SAN FRANCISCO | Mission Bay

[timbad]

Originally Posted by BTinSF

Where did I go to?

yeah, where did you go to?

[timbad]

an update from the weekend's wanderings...

well, suddenly there is a bit more to be talking about around here...

starting with the familiar, though, the landscaping in front and around the CVRB is more complete, including the ground around the palms. here looking roughly east from 4th:



... so that stretch of South MB Blvd over to Third may open up again soon. I really like how all the colors in the space come together, especially the reddish-brown of the trunks of the palms against the metallic-blue glass, and flashes of green high and low.

across 4th the other half of the UCSF entry is also complete. beyond it to the west still lie the MB Wastes, but even those may be having a little order imposed on them. here looking down what will be Mission Bay Blvd South, the south side of the Commons, ending in the distance at the under-construction roundabout (which is for the time being still just a series of now-more-sifted dirt-piles).


IMG_4465 by timbad, on Flickr

speaking of the Commons, over in front of Bayer/Nektar things are coming right along. on the east end the paving stones are just about all in. I'm not sure the pic gives the impression effectively, but I was pleased to note that, standing on one side of the little lane that runs between one section of the Commons and the next, I still felt the sense of continuity between the two sections. I think the designers did a good job with the narrowness of the lane, the fact that it is not paved in asphalt, and that there is no curb (the Commons sidewalks are flush with the roadway, as you can see), so as a pedestrian I think one will feel that that space belongs more to you than to any car that happens along. we'll have to see how traffic patterns shape up through all those little backstreets when everything is all built out, but for now I'm giving a provisional thumbs-up!


IMG_4477 by timbad, on Flickr

you can also see that altho the grass is not in yet, the sandy drainage layer is being spread, so hopefully it won't be too long.

another shot of the paving from the south side, where light-poles still need to be emplaced:


IMG_4478 by timbad, on Flickr

again from the south looking across toward the Radiance site, you can see that benches and some lighting have gone in (even a drinking fountain had already been installed)...


IMG_4481 by timbad, on Flickr

looking north along the Third St sidewalk:


IMG_4483 by timbad, on Flickr

here looking back east from across Third. (taking advantage of the knocked-over fence to get the clearer shot):


IMG_4489 by timbad, on Flickr

and speaking of Radiance IIa, my impression is that most of the construction activity is on the south side of the parcel, where the tallest part of the project will be. (I've actually wondered why they put the tall part on that side, since it will keep the inner courtyard in shadow most of the time). this is at the southeast corner:


IMG_4486 by timbad, on Flickr

and, speaking of height in Mission Bay, pile-driving has gotten into gear again behind Bayer/Nektar! they've had the back of the east half of the building opened up for the last few weeks, maybe moving Bayer in, but it's all zipped up now and all the staged stuff is cleared away, so they are able to get back to work on the new site! or maybe that was the pause that WildCowboy mentioned between indicator piles and the real thing. anyway, this is what things look like from the roof of the South St garage:


IMG_4491 by timbad, on Flickr

btw, in the renderings of the two buildings together, I like that the new one, being just green and white, will tend to dilute the orangey elements of the first building. I think the overall effect will be an improvement.

in other news, as I mentioned briefly at the beginning, they are working hard over at the roundabout, but it still doesn't look much different than a few weeks ago: the piles seem to shift, but basically a lot of dirt.

they also continue to work on the medical center site, but nothing of note to photograph yet.

but, we are back up to - count 'em - probably three major new buildings underway, with the neurosciences one, Radiance, and the Alexandria one. plus the major roundabout streetwork, and the Commons. I'll give that a too!!

[1977]

Thanks for the updates Timbad! Mission Bay is really beginning to take shape.

[peanut gallery]

Nice update, timbad. Thanks for keeping us up-to-date!

[WildCowboy]

Great update...thanks! I was actually back in SF for the past week and spent a little time over in MB on Friday afternoon. Didn't get off of UCSF's campus much, but nice to see all the work that's gone on there in the year-and-a-half since I left SF.

The warehouse at Mariposa and 3rd being gone makes a huge difference...really opens things up. Of course the hospital will be a massive facility, but should make for a much more pedestrian-friendly environment.

[viewguysf]

Not meaning to be repetitive, but I echo my appreciation too timbad. Nice presentation! I don't get over there very often yet find it very exciting when I do.

[timbad]

thanks everyone - with that kind of encouragement, I'll go ahead and post more!!

MB's green meter just bumped up a level! the next section of the Commons has gotten its new carpet (looking east from Third):


IMG_4536

and looking west from the new section's east end:


IMG_4533

and another look at the amenities:


IMG_4534

almost all the remaining paving stones had been laid, so the only thing I could tell was left to do was install some of the lampposts. we'll have to give the grass some time to root in to its new home, I imagine, but I hope this will open up in the next few weeks!

(I don't know if this has come up before, but one other thing that was quite obvious again today - and which you might be able to discern from the pic - is that the wind really whips through Mission Bay many days, seemingly rolling in straight down off the hills ahead of the fog in summer. when it runs into a building like Strata or the CVRB, a pedestrian gets a full lateral blast as s/he approaches from either side. I wonder if that will settle down once more stuff is built up to block the air, or whether it will just be channelled into tighter spaces, )

since we're in the neighborhood, I have to take back what I said earlier about the Radiance construction mostly being on the south side. at least some stretches all the way to the northern edge:


IMG_4539

we'll just have to wait to see what gets put in and up there...

back over on Fourth, here is a shot looking west down what will be South Mission Bay Blvd on the south side of the rest of the Commons.


IMG_4527

since the shot from the post last week from the same location, we can see 1) they have begun laying down some piping under the future roadway, and 2) benches have been put in under the palms in the little entry plaza (identical ones have also been put in across Fourth in front of the CVRB).

this might be a good place to post this one too, taken from the other end of the same axis, looking back at where the previous photo was taken from (you can see the space between Radiance and CVRB in the distance through the freeway columns). behind the shooting point of the pic is the RR crossing leading to Seventh St - source of the roads that will lead ultimately to the roundabout and Mission Bay Blvd. I don't think it's apparent in the pic, but they had started to excavate shallow trenches that seemed to follow the course of the future roads starting from this location.


IMG_4524

I especially like to remind myself of this connection because I am often slightly disoriented in MB, since the road grid is rotated something like 30 or 40 degrees clockwise compared to South of Market across the creek. it's going to be a straighter shot from that crossing to Third than in the past.

and, a special feature this time around: the nighttime edition of the update! the other evening I walked down to the CVRB after work and was happy I did. that slick metallic glass panel section glows from the inside at night, giving a whole different look which together with the other lighting they've got going on works to produce a nice overall effect:


IMG_4515


IMG_4519

[NOPA]

Wow, that green space looks great! Does anybody know when that hospital is going to break ground?

[WildCowboy]

Well, in some respects, it's already under construction. They are currently doing a lot of excavation and site prep, and I believe that they've driven some test piles for the foundation.

My understanding is that the Regents are supposed to approve the final building and funding plans at their meeting in just a couple of weeks, and then full-on construction is planned to begin in December.

[timbad]

this doesn't really add to what WildCowboy already posted, and doesn't mean all that much to me, but for what it's worth, this is from an email sent out a few days ago to area residents, regarding the medical center construction:

"I just wanted to give you a heads up on an upcoming phase of site preparation for the new hospital called “mass excavation,” which is scheduled to start Tuesday September 7. There will be some large machinery moving dirt around the site. We don’t foresee excavated materials leaving the site during this time. The process is expected to take about 12 weeks (ending late November 2010)."

[WildCowboy]

The UC Regents are set to approve the financing plan for the Mission Bay hospital on Thursday. If they give the thumbs-up, it should be full-speed ahead on construction.

http://today.ucsf.edu/stories/UC-Reg...edical-Center/

[WildCowboy]

The Regents gave their approval a short time ago, so official construction should begin in December.

[peanut gallery]

Excellent! With a 2014 opening that would be 3-4 years. I have to assume building out a hospital takes a long time. But the outside should be done in around 2, wouldn't you say?

[WildCowboy]

3-4 years is an awfully tight timeline for something of this size and complexity. The plan is for about six months of commissioning and fit-out in the second half of 2014, but obviously considerable interior work will have been done even before then. I think two years is optimistic for seeing a complete exterior shell, but we'll see.

Last month, the Regents separately approved the first phase of the parking garage (621 spaces) for along Owens Street. The garage is planned to open by April 2012 to support the largest surge of construction workers for the hospital. Given the tight timeline and size of the project, that site is really going to be a beehive of activity for the next few years.

[peanut gallery]

Thanks for the info, WC. Refresh my memory: is the garage going on lot 39 or 33 and the hospital itself on 36? Or do I have those mixed up?

[WildCowboy]

Here is a map for those who have forgotten the block numbering.

Hospital is on 36/37/X3...everything on the block bounded by 16th, 3rd, Mariposa, and future 4th. The only exception is the 16th Street frontage which is planned to see an outpatient building that is not included in this round of construction but should follow on soon after the hospital.

Parking garage should be slated for the western portion of 39, or at the southeast corner of 16th and future Owens extension. When it's time to expand the hospital, the garage would be expanded south along Owens on to Block 38 and towards Mariposa Park. Hospital expansion would occur along the eastern portions of 38 and 39.

[WildCowboy]

One other item of note: At yesterday's Regents meeting, UCSF announced two new anonymous donations to the hospital program at approximately $25 million apiece. The new donations bring total commitments to roughly $375 million out of a goal of $600 million for the private philanthropy portion of the funding plan.

If I remember correctly, UCSF had been hoping to have $400 million committed by the time of final approval from the Regents, so they're only slightly behind that target, and that seems pretty darn good given the economic climate.

[peanut gallery]

Thanks again, Cowboy. I recall future expansion plans across the street and was trying to envision how that was supposed to work with a garage there. Makes sense now. Also, thanks for that map. I've been looking at another version that is much harder to read (I misread "38" as "33"). I also never noticed that retail is planned for Radiance II along Third.

[WildCowboy]

As some may have heard the Borders at King and 3rd is closing, and it now looks like it will be replaced by upscale bowling...could be interesting.

And in somewhat-Mission-Bay-related news, social gaming firm Zynga is taking 270,000 sf in Townsend Center. Some may recall that Zynga had been set to move into the still-vacant Mission Bay building at 500 Terry Francois next to Old Navy, but that deal fell apart when something happened with the owners/lenders.

That same article also notes that Twitter is looking for 200,000 sf, Dolby Labs 250,000 sf, and Salesforce 100,000 sf. Would have to think Mission Bay stands a decent chance of landing some of that business given the ability to accommodate such large space demands. They just have to be able to build the space fast enough to satisfy these fast-moving companies and I think Mission Bay could be very attractive to them.

[WildCowboy]

The Examiner reports on the dilemma of what to do with 16th Street at the train tracks. The best solution from a car/bus/bike/pedestrian perspective would be to leave 16th at-grade and trench the trains. But that would be a much more pricey option, and I'm not sure just how it all plays out with maximum possible grade requirements to get the trains down below street level and then back up for either the crossing near the roundabout or keeping them underground past there as well while getting back to ground level for the station.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/16th...103907974.html