The Jackson Square Condominiums (847 Montgomery)

Uh Oh. I do not want to be a crank as the images are beautiful, BUT, this is another example of taking a historic building, stripping the interior and creating yet another “Wallpaper Magazine” unit. Again and again the residential product is looking more and more alike, and though it might be more appropriate around the ballpark or SOMA, it is also now in the Marina and even Jackson Square. I am not asking to live in the past or in some dark Victorian, but couldn’t someone take the risk of not producing million dollar units in historic buildings that look like they should be in a high rise? This look is already over especially in NYC and Europe. There needs to be more of mix between new and old design in buildings and neighborhoods such as this. Stroll across the street to William Stout Arch. Books and pick up the interior and design magazines from Europe, they have moved to more imaginative combinations of contemporary design that relates to historic context and still lets you feel a building.

Not sure I see what’s so great about this view. As far as I can tell you look at the middle of the Transamerica Pyramid and a few other undistinguished office buildings (such as the Federal Building and its mid-60’s Soviet charm…). This view is not that much different than what the average office drone looks at all day while daydreaming about being somewhere else.
As for the location it has some positives and some negatives. While it’s pretty much in N.Beach, it’s in sort of a no man’s land between the Financial District and the strip clubs on Broadway. Unless there’s a bit more residential development in the area, it will be pretty lonely down there at night. The only place to buy a loaf of bread is the Safeway about 6 blocks away. It’s a nice neigborhood to work in, but I’m not sure I’d want to live there. At least not right now.
I’m afraid the real view these folks will have will be drunks piling in and out of Centerfolds at midnight and the out of towners cruising Broadway.
And as for the design, it really does look pretty generic and about to become dated.

“In my experience Jackson Square doesn’t get evening overflow from the North Beach crowd. It’s actually got quite a bit of charm — Hotaling Alley w/ 19th century brick buildings and the 20+ antique dealers are hardly “strip clubs””
I would agree with this statement in general. However, take a look at the map and you’ll see that the whole “Jackson Square” thing is a little misleading. The building is actually much closer to Columbus and North Beach than it is to the actual Jackson Square.
I personally love the Jackson Square area, that is, the area that is “immediately” adjacent to the park. The only problem is, you don’t have to stray very far from that specific point before the neighborhood streets sort of become blah and even a little scary and deserted at night. I live at the other end of Beale and I often drive down Sansome to go to that new Trader Joe’s at Bay and Powell so I drive through that area fairly frequently.

This would really be an interesting location with a neighborhood that has some of the most attractive architecture in the city. There is a very interesting mix of shops and restaurants including Bix which is still a favorite of mine and I agree with post that this would be far more interesting than living in a tower that “looks like an 80’s office building next to the freeway”. I always take out of town friends over to this area and a client of mine from London said that he felt he was back home walking around there after dinner.

I have worked around the corner from this building for many years. This is a very walkable location, but not much of a residential neighborhood. You are a 5 minute walk from NorthBeach, Chinatown, Downtown, Jackson Square, a 10 minute walk from Union Square, Nob Hill, Ferry Building, BART and Muni Metro, Telegraph Hill, and a 15 minute walk to Russian Hill. It is not a scary area. East and downtown are, however, deserted late at night and on weekends. While you won’t feel like you live in a neighborhood here, a short walk gives you so much. This is city living in an established area of The City.

“You are a 5 minute walk from NorthBeach, Chinatown, Downtown, Jackson Square, a 10 minute walk from Union Square, Nob Hill, Ferry Building, BART and Muni Metro, Telegraph Hill…”
Agreed this is certainly city living. Though not the absolute best location, you’re fairly close to just about everything thing you need without having to get into a car. Can be desolate at times, but some folks like ‘quiet’ city living.
Certainly better than living in a dated 80’s office building next to a freeway as others have stated…

I also worked in this neighborhood for quite a while and know the building’s location well. As for the neighborhood, I liked it a lot. True it’s not in the middle of a dense residential area – you have to go 1.5 blocks north on the other side of Broadway for that, but this area has a lot of low rise buildings that are historically protected so the area gets a lot of sun. Lots of historic brick buildings in the area and tree lined streets – very much an “old San Francisco” feel to the neighborhood. And there is plenty of retailing in walking distance around on Broadway, Columbus, North Beach, Chinatown, downtown, it’s all really close. And agreed – the Broadway/North Beach bridge and tunnel show is getting out of hand these days – they have to bring in squad cars pretty much every weekend night now to disburse the crowds that loiter on the streets after the bars close. It’s a block and a half away from that, but there will likely be a little bit of spillover idiocy walking past this project on their way back to their cars on Thursday-Saturday nights at 2am. Then again, that’s part of the urban density package a lot of time. Overall, though, the surrounding neighborhood is a definite plus for this project. The problem they are going to have to overcome with this building is that it is a zero lot line building where the walls touch the adjacent buildings on each side and only the top floor pokes over the adjacent buildings where the rest of them are at the same level as the surrounding properties. I haven’t seen the floorplans yet, but getting light into the majority of those lower level units is the challenge with the way the building was laid out. Not sure about parking either – it didn’t have any when it was a restaurant before, but I’m pretty sure it has a basement where they could put it. Lastly, this is hardly a Johnny come lately – they bought this building ages ago to turn it into a dot com office and when that soured, sold it to a residential developer in about 2003 as I recall. The residential development has taken forever – possibly due to the historic aspect of the building.

Is it just me or does the bathroom look like it belongs in a hospital?

847 Montgomery Street. At one time this was the location for the very best restaurant in San Francisco “Ernie’s”.
Ten parking spaces for 13 units. The parking access is off Pacific Ave, parking below grade.
Offers are being accepted by principals only starting now to Feb 22. Buyers of any of the 13 units, that are not in contract by Feb 22, will be allowed to be represented by agents (brokers, attorney’s. etc). acording to the developer.
The two level penthouse floor plans have the city views, which are BIG at night time.
Also in the Barbary Coast area, coming soon, 733 Front Street at Pacific, across the street from Sydney Walton Park. This 8 story, 1960’s office building has been converted to 69 condominiums, 23 two bedrooms, the balance one bedrooms and studios. The top 3 floors with decks, Bay, Bay Bridge, Sydney Walton Park and City Skyline views, $800 to $1,200 per sq ft. 39 with parking spaces. Same developer as “The Royal” at Sansome and Pine.
As to “no neighborhood”, this area is one of the most popular neighborhoods in the entire City. The largest rental complex, Golden Gateway Center, 1,200+ apartments, most with dramatic Bay & City views, six different condominium complexes (with values from $500K to $3.5M), the best outdoor swim & tennis club in the City (GG Swim & Tennis Club) and a real park.
Over 35 restaurants alone in the Barbary Coast Neighborhood. Within 15 minutes there are over 150 restaurants, bars, live theatre (The Eureka Theatre and Beach Blanket Babylon); the most popular international cinemas at Embarcadero One, a slightly successful food hall by the name of The Ferry Building and on and on.
Name one neighborhood in the City that has 10% of restaurants of this neighborhood or the various types of cuisines? Name one neighborhood that has a higher office rent for either high rise or low rise office. Name one neighborhood that has a higher media and/or creative advertising count.
There is a reason that this is where the City was born in 1849!!
Frederick

Thank you Frederick for the information (especially regarding parking). I also agree with you about the positives regarding this neighborhood and as I am looking for a “second home” condominium in the city, I am going to re-explore this part of town. Some of my favorite restaurants are in this area and I still miss the closing of “Square One”. Compared to what people are paying in many South of Market neighborhoods, it almost makes Jackson Square undervalued for being such a well located, well established neighborhood.

Just visited this property, and wow it takes the prize as the most overpriced nothing I’ve seen in a long time. The “penthouse” units that are priced well over $2M have very little usable square footage indoors, with “master bedrooms” that are dark, low-ceilinged small rooms. There are immense outdoor decks on three levels that will never be used 99% of the time, but presumably “justify” the massively high per square foot prices. One of the worst values in the City right now.