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  #521  
Old Posted Jul 7, 2009, 1:23 PM
WildCowboy WildCowboy is offline
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Can't say this a complete surprise given some of the events over the last six months, but still...not good.

Quote:
Pfizer drops planned biotech research center
Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 7, 2009

(07-06) 20:57 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- New York drug giant Pfizer has pulled the plug on plans to open a biotech research center near UCSF's Mission Bay Campus, a move that deals a blow to San Francisco's hope of becoming a major biotechnology hub.

"We're in discussions now with the landlord to exit the lease," Pfizer spokeswoman Joan Campion said Monday, reversing a decision that had been announced with great fanfare in August.

At that time, Mayor Gavin Newsom had called the planned Pfizer research center a "significant win" for San Francisco.

Newsom press secretary Nathan Ballard said Monday that the mayor was disappointed by Pfizer's change of plans but remained confident that UCSF eventually will become a magnet for industrial activity.

"This doesn't change what makes Mission Bay a good location for biotech companies," Ballard said.

The city's expectations for the Pfizer deal had been fueled by the fact that the new center was to have been headed by Bay Area biotech entrepreneur Corey Goodman.

But in January, Pfizer made a $68 billion bid for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a drugmaker with its own large biotech research group. Once that transaction closes later this year, Wyeth executive Mikael Dolsten will head biotech research at the combined companies. Meanwhile, Goodman, the city's champion, has left the company.

When those post-merger executive changes were revealed in April, Pfizer initially said it still planned to occupy 105,000 square feet of research space in a building under construction at Mission Bay.

But Campion said Monday that Pfizer now thinks it makes more sense to keep its 100 Bay Area employees at Rinat Neuroscience, a South San Francisco startup it acquired in 2006, rather than moving them to Mission Bay as planned. The company did not disclose what, if any, financial penalty would be associated with the change in plans.

Despite Pfizer's pullout, Ballard said, a dozen biotech companies already have located near Mission Bay, including the Sirna division of Merck, another large drug company.

"As an observer of that project over the last 15 years, I think Mission Bay is finally reaching critical mass," said Rodney Ferguson with the venture investment firm Panorama Capital.

"I don't really think Pfizer's coming or not coming really affects the success of Mission Bay," said Michael Schuppenhauer, a biotech consultant in Half Moon Bay.

He said Pfizer could have been to Mission Bay like the anchor tenant at a shopping mall. But the research park could still succeed as a district of smaller biotech firms focused on niche medical products, Schuppenhauer said.

Skip Whitney, with the biotech real estate brokerage firm GVA Kidder Mathews, said that is already happening.

"I have half a dozen clients actively looking at Mission Bay right now," Whitney said.

The fact that incoming UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellman is a former Genentech executive can only help Mission Bay's commercial appeal, Whitney said.

But Pfizer's about-face is a blow to San Francisco's pride, and if success means attracting a major drug company research center, that milestone could be years away.

Regis Kelly, director of QB3, the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences at Mission Bay, said drug companies tend to locate research centers near hospitals where they can translate lab work into medical practice. UCSF plans to build a medical center at Mission Bay, but that is at least five years away.

"The key thing is when we have the hospital in place," Kelly said.
Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...BURR18JSOJ.DTL
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  #522  
Old Posted Jul 7, 2009, 5:32 PM
BTinSF BTinSF is offline
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I've been expecting it. Pfizer, frankly, is a flailing company that hasn't figured out what they need to do to grow and prosper. Their best drugs are going off-patent and they don't know how to replace them. They are lunging here and there. Mission Bay, for them, was a lunge but sure to be followed by a lunge in another direction as it has been. And big pharma like Pfizer is not the direction Mission Bay really wants to go anyway.
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  #523  
Old Posted Jul 21, 2009, 5:02 AM
timbad timbad is offline
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it's been quiet on here, must be time for a status update!

first up, the Cardiovascular Research (CVR) Building, which is getting its surface layer at the top of the section closest to the Helen Diller Cancer Center in the left of the pic:



and here is our South Commons line-up, from right to left: CVR, Helen Diller, ex-Pfizer, unoccupied. (no sign that work on the Commons itself is imminent)



looking north along new Fourth Street (now open between the creek and Strata!) from next to CVR. Strata in the distance on the right side.



I couldn't resist an artsier shot of the CVR glass:



the sidewalk across Third from UCSF housing is all in, complete with new trees (back of ex-Pfizer in distance):



at looong last, all the construction equipment is gone and all lanes open on newly paved Terry Francois, the major street that runs along the eastern side of MB. here looking north:



and looking south, where on the right side you can barely see the far eastern end of the Commons in front of the unoccupied building. on the left is a parking lot for the boat club just out of the pic, past which the SF Bay Trail runs. further in the distance will be a sizeable patch of bayfront open space once Terry Francois has been straightened:



unseen in the pic, the little stretch of South Commons in front of the unoccupied building has also been paved.

jumping over to 1500 Owens, they have installed a new piece of art in front of the building, which I rather like. in case it's not clear, the faceless seated figure is made up of (random, as far as I can tell) letters.



work continues on the pumping station infrastructure on the southwest side of the creek:



the piping seen in that first pic looks to join up with these, which lead to and I assume spill into the creek itself (barely noticeable past the concrete structure in the distance):



I thought the garage behind Gladstone Institutes would be about done by now, but there apparently is more to it than I knew. the concrete is done, and about all the metal panels and mesh/lattice for the plants is installed, but now there is metal framework going up for stairs and I'm not sure what all else. these first two pics were taken last week:





and this on Saturday. I'm liking it already:



I wasn't gonna post pics of ex-Pfizer, but I kinda want to gripe about it a little, so here goes:



first, I still think it looks cheap and just thrown-up. but also, now that the glass for the middle connecting section is in, turns out that it's different-hued: translucent dark and light gray instead of the greenish of the rest. this clashes horribly to my aesthetic eye. this already after the orange doesn't go well at all with the brick of the unoccupied building next door (don't know if that could have been avoided, or whether things like that are even taken into account).

and, not that you can really tell in the pic, but the building encroaches all the way to the edge of the sidewalk for most of its perimeter. since it's right across from the Commons open space, I just think it would have been nice not to crowd so much, offer some sort of transition, landscaping or something. I know height limits and economics probably drove the need to fill every available inch of footprint, but I'm just saying it would have been nice.

having said all that, I actually don't care all that much. although I wish it were less visible, this is a research building, after all, and it will surely serve its specific purpose well, as well as play its role in helping to generate a thriving biotech community in MB.

from Third St:



besides all this,

- lots of digging continues south of 16th St next to the freeway/train tracks for the water/sewer work. hard to get a shot of what's going on, though.

- the large parking garage across from the Old Navy building doesn't look much different than in recent photos. they are clearing and grading the ground around it, and some concrete has been poured, for the entrance driveway on the east side, for example. I think I am leaning toward considering the perforated panels a not completely successful execution of what was desired, but I am still impressed at the effort. on its south side, it's hard to tell with the scaffolding and draping still up, but the façade looks to be given something like windows. we'll have to see.

- the street on the south side of the parking garage has been paved, but is still blocked off on both ends for now.

- although the surcharging dirt has been moved off the parcel next to Rock Hall, I didn't see any further activity there.

looking forward, I imagine all current activity noted here will be substantially done by the end of the year. and then it may be quiet...?
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  #524  
Old Posted Jul 21, 2009, 5:15 AM
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Thanks for the great update, timbad!
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  #525  
Old Posted Jul 21, 2009, 2:02 PM
WildCowboy WildCowboy is offline
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Thanks, timbad! I am really loving the cardiovascular research building so far. Lots of other projects coming along well too.
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  #526  
Old Posted Jul 21, 2009, 8:22 PM
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Excellent, excellent update. Thank you!

I absolutely love the glass on the CVR building. Very similar to 1500 Owens, which I also love. Speaking of which, I too like that sculpture. I hope the artist included his name in there somewhere with those letters. I'm also with you on ex-Pfizer. I don't hate it, but I didn't particularly like it in the renderings and I don't like it much in real life. It's just very generic-looking.
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  #527  
Old Posted Jul 22, 2009, 12:01 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by timbad View Post
this is a research building, after all, and it will surely serve its specific purpose well, as well as play its role in helping to generate a thriving biotech community in MB.
More importantly, it's a RENTAL research building. Unlike the UC buildings or condos that either seek to impress or to lure buyers with higher grade finishes, this building is there to make money for Alexandria and its stockholders (such as ME). Lower costs per sq. ft + higher rental per sq. ft. = more profit.

But Mission Bay needs some rental space. Many companies do not want to own real estate and without some rental lab space (and Alexandria totally dominates that submarket) you'd exclude a number of potential contributers to the mix of employers at Mission Bay.
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  #528  
Old Posted Jul 22, 2009, 1:03 AM
WildCowboy WildCowboy is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BTinSF View Post
More importantly, it's a RENTAL research building. Unlike the UC buildings or condos that either seek to impress or to lure buyers with higher grade finishes, this building is there to make money for Alexandria and its stockholders (such as ME). Lower costs per sq. ft + higher rental per sq. ft. = more profit.
I agree in part, but rental buildings don't HAVE to look cheap. See 1500 Owens for an example of a very nice looking rental building. 1700 Owens isn't bad either. I'm not particularly fond of the concrete look on much of the Old Navy HQ or the faux brick on its vacant neighbor, but the west side properties prove that it can be done, and done by Alexandria no less.
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  #529  
Old Posted Jul 24, 2009, 5:37 PM
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Quote:
Friday, July 24, 2009
Bosa’s Mission Bay condos nearly all sold
San Francisco Business Times - by J.K. Dineen

Bosa Development has sold all but 12 units of its 99-unit Radiance development in Mission Bay, and CEO Nat Bosa says the firm may start construction on the next phase in the spring of 2010.

Bosa Sales and Marketing Director Dennis Serraglio said aggressive price cuts have boosted traffic in the sales office by 50 percent and that he expects the project to sell out by the end of the summer. Radiance has averaged 12 sales a month over the past three months. About 55 percent of buyers work in Mission Bay, he said.

“We’re getting ready to go — we’re pretty bullish,” said Serraglio. “Interest rates are low and prices are low, which is a pretty rare combination.”

Bosa Development, which has residential projects slated for Mission Bay, suspended construction last August on Phase II of the project, a 318-unit building, citing the deteriorating market. Since then Bosa, like other developers, has cut prices 20 to 30 percent. One unit originally priced at $1.56 million recently closed for $1.29.

Bosa said his firm is talking to city officials about splitting the 318-unit building into two phases. The first phase would have 200 units. Bosa said the decision to go forward would be driven by two factors: price increases and cheaper construction costs. Bosa said current condo prices would have to rise 10 percent to justify the next building.


“If we don’t see substantial cost reductions it won’t pencil and there is nothing to talk about,” said Bosa.

He said lenders would not consider investing in the next building until there is a clear indication that the market has bottomed out and prices are on the rise.

“There is no use in kidding around here — my first phase is costing me a hell of a lot of money out of my pocket,” said Bosa.

The current inventory of high-end condos could be dried up by next spring, with the exception of the 419-unit Millennium.

“We are trying to get the hell out of a bad situation,” said Bosa. “The only winners are the buyers.”

jkdineen@bizjournals.com / (415) 288-4971
Source: http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/...ml?t=printable
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  #530  
Old Posted Jul 24, 2009, 10:07 PM
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I sure hope they are able to do phase II someday, and I'm sure the buyers at phase I agree. Personally, I think phase II looks much better and it will add some much-needed height to Mission Bay (not that it's that tall, but it's taller than the standard 5-6 stories in MB).

For the current residents, phase II has most of the common amenities, like the pool, sauna, fire rings, patio etc. I would sure be looking forward to getting all that, especially if I was an early buyer before it was clear that phase II would go on hold.
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  #531  
Old Posted Jul 25, 2009, 6:15 AM
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What's going on on the left? A DNA sequence?

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  #532  
Old Posted Jul 26, 2009, 1:26 AM
WildCowboy WildCowboy is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pseudolus View Post
What's going on on the left? A DNA sequence
Yes, it's part of the human genome.
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  #533  
Old Posted Jul 26, 2009, 7:10 PM
timbad timbad is offline
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yeah, in the section at the top of the piece, which is the most discernible in the pic, are letters representing the nucleotides from part of the human genome. further down, harder to make out, are historical quotations in various languages, including Latin (if I remember right), (ancient?) Greek, and I think you can make out Chinese script at the bottom.
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  #534  
Old Posted Jul 26, 2009, 8:22 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WildCowboy View Post
Yes, it's part of the human genome.
In case you don't know (probably you do--they probably teach this in kindergarten now ):

A = Adenine
G = Guanine
T = Thymine
C = Cytosine

This shows how the bases pair (the image is RNA so it has uracil rather than thymine):


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucleobase

But nucleic acid strands (one side of the double-stranded helix) are commonly shown as the sequence of bases: AGCAC etc
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  #535  
Old Posted Jul 26, 2009, 8:39 PM
timbad timbad is offline
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a couple more things from this weekend's wander...

the scaffolding has come down on the Fourth St side of the CVR building (still up on the south side):



and, the scaffolding has started to come down on the south side of the large parking garage, revealing this:



same design texture as for the elevator column/stairwell element on the other side. looks better than ex-Pfizer, and it's a parking garage!

you can also barely see that the new street running in front of this side is paved black. looked like they were getting ready to stripe it as of yesterday. and they've already taken down the overhead electric lines; the sign in the pic is a left-over.

on the north side, more extensive digging work going on than it appeared last week (looking west. garage on left, UCSF housing and Helen Diller center across Third St in the distance):



seems that in addition to whatever sidewalk treatment they're working on, they are probably going to put in a small access road there, since they've removed a chunk of sidewalk where the outlet to Third St will be:



here is a shot looking back (east) from that missing sidewalk spot on Third:



you can't see in the pic, but the earth-moving seems to include the area off to the left behind the construction trailers, all the way to the back of ex-Pfizer. by last week they had removed some short trees from that area that had been there since before development days. I'm a little curious to see what all comes of this.

I was a little surprised as I walked that at different sites, people were on the job on a Saturday. at the garage behind Gladstone, the welders were at work putting together the metal framing around the stairwells. you can also see that since the last photo, they have installed wire meshing (for climbing plants?), for example on the outside of the yellow elevator shaft.



and here from the northeast corner:



those stairs just hanging out there, and the catwalks on the upper two levels really intrigue me. I'm liking the industrial look, and, not sure why, but the openness just seems jaunty to me. they may end up enclosing it all, but I hope they don't. in any case, for me, this garage so far looks cool, but still does not stray too far from what it is. I'm not saying this well, but thinking of the other big garage, although I appreciate the efforts to make it more interesting (and it is definitely much better than if they hadn't done anything), I think it tries too hard. the sheer bulk of that one made it more challenging too. neither one will actually be that visible when everything else has been built out, but I think Gladstone employees win big time on this one!

it occurred to me the other day that in the maps for MB, there is a road shown in approximately the location of all the digging south of 16th St (dividing parcels 38-9 from 40), so wonder if the sewer work is a first stage for putting that in. actually, I'll have to go back and check whether the recent medical center plans have affected that - seem to remember a big parking lot over there in drawings. this was new since the last time I had wandered by there:


Last edited by timbad; Jul 26, 2009 at 9:08 PM.
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  #536  
Old Posted Jul 27, 2009, 1:39 PM
WildCowboy WildCowboy is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BTinSF View Post
In case you don't know (probably you do--they probably teach this in kindergarten now ):
I'm assuming you meant that information as a general "FYI" to anyone reading the thread, but I was amused that you quoted me to make it a response to my comment. I have a PhD in this stuff.

timbad, thanks again for more great shots. The exterior of CVRI is coming together incredibly quickly. I'm sure it will take them forever to get the interior built out (I believe mid-2011 is the completion date), but it's nice to see such progress on the exterior, particularly after the Diller Building waited years to finally finish up the exterior at the very end.

Yes, those should be sewer lines running under what will be the extension of Owens Street from 16th down to Mariposa where it will interface (awkwardly) with the 280 ramps.

Last edited by WildCowboy; Jul 28, 2009 at 7:35 PM. Reason: typo
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  #537  
Old Posted Jul 27, 2009, 10:52 PM
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Originally Posted by WildCowboy View Post
I'm assuming you meant that information as a general "FYI" to anyone reading the thread, but I was amused that you quoted me to make it a response to my comment. I have a PhD in this stuff.
I quoted you because I considered what I wrote essentially an amplification (for anyone who might need it) of what you said.

FYI I have an MD which means I know a little about it ( ) but not as much as a PhD. But maybe I do (or did--I'm retired now) get a little more professional contact with people who might not know what you meant by "human genome"--in the PhD world it might be hard to remember there are such people. Multiple 's.

Always happy to amuse.
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  #538  
Old Posted Jul 31, 2009, 2:18 PM
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Quote:
Friday, July 31, 2009
Stimulus push for Mission Bay
City chases $72 million for new neighborhood

San Francisco Business Times - by Ron Leuty

Mission Bay is targeting $72 million in federal stimulus funds for infrastructure projects that backers say will build out a critical link between the Transbay Terminal and Hunters Point as well as help San Francisco’s life sciences enclave bridge a funding gap.

Shovel-ready projects for building hundreds of yards of roads, sidewalks and sewer pipe, including a key highway off-ramp, could open more Mission Bay parcels to development. That new development, supporters say, would unleash new waves of Mission Bay-specific tax-increment financing that typically funds infrastructure improvements but has slowed with the economic downturn.

Three Mission Bay projects from the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency are among 85 regional priorities highlighted by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute:

One application seeks $24.7 million in stimulus funds for $31 million in projects, including the Interstate 280 off-ramp onto Mariposa Street, which sweeps behind the University of California, San Francisco, hospital site and into the southern edge of Mission Bay. Other projects are the extension of Owens and Fourth streets through the hospital site and a network of streets that connect to 16th and Mariposa.

Another application requests $24.6 million to improve Terry Francois Boulevard, Illinois and Third streets and other roads around the FibroGen Inc. headquarters on Illinois. That work also would total $31 million and clear the way for two undeveloped sites designed for cleantech and medical office projects.

A third application for $23.8 million, through the state Water Resources Control Board and in coordination with the Association of Bay Area Governments, is for “urban greening” initiatives. The projects, which total about $34 million when local matches are included, are designed to replace paved parcels with open space, pervious pavement or retention systems and rely heavily on separate storm and sanitary sewer pipes and pump stations.

UCSF also has applied for stimulus funds for the site where it plans to build its $1.69 billion women’s, children’s and cancer hospital.

The former railyard and warehouse district is largely on its way to being built out as San Francisco’s life sciences hub, but large swaths remain undeveloped. Backers say stimulus money would push infrastructure projects ahead, allowing new development and, as a result, new tax-increment funds that could be dedicated to affordable housing.

“The fact that (Mission Bay is) half-done doesn’t mean we stop in our efforts,” said Michael Cohen, the city’s economic development chief. “There’s enough critical mass, but we need to make sure the infrastructure is in place.”

What’s more, city officials see Mission Bay as essential to developing a corridor from the Transbay Terminal to Hunters Point, where city officials have proposed a 2 million-square-foot cleantech campus. For developers in both of those districts to demand top-of-market commercial lease rates, for example, Mission Bay must be built out.

“It’s a classic supply-and-demand issue,” Cohen said.

Stimulus funds would flow from the federal government to the redevelopment agency.

Farallon Capital Management, the San Francisco hedge fund that bought Catellus’ interest in Mission Bay in 2004, oversees infrastructure work through its Mission Bay Development Group.

By being shovel-ready, job-intensive, urban-infill projects well served by different types of transportation, the Mission Bay applications could have an advantage over other stimulus projects nationally.

Regardless, projects are continuing. For one, Mission Bay Development Group is moving a 66-inch sewer line — essentially the local match in one stimulus application — that runs under the west side of the UCSF hospital site.

UCSF’s application for stimulus funds highlights a potential $200 million shortfall in state funding for the project. Plus, said Cindy Lima, executive director of the Mission Bay hospitals project, UCSF has collected about $220 million toward a $600 million fundraising goal.

“Every bit helps,” Lima said.

rleuty@bizjournals.com / (415) 288-4939
Source: http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/...03/story3.html
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  #539  
Old Posted Aug 2, 2009, 9:56 AM
timbad timbad is offline
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Quote:
...Mission Bay Development Group is moving a 66-inch sewer line — essentially the local match in one stimulus application — that runs under the west side of the UCSF hospital site.
thanks for posting that, BT - that puts all that digging into good context, and, along with WildCowboy's post, answers my wonderings about the roads through that patch. nice timing!
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  #540  
Old Posted Aug 7, 2009, 5:36 PM
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Quote:
Friday, August 7, 2009
UCSF to cut $100M from Mission Bay hospital plan
San Francisco Business Times - by Chris Rauber

UCSF Medical Center plans to slash another $100 million from the projected $1.686 billion price tag for its new women’s, children’s and cancer specialty hospital at Mission Bay, as UCSF, the University of California system and many would-be philanthropists face daunting fiscal challenges.

Officials told the Business Times the medical center has already shaved $200 million in projected spending that had previously pushed the Mission Bay project’s estimated price tag to nearly $1.9 billion.

On top of that, the medical center’s leadership “has mandated” a new budget target of $1.586 billion, said Cindy Lima, executive director of UCSF’s Mission Bay hospital project. “Our potential donors want to know we are doing everything possible to contain costs,” she said.

Some of the cost savings are likely to be achieved by the decrease in construction inflation and raw materials prices that have accompanied the economic slowdown. But Lima said her 100-strong team at the university’s Integrated Center for Design and Construction is also looking for savings both large and small throughout the project, adding that the discipline involved “is almost excruciating.”

For example, she said, UCSF has wrestled an estimated $800,000 out of the budget merely by changing specifications for the hinges on about 2,700 doors in the new complex.

Lima said UCSF won’t have a final handle on cost estimates for the Mission Bay hospital complex until next July, when bidding on the project is expected to be completed. Few specifics are available at this point, since the medical center has yet to pick many partners in the project. Anshen + Allen is the project’s outside architect; DPR Construction is its general contractor.

Stuart Eckblad, an in-house UCSF architect and its director of design and construction, said the medical center will be squeezing costs out of individual systems, like plumbing or heating and cooling, rather than slashing entire departments or units of the facility.

crauber@bizjournals.com / (415) 288-4946
Source: http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/...10/story5.html

I guess if you ever spend any time in that hospital, take a sweater and some ear plugs to cover up the sound of squeaky hinges.
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