Tishman Speyer has been granted a 3 year extension to start construction on two approved residential towers of “350 and 400 feet above an 80-foot podium, with up to 725 dwelling units, 750 off-street parking spaces, 38,000 square feet of commercial space, and 272 replacement off-street parking spaces for the adjacent USPS facility” at 201 Folsom.
And yes, the placeholder rendering above is rather old. Tipsters?
haha..really…it will take 3 years just to finish selling the infinity
I certainly would not be shocked if this were built (construction start) three years from now.
that is no “placeholder” rendering. that’s the (gag) actual approved design from years ago by the illustrious Heller Manus. The project hasn’t proceeded forward enough for the Tishman to hire real architects to come in, like was done at the Infinity.
I really hope Tishman hires another firm to tweak this design because that is going to look even worse than it already does next to the Infinity.
Tishman Speyer spending any time and money on design changes would be the equivalent of rearainging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The property is worth more with entitlements in place, which is the only logical explanation for pursuing the extension. The CRE crisis is all over the news and TS is in the eye of the storm. Currently the value of commercial-mortgage-backed securities exceeds the combined totals of all outstanding credit card debt, all auto loans, and all student loans. TS gave a lot in SJ back to BofA in late June because they didn’t want the $86.2M loan. They are heavily invested in what may turn out to be the most mis-timed project in the history of residential real estate: the Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town purchase in NY. That deal package included a significant reserve fund to service interest on the loan until the cash flow became adequate. This is not even coming close to happening, and the reserve is nearly exhausted. I’m pretty sure CALPERS has a big chunk of that action too. I read where the Florida teachers pension fund wrote off $200M + related to this project recently.
Compared to the rest of their portfolio Infinity looks like a home run.
^ the Peter Cooper/stuy town purchase was about as smart as some of the Lembi’s aprtment purchases in 06-08. I’m just waiting to see the firesales in 1-2 years time. So far no real price drop bombs have fallen on SF apartment buildings, but in the future, who knows?
I sure hope they build something there, the lot is an eyesore.
And that picture is REALLY old. Note the BofA tower at the foot of the Bay Bridge. Ah, the good old days.
This may well be the most valuable piece of real estate on the books of the United States Postal Service … if/when the letter carriers move over to their new letter carrier facility that is being constructed at 550 Townsend, I’d guess that this story may take on a totally different direction.
“I really hope Tishman hires another firm to tweak this design because that is going to look even worse than it already does next to the Infinity.”
Frankly I find the Ininity not especially an example of good architecture. I like the stepped back elements of this placeholder design and find it, if not better, certainly not worse than the I.
The problem with the Infinity, which this design repeats, is the 6 or 7 story podium atop of which th towers sit.
The I podium is a sheer vertical wall that comes right out to the fairly narrow sidewalk. Making for a sterile, cold windswept and uninviting pedestrian space.
I had though at some point back there was talk of 4 story townhouses with stoop like fronts at the perimetere of these tower blocks To give an inviting and “to scale” feel at street level.
Sadly those plans seem to have been dumped.
In any case I suspect this won’t be started in the 3 years. At that point maybe the City will downzone a lot of these blocks to encourage smaller scale, inviting residential development.
The problem with the Infinity, which this design repeats, is the 6 or 7 story podium atop of which th towers sit.
You might want to walk by there some time, there is no podium. There are 2 towers and 2 midrises, they are not connected.
I don’t think Gil has ever been anywhere near the Infinity. Narrow sidewalks? Towers sitting on 6-7 story podium? Uninviting? Wrong on all counts. You must be thinking of some other building. None of that is even close.
Good story on the Stuyvesant/Peter Cooper mess in NY Times today:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/nyregion/10stuy.html
These guys are in a world of hurt. But then, when things go well, they win bigtime. That’s risk capital for you.