From the San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council website, published this week:
City’s Oldest Skyscraper Under Renovation
By Paul Burton Contributing Writer
Pacific Bell building by Caroline Culler
San Francisco’s original skyscraper, completed in 1925, is getting a makeover.
Plant Construction Co. has started work on the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Building at 140 New Montgomery Street, an iconic building designed by renowned architect and San Francisco native Timothy Pflueger. The 435-foot tall structure reigned as the City’s highest (equal to the Russ Building, built in 1927) for 40 years, and originally cost more than $4 million to construct.
The project entails modernizing the 26-story, 342,000 square foot Neo-Gothic/Art Moderne structure, known for unusual details like the eagles that grace its top and the bell-shaped reliefs used as decoration over the entrance. Wilson Meany, LLC is the developer for the $50 million-plus undertaking. The tower has been vacant since 2007.
Organized Labor recently toured the site with Josh Callahan of Wilson Meany. Callahan said the building is getting a complete seismic upgrade that will preserve its historic architecture while improving safety and performance standards.
Innovative Seismic Plan
Construction crews are moving up through the building in phases, with ironworkers from Conco installing the rebar cages in the building’s central core one or two floors above laborers pouring shotcrete. The outrigger system connects to the core with a Buckling Restraint Brace. Callahan said that while using reinforced shotcrete as part of a seismic retrofit for older buildings is not new, combining the reinforced concrete structure in the center of the building with a steel outrigger system is uncommon. He said it was designed to evenly distribute any force from a strong earthquake.
Union laborers, operators and carpenters with Whiteside are also pouring the concrete and shotcrete. Ironworkers from Viking Steel are connecting the steel wide-flange columns that run from the basement to the 19th floor, as the crew of Conco ironworkers is cutting, bending and tying the rebar one or two floors above. Callahan noted that the outrigger system also enables the seismic upgrade to be achieved without blocking any windows. New concrete interior shear walls will add strength while also framing new restrooms, data and electrical rooms on each floor.
Work began on the project in February with demolition of interior offices and removal of lead paint and asbestos. As the interior work progresses, the exterior is also getting scraped, washed and patched where needed. Callahan said some of the Art Deco ornamentations on the exterior had been replaced in the 1980s. Some blocks will be repainted to match the original look.
LEED Certification Sought
Historic preservation components of the job include the restoration and repurposing of the original details of the building, including the historic Bell symbols in the lobby, the marble-lined staircase and office doors and frames. Callahan added that molds of the bronze Bell decorations will be made and new decorations created based on those models. Those will be placed above the elevators in the first floor lobby, where some of the originals were found. The existing terrazzo floor on the first floor and the terrazzo stairways are covered during the construction and will also be preserved.
Other work includes rehabbing exterior cladding and windows, reinforcing the building’s core, rehabbing and modernizing the existing lobby and adding a new entry canopy, and modernizing the building systems with green technology. The mechanical, electric, plumbing and life-safety systems will be completely new and more energy efficient. The project is seeking LEED Gold or LEED Platinum through use of low-flow plumbing fixtures and efficient lighting, use of outside air at each floor and natural space ventilation. A new exterior maintenance system is being constructed for window washing and a new scalable HVAC system will make it possible for the building to adapt to changing heating and cooling requirements in future years. Up to 1,300 of the building’s 1,700 steel-frame windows will be replaced. The six elevators will also be modernized by crews from KONE Elevators, and a new service elevator installed.
The developer will also earn credits toward LEED certification through recycling construction debris, including old steel and concrete. As much as 7,000 tons of material has been removed from the structure, with 80 to 90 percent recycled or re-used.
Tech Office Space Planned
Around 280,000 square feet of the available office space will be leased to tech start-ups, and venture capital firms, according to Wilson Meany. The Wall Street Journal noted that the developer had initially planned in 2008 to turn the tower into 118 luxury condominiums, at an estimated cost of $132 million to $152 million. “But after the 2008 financial crisis, WMS put the condo plans on hold. The building has remained empty, except for a 24-hour security guard, while the developer weighed its options. Recently, the office market has started to boom again. Just last week [in March] Macy’s.com leased nearly 243,000 square feet on seven floors at nearby 680 Folsom St,” the paper reported.
Recently, the online review site Yelp signed a lease for seven floors the building for 100,000 square-feet of office space. The company will expand in the new site, hiring 300 more employees, bringing their total to 800. The offices will be completed and ready for occupancy in the summer of 2013. The San Francisco Business Times reported that, “From 2000 to 2011 as Bay Area technology employment has jumped 37 percent, San Francisco tech jobs have jumped 71 percent to nearly 31,000. Taken together, more than 2 million square feet of office space has been brought back to life in San Francisco, and landlords are investing $500 million to reclaim and restore old buildings.”
Along with offices for tech companies, the building will also get an 8,500 square foot restaurant on the ground floor. Some of the interior historic Art Deco flourishes will be retained, while others will be removed, stored and possibly sold to tenants. Callahan said that finish work on the interior would be done by the tenants, who want some flexibility in designing workspaces. The existing unfinished brick and mortar would be left in place at the request of the tenants. He noted that the high-tech tenants had also demanded space for bicycle parking, which is planned for the basement area.
Wilson Meany is the developer for several other SF architectural landmarks, including the Ferry Building and the Flood Building.
The project is on schedule for the first tenants to move in next fall. Callahan said Wilson Meany is pleased that they have maintained a good relationship with union contractors like Plant and the building trades.
Other subcontractors for the project include JW McClenahan for the plumbing, Decker Electric, Allied Fire, and Critchfield Mechanical.