A year ago, the Rincon Towers apartment building at 88 Howard was sold to a developer intent on converting the building into condos.
Three months ago (and over on the SocketSite Forums) a plugged-in reader wondered about the lack of activity at the building (either in terms of new rentals or condo sales), and another reader answered: “…Beacon [Capital] backed out of doing a condo conversion and put the building back on the market. They are now marketing it to potential buyers not as a condominium building, but as an apartment building.”
And yesterday, it’s reported that the Towers have indeed been sold (to Capital Properties) with plans to turn the building into “luxury apartments and high-end corporate furnished housing.” Don’t say you didn’t see it coming (at least if you’re plugging-in).
∙ Rincon Towers Going Condo [SocketSite]
∙ SocketSite Forums: Rincon Center [forums.socketsite.com]
∙ Rincon Center apartments sold to N.Y. firm [SFGate]
I looked into this complex a little over a year ago. Although I really like the location and the look of the building from the outside, there are a few reasons why I decided against it.
1. Uncertainty – At the time, they thought they were about to undergo a condo conversion. Therefore, they were only offering 6 month lease terms.
2. Lack of amenities – Unlike some other “newer” apartment complexes in the area, they don’t have all the bells and whistles in their buildings.
3. Size – Apartments were small in general.
4. Dated look – Although this is a modern look, it hasn’t been updated since it was constructed and the units are showing their age. I like the fact that the new owner plans to renovate them though.
5. Cost – I thought that the prices were about the same as other high rise complexes in the area, despite their shortcomings. I didn’t see this as a great value for my money.
The floor plan for this building looks like to orignal developer took one normal unit and cut it in two to make more rentals.
The building is great if you blew out walls and reduce the number of units in the building by 50%. The building looks great from the outside, but the units are too tiny on the inside for full time living.
I had a friend who lived here for a while and know the building pretty well. Fantastic location – one of the best in Soma, to be sure. Close to everything, and with decent views of the Bay and city lights. But the units really are painfully small – think 2-bedrooms are like 800 sq. ft. Will be interesting to see what happens here.
Kathleen is absolutely correct. They need to knock walls out and combine units in order to make them a reasonable size. By significantly increasing the number of corporate apartments in the building, as the new building owner plans to do, the number of units available to San Franciscans is also reduced. Wonder why the Supervisor who represents this district, none other than loud-mouthed Chris Daly, hasn’t commented on this.