Don't you agree that a pro B-ball team playing in downtown SF would be:

a) great for downtown SF,

and

b) great for the team,

and, well OK,

c) not so great for poor Oakland?