1401 Market Rendering

Conceived as condos, converted to rentals, and with a site that’s been cleared for development since 2007, Crescent Heights has given the green light for Swinerton Builders to start construction on 1401 Market, their 749-unit development or the corner of 10th.

1401 Market Rendering: 2011

33 thoughts on “1401 Market Street: Redesigned And Cleared For Construction”
  1. Did the renderings change? These look different…
    [Editor’s Note: They did (and they should). Since redesigned by Handel Architects.]

  2. @kg – yes, the building was redesigned by Glenn Rescalvo of Handel Architects. It looks much better in my opinion and to have that huge blight of a lot disappear will be a huge boon to the area.

  3. Did the City provide incentives for the developer to build this as “rentals” or was it a purely economic decision? If the latter, it suggests that the San Francisco condo-tower market is no longer overpriced relative to rents.

  4. Wow,
    First SOMA Grand, then the new Trinity apartments project, then Twitter moving there, then this brand new apartment building. Mid Market will be a very different place a couple of years from now. Different crowd. Different mood. All for the best.
    Build it.

  5. it suggests that the San Francisco condo-tower market is no longer overpriced relative to rents.
    It’s a catch-up game from both ends. 1 – Condo towers have mostly cratered (with still a little bit of pain to come on some shadow inventory) but are now stabilizing or even picking up. 2 – Rents are going up which re-balances the rent-vs-buy equation.
    Buying at today’s prices in developments delivered in 2006-2007 and renting them out can be cash-flow neutral, which was impossible 3 years ago.
    We should be so lucky to be in a city where this type of project can actually pencil out on paper as a profitable venture. We’re on the right side of the Great Recession.

  6. Observantneighbor, there are many other possibilities. The builders were probably running out of work for their crews, and made the developer an offer they couldn’t refuse.
    The price at which they could sell it wasn’t going to support a sale, and the condo market is projected to decline, so their best option was to build rentals for it. They probably looked at the companies moving into the area and decided now was the best time to get it funded, so they had to act soon or lose the window.
    I suspect it was a confluence of things, not any one issue. But seeing that they decided against condos and have kept it rentals tells you where they *think* the condo market is headed for the next 3-5 years.

  7. How does this height compare to surrounding buildings? The rendering makes it seem taller than Fox Plaza. Is it also taller than 100 Van Ness?

  8. So by going rentals this will not be condo-mapped?
    Or do they condo-map it and have the right to sell as condos in future?

  9. ^ I’m 99% sure the latter. It would be crazy to build it w/o condo mapping. I think the units will be sold as condos at a later date.

  10. The first link to the old thread says the market street side will be 35 stories at 352′. The other side is 242′.

  11. I thought, this looks like a mini-Millennium tower, with the dark blue glass and angled top. Sure enough, it’s the same architect. An interesting cross-town connection on the skyline.

  12. Between Trinty Plaza and this development, it puts a lot of rentals in mid-market. Good to see them finally building a lot of housing in this area which has great transit options. With enough new residents added to the area, it might finally be able to support some better retail and dining options.

  13. As to the height, counting the decorative stuff at the top I counted 40 floors and you can usually figure about 8′ per floor for residential putting it at 320′. Somebody above says the “old”design was 352′. This could go that high at the absolute top tip of the crown.
    Anyway, adding it up–SOMA Grand, Trinity Plaza, Fox Plaza, Argenta and this–Seems like there will be 3 or 4 thousand people living within a block of the stretch of Market from 7th to Van Ness. I believe that will be enough to tip the balance and attract some desirable retail and/or restaurants and make this stretch of “mid-Market” substantially more attractive. Only 5th to 7th will be problematic.
    Come on CityPlace! Start turning dirt PLEASE!

  14. @ sparky-b: I understand what you are saying but my observation from many projects over a decade is that a rough 8′ per floor seems to include the concrete, utilities and so on between floors. For one thing, many of these new buildings don’t have flat ceilings in the units–they “box” in the pipes and so on with drywall so they may only have “partial” 8′ ceilings. Anyway, for whatever reason, when I have seen articles giving number of floors and height, it seems to work out to around 8′ per floor on residential buildings and 10′ on office buildings. It’s rough but it has worked for me for a long time in trying to guess building height from # of floors and I am not disputing what someone said–352′–a somewhat higher number.

  15. @ Mark F.: Yes, I think the southern tower is actually a separate building being done by a non-profit developer in conjunction with Crescent. In any case, I believe that was what was meant by the comment that the building will be built “all at once”, not “in phases” in the BizTimes article. A few years back I don’t think both halves were expected necessarily to be built together–and the market rate portion would have come first, of course.

  16. Sure Google will comp you a bus ride down the Peninsula, but now Twitter will simply comp you your apartment across the street.

  17. Great that this is moving forward.
    Nice massing (a given),
    But the tower, with its flatulent party hat and racing stripes… Like the 80’s all over again.

  18. Yuppies have to live somewhere. Would you prefer another hipster holding facility? How about a dink holding facility? Guppy? Or perhaps we could be just be a bit more inclusive and admit this is a good project that will provide more places for folks to live.

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