140 New Montgomery updates
31 Saturday Aug 2013
Posted 140 New Montgomery
in31 Saturday Aug 2013
Posted 140 New Montgomery
in30 Friday Aug 2013
Posted 140 New Montgomery
inNew courtyard pavers going in .
Graffiti gone ! Nice job !
And now we can keep a better lookout for future graffiti taggers.
Mystery plate.
The grating on the driveway has been replaced, and it fits very well now !
New water connections for the fire department.
A larger flag is now flying high atop the old girl.
Something special lives on in the darkened garage.
30 Friday Aug 2013
Posted Around the neighborhood
in29 Thursday Aug 2013
Posted Around the neighborhood
inThe old San Francisco Call newspaper headquarters building on Market Street at Third is up for sale, according to the always scoop-worth San Francisco Business Times:
Historic 703 Market St. tower could fetch $50 million
J.K. Dineen, Reporter- San Francisco Business Times
Aug 29, 2013, 2:52pm PDT
Every real estate investor in town is familiar with 703 Market St., but none have had a chance to buy it.
Until now.
For the first time since the 1940s, the former San Francisco Call building at Market and Third streets — a 1906 earthquake survivor — is hitting the sales block. Downtown brokers think the throw-back tower on San Francisco’s newspaper row could fetch $50 million, about $375 a square foot.
While the CAC Group, which is marketing the building, is pitching it as a creative office play, the building is also generating interest from a variety of condo and hotel developers.
“Buyers have been from all three — hotel, residential and office. More than likely it will be office, but there has been lots of interest from diverse groups,” said Mark Geisreiter of the CAC Group. “It lays out nicely as residential and hotel.”
The property consists of two buildings, the 21-story, 93,000-square-foot tower at 703 Market St. and a five story, 45,000-square-foot connected annex building around the corner at 26 Third St.
The buildings are 87 percent leased to 100 tenants, mostly small professional service companies. Historical details still can be found on nearly every floor: the double-hung windows, old water closets, radiators, brass engraved doorknobs. The building has 14-foot ceilings, and behind the plaster is red brick. There is a basement with high ceilings, mosaic tiles, and ornate columns that suggest it was probably a speakeasy or bar at one point.
“You see an icon out of every window. You have City Hall, you have the Ferry Building, you have AT&T Park, The Four Seasons,” said Geisreiter. “Just about every building on the list of (buildings on the market) has been fully renovated. This is really the only value-add deal where you can come in an create the value, rather than buy the value.”
The building is steeped in San Francisco’s lore like few other structures in the city.
The very construction of the tower was motivated by the city’s most famous newspaper feud, between the Spreckels family, which owned the San Francisco Call, and the de Young family, which owned the Chronicle.
Claus Spreckels ruled the sugar industry from the 1860s until 1905, operating the Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Co., later renamed Spreckels Sugar. During that time the San Francisco Chronicle, owned by Michael de Young, frequently attacked the company and its ownership, characterizing their sugar plantations as brutal slave camps.
In retaliation, Claus’ son Adolph shot and wounded M.H. de Young in 1884, a crime for which he was acquitted. Escalating the feud, Claus Spreckels bought the powerful San Francisco Call in 1895, vowing to bring down the de Young family and the Chronicle. He decided that he would build a 15-story home for the Call that dwarfed the Chronicle building across Market Street.
The original 703 Market St. tower, designed by the Reid Brothers, featured a baroque, terracotta domed tower and corner cupolas. At the time, prominent local critic B.J.S. Cahill called it the “handsomest tall building in the world,” according to Splendid Survivors, San Francisco Architectural Heritage’s book on the city’s historic buildings. Spreckels Rotisserie on the 15th floor invited downtown workers and visitors to “dine in the clouds” and huge letters on the outside of the 15th floor read CAFE, according to James R. Smith, author of “San Francisco’s Lost Landmarks.”
In the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake and fire, the U.S. Geological Survey published a report on the condition of the buildings that survived. The Call building received high praise. “The design of this steel work is well worth of study by anyone interested in such structures,” the group stated. “It is probably, on the whole, the best designed piece of such work in the United States.”
In 1938 the real estate market was so hot that the dome was removed so that the owners could add space. Six floors were built on top of the existing structure, which was given a Moderne/Art Deco renovation. A headline at the time read “Economic forces prove stronger than earthquakes.”
In the 1940s the building was bought by Leo Epp, whose grand-children, including members of the Isackson family, own the building today.
“They are now at the point where they had to decide to renovate the building for tech users or sell it and let someone else do it,” said Geisreiter.
Though it will likely go to an office user, it could become a residential play. Chris Foley, a partner with the condo marketing group Polaris Pacific, said he loves that building and always has.
“If you made it condos they would sell like hot cakes, good or bad market — you would crush it,” he said. “Where else can you get 14-foot ceilings with brick walls and views like that in a location like that? You would get $1,100 or $1,150 in that building, no problem. People would ignore the fact that there is no parking, like they did with One Ecker.”
But Foley predicted it would end up in the hands of an office developer, who will create the kind of brick, creative space every tech company seeks. “I love it as residential but the office market is so hot I think it will go creative office,” he said.
29 Thursday Aug 2013
Posted 140 New Montgomery
in140nm is on fire today with their tweets.
Now, they are tempting us with the beauty of the new lobby desk/guard station, including a pretty lamp
More finishing touches arriving as we count down to opening pic.twitter.com/uofAWL2cwi
— 140 New Montgomery (@140nm) August 29, 2013
29 Thursday Aug 2013
Posted 140 New Montgomery
inHaaaa, I beat them by one day, but 140nm tweeted out their own photo of the new awnings today. Site Club — always first with your latest 140 New Montgomery updates !
Loving our new retail canopies pic.twitter.com/vhyPSFcZ7D
— 140 New Montgomery (@140nm) August 29, 2013
28 Wednesday Aug 2013
Posted Around the neighborhood
inFrom San Francisco Business Times today:
Jay Paul Co. starts clearing site for 800-foot Transbay District tower
J.K. Dineen, Reporter- San Francisco Business Times
Aug 28, 2013, 3:01pm PDT
Jay Paul Co. has started demolition on 181 Fremont St., clearing the way for a 54-story office and residential condo building next to the Transbay Transit Center.
Right now the demo work is interior, but the construction fences are up and the heavy equipment on site.
Once the two existing buildings are razed, the Silicon Valley developer expects to start construction in November on the tower, which will top off at 800 feet and 684,000 square feet. Once completed, it will be the second tallest building in San Francisco, after the 853-foot Transamerica Pyramid.
“We are excited to be one step closer to realizing the new vision for this emerging and vital neighborhood,” said Principal and Founder Jay Paul.
Cornish & Carey Commercial Newmark Knight Frank senior vice president Karl Baldauf has been enlisted to market the office space. Alan Mark, CEO of The Mark Company, will handle marketing and sales of the residential condos. Level10 Construction will serve as the general contractor for the project. The building comprises 410,000-square-feet of office space, a retail space on the fifth floor next to the city park and 74 ultra-luxury condos in the top 15 floors with exclusive resident-only amenities including a concierge and 37th floor fitness center and lounge.
Jay Paul Co. plans to finish construction of the tower in late 2015 and will pursue LEED Gold or Platinum certification.
Designed by Heller Manus Architects, 181 Fremont will be one of only two buildings that directly connects via sky-bridge to the the 5.4-acre Rooftop Park, the future public park atop the Transbay Transit Center.
Baldauf said his group has already been exchanging proposals with tenants in the market for between 50,000 square feet and 150,000 square feet. He said he is confident that a lease or two will be inked in 2014.
“The interest and activity is what you would expect for this market — I would categorize it as very strong,” he said.
Both technology companies and traditional users have taken a look at the plans, though many tech companies need space before the 2015 delivery date Jay Paul has targeted.
Rents will be $50 to $70 a square foot, he said.
“It’s going to be a brand new iconic tower that will really define the SoMa skyline,” he said. “I frankly think it is going to steal the show, even from the Transbay Tower, which is going to be a bit monolithic. This is going to be more elegant and unique.”
The start of demolition comes as San Francisco is seeing its biggest wave of office development since the 1980s. In addition to 181 Fremont St., new ground-up buildings underway include Foundry Square III (505 Howard St.), 535 Mission St., and 350 Mission St. Only 350 Mission St., which has been pre-leased by Salesforce.com, has signed on a tenant.
Using an excavator equipped with a set of clamping jaws known as a “clam shell,” the perimeter walls and structure of the existing buildings will be excavated to the ground. The remnants will then be broken into smaller, more manageable pieces and sorted into like materials, with each type of material hauled to various handling facilities for processing and recycling. Paul said 95 percent of the existing building will be recycled.
“In its place, we will construct a sustainable, energy efficient, iconic office and residential tower unlike any the city has previously seen,” he added.
28 Wednesday Aug 2013
Posted 140 New Montgomery
inThe dinosaur of all man-lifts is coming down.
In the early days of the project, I remember reading or hearing of an “awning” planned for the front of the building, and I was very scared about it — thinking they were somehow putting an awning over the front entrance, although I could never figure out how that either could or would be done.
As it turns out, THIS is what they were referring to ! It looks a little strange at first — such a modern touch on a historic facade — but it grows on you after a while. I did not get to stay long enough today to see them lighted up after dark. If this was what was meant by an awning on the New Montgomery side of the building, I am quite pleased !
23 Friday Aug 2013
Posted Around the neighborhood
inWith Foundry Square III, 222 Second Street, and the Transbay project all going full blast, I guess owners of some of the older buildings along Howard Street want to get in on the action, and are doing upgrade projects of their own. Very good !
And even the project planned for the small parking lot at 524 Howard is starting to gain some momentum – or at least a new sign.
23 Friday Aug 2013
Posted Excavation
in