The Request For Proposals to develop Transbay Block 8 (bounded by First, Folsom, Freemont and Clementina) is out and about and due back January 22, 2009. Once again, a one-acre parcel which is slated for a market-rate 450-550 foot residential tower and row of 50-foot townhouses along with a pair of 65-85 foot affordable housing podiums. In all, 597 potential housing units over 7,000 square feet of ground floor retail.
“As part of the Market-Rate Project, the for-profit developer will be required to demolish and reconfigure the existing Folsom Street Off-Ramp and construct public improvements on the site as detailed in the Transbay Redevelopment Project Area Streetscape and Open Space Concept Plan.”
Errr, don’t most families who want to put down roots and buy an entry level home in San Francisco want to live in the avenues or Potero or Bernal or basically anywhere besides First and Folsom?
Will any builders actually take this on in the current environment? Seems unlikely to me…
“as part of the Market-Rate Project, the for-profit developer will be required to demolish and reconfigure the existing Folsom Street Off-Ramp and construct public improvements on the site”
And why would they want to do that?
“And why would they want to do that? ”
Because most people don’t buy on a freeway off ramp. Unless it’s a “luxury” building with no parking or dryer vents, of course.
The placement of the townhouses in the shadow of the tower on one side and the offramp out your front door seems less than ideal to me.
I can’t wait to see the proposals for this. We’ll get a very honest sense of the development community’s outlook on the market.
Yeah I wondered about that as well, why wedge the townhouses between the tower and the off ramp?!?
Wouldn’t it make more sense to put the townhouses on the Folsom street side?
The reduction of the right turn curve radius from Clementina to Fremont will make this area much more walkable. One more small step toward making this area more livable.
The Folsom side should be used for retail as proposed.
I understand everyone here thinking that it’s crazy that people would want a townhouse facing a freeway off-ramp, but go out to the suburbs sometime. Houses facing freeways or expressways or retaining walls are QUITE common. If they are priced too high, sure, they won’t sell, but the location or view is pretty common – they just have to be priced accordingly.
Still you could put the townhouses above the retail on Folsom which would make Folsom more inviting as the tower & apartment podiums would then be offset providing for a more open and airy feel on Folsom street. Keep the parking lot entrance off the Clementina side.
^^^But then they’re not townhouses, you’re simply talking about putting the market rate places above the retail and the low income around back. That’s fine I guess.
The townhouses are different because each has a street level entrance, something you couldn’t do with street level retail.
They’ll probably just put up a huge wall to block the onramp, much like the development wedged between Caltrain and 280 near 7th St did. Anyone know the name of it? The streets aren’t even on Google Maps.
Anxious to see what shows up in the proposal box for this block in the Rincon Hill neighborhood.
We need some food down here!
I’m with ya … Rincon Market is great, but doesn’t quite meet all the needs (and prices are a bit rich). I’m praying that a Trader Joe’s turns up in Rincon Hill eventually. 🙂
Bus fumes are the best high…
This is a SF Redevelopment Agency sponsored project, so at least there will be some sort of public assistance to get this moving along. Also, I know that the vision for what the Transbay Redevelopment Project area calls for is a renewed Folsom street with a wide sidewalk on the north side. It will be a great new addition to the area, and the first of many such sites in this area. http://www.sfgov.org/site/sfra_page.asp?id=5583
This will give an idea of the plan for the area.
“Developers looking at the site, known as Block 8, include Avant Housing, Intracorp San Francisco, the Emerald Fund, AvalonBay and Related Cos., according to interviews and a sign-in list from the redevelopment agency’s Nov. 13 “pre-submittal” meeting on the project. Developers expected to make especially strong bids include the rental real estate investment trust AvalonBay; Avant Housing, a joint venture between local builders AGI Capital and TMG Partners; and the New York-based Related, which is reportedly teaming up with Emerald Fund. Other developers attending the meeting included Chicago-based Mesa Development, luxury housing giant Toll Brothers and San Mateo-based SunCal Cos.”Developers looking at the site, known as Block 8, include Avant Housing, Intracorp San Francisco, the Emerald Fund, AvalonBay and Related Cos., according to interviews and a sign-in list from the redevelopment agency’s Nov. 13 “pre-submittal” meeting on the project. Developers expected to make especially strong bids include the rental real estate investment trust AvalonBay; Avant Housing, a joint venture between local builders AGI Capital and TMG Partners; and the New York-based Related, which is reportedly teaming up with Emerald Fund. Other developers attending the meeting included Chicago-based Mesa Development, luxury housing giant Toll Brothers and San Mateo-based SunCal Cos.”
Five developers vying to build at Transbay in S.F. [San Francisco Business Times]