Palms Update

At this point, the first public release is scheduled for the 3rd week of January.

Floors 1, 3, and 4 will be released for sale.

Again, about 1/3 have been reserved from the “friends and family sale”.

Transbay Planners See New Landmark

by Dan Levy

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Transbay Terminal planners are viewing their controversial idea for a new San Francisco high-rise as nothing less than the signature building of our time — much like the Transamerica Pyramid defined the skyline in the 1970s.”It would be a landmark statement,” said architect Paul Woolford of HOK, which has been hired by Transbay project manager URS to do the master plan for the terminal redevelopment area.

“The tower would essentially speak to the pyramid and the Bank of America building. If you were on one of the hills or on the bay, you would see those towers as the spires of the city.”

The current proposal is for an 850-foot mixed-use tower on Mission Street, but a spire on top of the building would bring the height to 925 feet, making it the city’s tallest.

An international design competition is being coordinated by architecture consultant Don Stastny. Transbay Joint Powers Authority Director Maria Ayerdi said she hopes to get board approval for the contest early next year.

Still, city officials remain skeptical about the $4 billion Transbay financing scheme and question whether the authority should be pursuing the high-rise proposal at all.

“The high-rise is not the project voters approved,” said Jose Luis Moscovich, executive director of the San Francisco Transportation Authority, which doles out sales-tax revenues to the Transbay planning process. “It’s a deviation from the plan.”

 

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Radiance Sales Update

I recently heard from the sales office that pre-sales are anticipated to begin Summer 2006 with sales and pricing information to be released at that time.  The specifications for the Radiance have yet to be released.

Jack London – Pulte’s 428 Alice

Pulte is making a big splash in the Jack London Square/Oakland Warehouse district with 93 luxury condos…

“428 Alice is a mid-rise condominium building with an expected completion date of late summer/fall 2006. Pulte Homes offers approximately 93 one, two, and three bedroom units ranging from 800+ to 1,666 square feet. In addition to a quality home built by Pulte Homes, 428 Alice is in a premier location. Jack London Square is known for its culture, dining, shops, entertainment, and access to employment in the Bay Area’s most well known cities.”

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http://markchoey.files.wordpress.com/2005/12/artist%20rendering%20428.jpg
artist rendering 428.jpg

  

Watermark Lofts Available

To be honest, I didn’t know The Watermark offers loft living condos in their swank new building on the Embarcadero in South Beach.

But here we are directly from the sales office…

4P – An approximately 655 square foot one bedroom, one bath home.
4Q – An approximately 843 square foot one bedroom, one-and-a-half bath home.
1R – An approximately 831 square foot one bedroom, one bath home.

Loft homes at Watermark offer floor-to-ceiling glass windows, premium fixtures by Cifial, Duravit and Kohler and a range of amenities that include a state-of-the-art fitness center complete with Pilates equipment, a heated pool and spa with spectacular bay and bridge views and concierge service.

Loft homes are priced from $575,000.

Jack London Square – 288 Third St

In the Oakland Warehouse District near Jack London Square, Signature Properties’ 288 Third St is nearing completion and will go on sale in a month. This is one of three new loft buildings going up within blocks of each other and nearby the acclaimed 200+ unit Sierra Condos.

http://www.sigprop.com/nbds/288third/

1,2, and 3 BR’s starting from the high 400’s.

1 Rincon Hill Put on Hold – SF Chronicle

San Francisco building inspectors are withholding permission for construction of a towering residential complex on Rincon Hill over concerns about whether it would withstand a major earthquake and remain habitable, The Chronicle has learned.

Despite approval of the project’s design and engineering by other city bodies earlier this year, staff members of the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection want further assurances about the seismic resilience of One Rincon Hill — which would consist of two residential towers, one 55 stories high and the other 45 stories — at First and Harrison streets.

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Transbay Redevelopment Project Area

The Transbay Redevelopment Project Area, created in 2005, is an opportunity for the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency to participate in the alleviation of blight within a large portion of the city’s southern Financial District through a wide variety of projects and activities. The Project Area is currently adopted only for the purpose of establishing the base year for tax increment generation. All implementation activities, including zoning changes and project approvals, are currently on hold.

The Project Area is approximately 40 acres in size and located south of San Francisco’s Financial District. The Project Area is roughly bounded by Mission Street in the north, Main Street in the east, Folsom Street in the south and Second Street in the west. The Project Area is currently composed of transportation-related infrastructure, a large number of vacant parcels, and commercial uses.

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Other good links can be found here.

Third Street Rail Plan

“It’s counter-intuitive . . . it’s putting a solution there before a problem exists.”
—Former Muni General Manager Michael Burns, on the Third Street Light Rail project

The quote above was taken out of context. But it was taken out of context for a good reason: The first thing you should understand about Muni’s under-construction Third Street Light Rail line is that it turns the conventional…

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Pier 70

http://pier70sf.org/index.htm

30 acres of prime bayfront land owned by the Port of San Francisco