SAN FRANCISCO | Mission Bay

[timbad]

a few updates from the weekend...

first, a building permit issued to Mercy Housing has been posted on the fence on the corner of Fourth at Channel. this would seem to be for the project on block 13 East, which currently looks like this (looking south, so Fourth is off to the left behind the green fence):



if that gets going soon, it will be quite satisfactory to have *four* major buildings in progress at once again (in addition to the infrastructure). it seems that the current construction in the area aims at defining block 13, meaning its sidewalks and the streets that bound it. on the west end, there is the short connector street(s) that will run between Channel and Long Bridge and have the dog run in its 'median', and which might be called Fifth St. they were busy grading and compacting it on Saturday:



on the block's south side, Long Bridge has already been smoothed flat:



next, a few shots of the brick fire station, since it was in the news. looking south down Third (with Radiance II rising behind it):



looking north up Third:



and a close-up:



speaking of Radiance II... I had thought that I could tell that most of the construction was being done on the south side of the large parcel (which corresponds to the taller side of the project and which we had speculated represented phase IIa), but looking around the site this weekend, it seems that the building is rising equally across the entire thing. here is the northwest corner:



here looking north along Third from the *newly opened* Commons parcel:



and taking in a bit more of the southwest corner:



the lighting wasn't really optimum for taking pics of the Commons - here is just one shot looking west from the end of the adjacent parcel:



couple of random shots... first, just because it's a perspective I don't usually shoot, here is a look at the med center site from the southeast corner looking north:



... and although there were decent looks at it from a distance in earlier shots, here is the north side of the neurosciences building with its exterior in place (Rock Hall on the left):



Nelson Rising Lane, which is the street you sort of see in that pic, is shaping up to be the utilitarian back alley of the campus; all the buildings so far pretty much turn their backs to it.

over in the northwest corner of MB, there hasn't been much change since the last shots posted, disappointingly. I really thought we were about to see something other than dirt these last couple weeks, but it can't be far off.

[peanut gallery]

As always, thanks for the great updates, timbad! You can still make out where the street used to cut diagonally right next to the old firehouse -- some of the old curbs are still visible in the middle of what's now a block. And I love seeing the progress on Radiance II. When they announced phasing the project I assumed they'd do the whole foundation at the same time but it sure looks like they're going well beyond that. Perhaps they'll do the whole podium and build up from there in phases. Or perhaps they've decided to do it all at once, which would be fantastic.

[1977]

Timbad! Thanks again for the updates. I've been trying to find a Radiance West webcam so this update was extra special. Does anyone have a link to one? I figured there might be an oxblue cam out there but my searches have come up empty.

[viewguysf]

Yes timbad, you're the best!

[WildCowboy]

Great shots as always, timbad!

Looks like Salesforce could break ground as soon as later this year. They've brought on Strada as a development firm to work with Legoretta on the campus.

I don't have access to the full article, so anyone with more details is invited to share.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...on-bay-HQ.html

[1977]

Originally Posted by WildCowboy

Great shots as always, timbad!

Looks like Salesforce could break ground as soon as later this year. They've brought on Strada as a development firm to work with Legoretta on the campus.

I don't have access to the full article, so anyone with more details is invited to share.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...on-bay-HQ.html

You can read the full article here. Flip to page 4.

[WildCowboy]

Originally Posted by 1977

You can read the full article here. Flip to page 4.

Awesome...thanks!

[1977]

I found some renderings and info about 'Block 5' (see map below for reference). I'm not sure how current these renderings are but the project looks pretty clean, imo.

MISSION BAY
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - COMPLETION 2013
Mission Bay is a multi phased residential mixed-use development that forms a new urban center with the UC biotech campus. The master plan is by Johnson Fein. The 8 towers range up to 16 floors and contain over 1000 units and 30,000 square feet of retail. We are currently designing Block 5. Block 10A has been built and block 10 is under construction by Bosa Development. Working with the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency these sites will have the highest quality streetscapes integrating parks, bike routes, mass transit, and retail activity.

Source: http://www.cfdarchitecture.com/CFD_A...ssion_Bay.html

[WildCowboy]

To be clear, Block 5 is only about 200 units. I'm not sure what the 1,000 units they're referring to is, but it seems to be some subset of the overall master plan. Same with the comment about 8 towers.

Still, not bad looking...it'll do as far as I'm concerned.

[peanut gallery]

I'm almost positive the last two renderings both show the eastern elevation along 4th, but they look quite different from each other, especially at ground level. I wonder which is more current? That's supposed to be retail along that side, and the rest of the triangular lot (on the west side) will be a park.

WildCowboy: I think the subset they are talking about is what's highlighted in red on the map. Not sure why those are associated with each other though. BTW, that would mean two more "towers" are slated for block 2.

[1977]

Originally Posted by peanut gallery

I'm almost positive the last two renderings both show the eastern elevation along 4th, but they look quite different from each other, especially at ground level. I wonder which is more current? That's supposed to be retail along that side, and the rest of the triangular lot (on the west side) will be a park.

WildCowboy: I think the subset they are talking about is what's highlighted in red on the map. Not sure why those are associated with each other though. BTW, that would mean two more "towers" are slated for block 2.

Yeah, I think you're right PG. The road that is 'cutoff' in the smaller rendering looks to be Mission Rock Blvd with the park (Timbad's post #760) out of sight to the west.

I'm not positive but I think all of the "8 Towers" are associated with Bosa Development. The finished Radiance building (2 'towers') + the under construction Radiance West (2 towers) + Block 5 (2 towers) + 2 (?) towers at Block 2 = 8

[dr_strangelove]

My worst nightmare is that the city is devastated by an earthquake and we use the Mission Bay model to rebuild.

[WildCowboy]

Originally Posted by peanut gallery

I think the subset they are talking about is what's highlighted in red on the map. Not sure why those are associated with each other though. BTW, that would mean two more "towers" are slated for block 2.

Makes sense, but like you, I don't understand why they're lumped together here.

Originally Posted by 1977

I'm not positive but I think all of the "8 Towers" are associated with Bosa Development. The finished Radiance building (2 'towers') + the under construction Radiance West (2 towers) + Block 5 (2 towers) + 2 (?) towers at Block 2 = 8

Nope, or at least the "red" blocks don't exactly correspond to Bosa's holdings. The map shows blocks 2, 5, 10, and 10a in read. Bosa does own 5, 10, and 10a, but Block 2 is owned by UDR. Bosa also owns Block 13 West, which is not included in the red portions of the above map. Whether that's an error by the folks who created the map (highlighting the wrong block) or this subset has some other meaning, I don't know.

Here is a good up-to-date map showing ownership and plans for each of the blocks.

[WildCowboy]

Another development...this one's not in Mission Bay, but right next door to it. CCA has bought up the old Greyhound maintenance yard on the block between its main building and 7th. No immediate plans for permanent development, but they're looking at temporary uses.

Terrific news...that maintenance yard area has been an eyesore for quite some time...love to get more things going on along 7th to spruce up that edge facing Mission Bay.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...ssion-bay.html

[timbad]

yes, encouraging news re: Seventh St! altho having both the freeway and the train tracks there reinforces the feeling of Seventh as a border (not to mention how wide the street itself is), it sure would be nice to soften the transition a bit with some development that might help to link MB with Showplace Square and even the foot of Potrero Hill. (side note: even tho rather unlikely, managing to sort things out in a way that would allow undergrounding of the tracks further south when - I optimistically say 'when' - high-speed rail comes through would help a lot there too; maybe then a BRT or streetcar line out Sixteenth even. we dream)

and, I'm OK with that rendering of the block 5 project, whichever way it finally gets built. has some nice height and either way does break up the streetscape a little. having it and block 13 East and block 2, which I think we have said previously is also coming along in the pipeline, all in place in the next couple of years will do a lot to frame the northern entrance to the residential heart of MB, link up lonely Strata, and get us toward critical mass needed for the retail on Fourth.

couple of updates, since it's been a while...

speaking of the northern gateway into MB, Long Bridge (the street running for a short distance along one side of the block 5 project) is getting its streetlights! here looking through the fence showing the extension of the stub that had already been done when Fourth Street was completed:



and here a clearer shot down the new street (block 5 will be on the left; block 13 on the right):



of course, eventually it will continue on through the building currently in its path, but as mentioned before, they seem to be putting in just the block 13 portion, plus the little bit by the future dog run that connects it with Channel to the north. here is the state of that part (looking southeast; block 13 on the left, future dog run under the pile of debris on the right, beyond it the future triangular children's park that is the rest of block 5. in the distance they were busy assembling the roof structure on the neurosciences building on Saturday):



and over at Radiance II, here's how things are looking (anyone find a webcam yet?).... seen from Fourth, the building is solidly peeking above the fencing, and it won't be too long before it blots out Radiance I:



looking at the southeast corner from the Commons:



and looking at the north side from Third. I'm not sure why they had the sidewalk partially torn out on the north side of the street:



and, almost forgot, here is what things look like in the northwest corner of MB. still pretty much dirt, but a lot of flat, orderly dirt just screaming for structure to be thrown on top of it. looking south:



not in the picture, the asphalt path noted in an earlier photo has now had fencing put around it, and seems to be a new temporary pedestrian path around the site, which might mean that where the old path is, nearer the creek, will be torn up soon.

[1977]

Originally Posted by WildCowboy

Makes sense, but like you, I don't understand why they're lumped together here.



Nope, or at least the "red" blocks don't exactly correspond to Bosa's holdings. The map shows blocks 2, 5, 10, and 10a in read. Bosa does own 5, 10, and 10a, but Block 2 is owned by UDR. Bosa also owns Block 13 West, which is not included in the red portions of the above map. Whether that's an error by the folks who created the map (highlighting the wrong block) or this subset has some other meaning, I don't know.

Here is a good up-to-date map showing ownership and plans for each of the blocks.

Thanks for the map and clarification WildCowboy.

Timbad - Thanks for the photo update! Much appreciated as I rarely make it to that part of town.

[timbad]

brief update from this weekend... the neurosciences building is getting some glass on its west side:



you can also see it in the distance in this shot showing some of the northwest MB work (which does not show much change):



the biggest change on the ground there is that, as suspected, they've dug a shallow gash from the site of the current work to the creek, cutting through where the pedestrian path ran until this week. this is looking roughly north from the newly re-routed ped path:



in the first image in this post, the place where the gash is is occupied by a multi-colored swath that might be a bioswale, but I have no idea whether the two are related at this point.

elsewhere, I noticed that a long trench that had sat open for months, running along the future South Mission Bay Blvd west of Fourth, had been covered and smoothed over. since it seemed to reach all the way to, and probably connect with, the northwest work, it might be another indication that they are wrapping up underground and ready to do some stuff that we can see.

[Potrero]

Good news,

I drove by the hospital construction site Saturday and they had started putting up the crane. We should see things going up pretty soon.

[WildCowboy]

From the webcam. It's pretty poor resolution, but I've added an arrow where it looks like the first section of the yellow crane tower is coming up.

[timbad]

Originally Posted by WildCowboy

... It's pretty poor resolution, but I've added an arrow where it looks like the first section of the yellow crane tower is coming up.

I can corroborate - that's how I saw it from the train this morning too.

not to try to be a wet blanket, but if this site is anything like Radiance II, the crane-stub could sit there for a couple of months before anything more vertical happens. but we'll hope this is different!