1234 Howard Street: Exterior Rendering
A number of readers have asked, and we finally have an answer: 1234 Howard (an 18 unit Stanley Saitowitz/Natoma Architects building) will start marketing mid July. It’ll be a mix of one and two bedroom units with deeded parking and “impeccable details.” No word on pricing and so far only a few more images (and a not so subtle reminder to “register now”) on the website.
1234 Howard Street: Interior Rendering
1234 Howard [1234howard.com]

36 thoughts on “New Stanley Saitowitz/Natoma Architects Condos: 1234 Howard”
  1. Editor, the link to website needs a little adjusting to work right. [Editor’s Note: Got it. And thanks for plugging in.]
    So damn sexy, very ‘see & be seen’ but can you live there? Isn’t there something nearby that’s Saitowitz too?

  2. people would really want to live in a sterile environment like this? looks like a clean house to manufacturer computer chips in or you may have tom cruise chasing bad guys through your condo.

  3. I am curious why people think this is any more sterile or than One Rincon or any of the other glass towers? This is just shorter and the glass is not blue or green, and this makes me wonder if it is all of the sales sizzle and signature cocktails that people are turned on by when they buy a glass box in the sky vs. something like this down on street level.

  4. Glass in taller buildings enables to have a nice view over the horizon. Glass in lower buildings enables your neighbors and everyone on the street to look inside your home.
    Big difference.

  5. Love it, windows and all. Location might not be manicured like Sea Cliff, or as homogenous as the Marina, but it’s not even close to being a “horrible” area. Not even close.

  6. This area isn’t horrible, it’s incredibly up and coming. If it were for people like Laurence, development would only occur within a 1/2 mile radius of PacHeights. AsiaSF is right on the corner, which brings a ton of life to the area. We need more development and less empty warehouses and auto mechanic shops.

  7. Tyler,
    We can’t let any development happen in Pac Heights!?!?! That’s what makes it so special – it’s a museum.

  8. At least this building just lets the address be its identification instead of a name that sounds more like a product. The strong position taken in the interesting design allows it to not have to use a gimmicks such as yoga classes just off the lobby firepit seating area which is adjacent to the zen waterwall near the complimentary coffee bar.

  9. It’s not as bad as the YBL lofts, but in addition to the crappy location, Saitowitz seems to have run out of ideas–all his buildings look the same. I agree it’s better than the usual junk that gets built but it’s not anything I would want to live in.

  10. The area is far from up and coming. I don’t feel safe walking in this neighborhood during daylight, let alone at night.

  11. “I don’t feel safe walking in this neighborhood during daylight, let alone at night.”
    If you are too scared to walk around Howard St. between 8th and 9th Sts during the day, you really don’t belong in this city. Furniture stores, the Rolo outlet, Harvest Market…booo! How scary!

  12. This area IS bad! When you do some shopping at Rolo’s and see sh*t everywhere on the streets, it’s not from the dog’s… its from the people living on the block.

  13. I lived in Cow Hollow for 7 years – just one building off of “fancy” Union Street – and I saw sh*t on the sidewalks all the time, some human and a lot dog. I even had a homeless guy almost pee on me as he stood on someone’s front porch and just casually pissed into the sidewalk (he camped there for a week until I called the police because the stench had gotten too much to handle). Not to mention my neighbor who got his brains blown out one night stepping out of a cab with his fiance. SF is crappy and scary wherever you live. Living in One Rincon just allows you to look out over the drab Oakland hills and boring SF skyline all day.

  14. I agree that quality of life issues, like having clean sidewalks, need to be addressed by the City. (And how about having fewer screws and nails in the streets– I just had to have a tire patched *again.*)
    Living South of Market requires a willingness to put up with the crap, so to speak, of city life. If you don’t want homeless people living on your block, I suggest you buy near the top of a hill, e.g., Bernal Hill, or Diamond Heights– on a street too steep for drunks to climb.

  15. “If you don’t want homeless people living on your block, I suggest you buy near the top of a hill, e.g., Bernal Hill, or Diamond Heights”
    Bernal Heights is too close to the freeways. The bums are living in colonies under the 101/280 overpass. Every Sunday, before the Monday morning garbage collection, they are pushing their shopping carts through the streets going through peoples trash. I’ve lived there for a couple of years. Just a dump with some nice views. My advice: unless you can afford living in district 7, leave the city – which is what I am doing.

  16. “I don’t recommend living under the 101/280 underpass– it’s a bit dark and dusty.
    Yes, on trash day, the recyclers will push their carts a bit higher up the hills than on other days– even in District 7. If you can’t tolerate seeing a poor person or two on your street once a week on trash day, yes, you should leave the city.

  17. “If you can’t tolerate seeing a poor person or two on your street once a week on trash day, yes, you should leave the city”
    I have no problems with poor people on the streets. I do have a problem though paying five figure property taxes and living in a dump with human waste on the streets, potholes everywhere, drug dealings going on all around me and the police virtually absent. But hey, knock yourself out and snap up that single family home in Bernal for 1.3+ Million. More power to you.

  18. CD’s tips for walking around in this area:
    1. Only highly skilled can wear flip flops.
    2. Do not sport your MacBookPro in a ostrich case.
    3. If you must walk in the little alleys, walk in the middle of the street to avoid uneven pavement, waste and smells.
    4. Sixth Street Notes – is for adventurous partygoers and people who live here.
    5. Learn to walk NY pace and ignore everything.
    I am not making fun of the place – one of my BFFs has lived here. I think its quirky – but not $1500/sqft quirky.
    Most of her neighbors by Natoma were old Filipino families, working class younger people, students, artists. I’d liken it to Old Haight on the GGP side before it became an outdoor mall.
    I agree – learn to deal with the city. I have walked this neighborhood all times of the day and the only thing that’s bad is drug-abusing transients. How different is that from the creepy dude in the Marina with a razor in his designer wallet? Probably the price tag. Get in where you fit in.

  19. anon @ 4:45,
    I believe that you need to move to a nice gated community in Scottsdale. That sounds like a nice fit for you.

  20. “I believe that you need to move to a nice gated community in Scottsdale. That sounds like a nice fit for you.”
    And I believe the city should clean up its act. Where does all the property and business tax go? That discussion has nothing to do with gated community in Scottsdale. It has to do with common sense. But hey, San Francisco is such a great place, so who needs street cleaning or police? By international standards, San Francisco is a joke of a city. Enjoy your Bernal Height or whatever million dollar SFH!

  21. Careful there! Don’t bring up any problems that may exist in this city for instead of dealing with them, you will be asked to leave, for to keep the S.F. illusion going, everyone must together continue to believe it is the “best place on earth” (former sign of line from local TV news show in 90’s). Why is it that when I go to Paris, NYC, London, Chicago, even Vancouver, I hear people talking about civic issues that need addressing but in San Francisco you do not DARE to say anything negative. This thin skinned city needs to get over itself and start fixing the problems which DO exist.

  22. I walked over to 1234 today — that block of Howard actually seemed safer and more friendly than some of the other blocks on Howard. With Rollo across the street, Natoma behind it, the market on the corner and Starbucks a few feet away, it seemed perfectly livable.

  23. I’m all for the City improving its policing and street/sidewalk cleaning, and for political discussion on how to do this. It seems to me there is more discussion here on how to improve the quality of life than in other places I’ve lived (even if not much ever seems to change).
    And I’m not asking anyone to leave– I commented on a post in which someone said they were planning to leave SF, and recommended that others leave if they can’t afford District 7. I think that is silly advice.
    No matter what policies San Francisco adopts, it will always have at least a few crazy homeless people crapping in the street. For many people, that is no deterrent to living South of Market. But if it is a deal-breaker, don’t live there.

  24. “At least this building just lets the address be its identification instead of a name that sounds more like a product.”
    Thank goodness Morgan! Gee an architect and developer with the confidence & abiding respect for San Francisco history to use the actual building number and street name (the only enduring, urbane, and civilized way) is refreshing and good for SF.
    The circus of building names (which btw can change with the wind) is akin to marketing-savvy NY’s 1970’s-1980’s trend of cute monikers for little enclaves and neighborhoods.
    The already dated names “The Palms” & “The Millenium” ad nauseum — do actually have street addresses but, would have no marketing value in attracting those who require a Las Vegas marketing event & experience to purchase a home.
    (In my opinion).

  25. The streets in the city and the freeways in the Bay Area in general are terrible. Try taking the 101 south-bound! There needs to be lots of dollars spent on our dismal infrastructure. It’s embarrassing for an area with so much wealth. I was in LA a couple of weeks ago and noticed how much better the state of the roads are down there. Let’s not even compare it to the streets of places like Canada, Germany, Australia etc.

  26. I think the design is great, given the zoning restriction and lot size. I love minimalistic and clean but I suppose the contrast with the surroundings may be a little too stark. As a SOMA resident I can attest the area is horrible; there are derelicts on every corner. There is also fesces and urine everwhere. There are also hords of homeless people pushing their shopping carts and yelling at each other at 2am. Compared to any major European city (except Paris) the quality of life in San Francisco is substandard. For several years in Vienna I never saw a homeless guy defecating in a doorway. Maybe, because they made it illegal and the police enforces it. Even in Los Angeles (which has the largest homeless population in the US) you need to go look for them, rather than escape from them.
    Bottom line – the City and the Mayor need to get off the high horse, quit resting on old laurels and do something about the quality of life in the city. At least, they cannot complain about lack of tax revenues.

  27. There aren’t as many homeless in Vienna because of good social programs to keep them off the street – not because the govt made it illegal to crap in doorways.

  28. I am not so sure Yvon Checker. Have you ever tried to call the SFPD or anybody when you have a homeless person on your property defecating? I have, and they did nothing. NOTHING!
    I own some rental units and tenants were complaining that one poor soul would go through a side gate to a rear service outdoor service area at night, and again and again, sleep in the rear service area, defecate, urinate, and then when the police would show up, they would just ask him to go on his way. We put a lock on the side gate, and in revenge, he spread his feces all over the gate, and the front door to the building. Police called again, nothing. NOTHING!
    This is on Russian Hill btw.

  29. I tried calling SFPD on several occasions without any luck. Regarding the social programs — I don’t think so — the City and society as a whole do not subscribe to the concept the homeless have rights (to squat, defecate and urinate in public). It’s plain illegal and carries a fine and jail sentence for repeating offenders. Same thing applies to most other cities in the Bay Area and Los Angeles – it’s all the same law, the difference is in some cities the local PD bothers enforcing it. And the property prices reflect that.

  30. Is there anymore information on these units yet, ie sq footage or pricing?
    It looks like they are regular condos (not lofts) and the ceiling height is maybe 10′??
    Appreciate any input…

  31. i love the idea that a crazy homeless person who has to use the bathroom is going to reconsider because of the police. when considering the insane, you have to consider insanity…
    the city history is filled with failed homeless policing policies. they just do not work, it isn’t for lack of trying. guys on the street by my house in the mission were in and out of jail all the time. for shooting up, tricking, and I am sure crapping in the street. what? lock them up longer? OK, but your tax dollars are housing them in prison.
    It is a hell of alot easier to gripe about policing than to look at mental health and addiction policy failures. No one wants to pay for that either, so instead we all pay for it with the smell of human feces in the morning.
    If you are going to compare SF to Vienna, start with the tax rates. Thanks Prop 13… taxpayer revolt indeed.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_13_(1978)

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