As a number of tipsters have noted, over the weekend a construction crane sprouted at 680/690 Folsom Street as the $87 million building overhaul we first showcased back in 2008 finally moves forward. As the re-skinned building will eventually appear:
Once renovated, the building will yield 505,000 square feet of office space and a public plaza on the corner of Folsom and Third Streets on which a new 15,000-square-foot retail or cultural building will also rise.
∙ Renovation Of 680/690 Folsom Slated To Get Going This November [SocketSite]
∙ Wet Weekend Special (And Scoop): The Designs For 680/690 Folsom [SocketSite]
Not a fan of re-skinning existing buildings. They all deserve their place in time.
And GET OFF MY LAWN!
Good riddance to another SF eyesore. The new skin will be much welcomed!
Yeah!
I’m sure this will take years. Meanwhile, they are building 30 story building in china in 15 days: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5hf_XJHtMgY
[Editor’s Note: The renovation is expected to be completed late 2013.]
$87M
that’s a lot of skin in the game
Finally! I remember noticing the test-section for the new cladding along Folsom. Almost every day after that I would walk by expecting activity to start again. About a year or so later, I gave up. Can’t believe it’s actually happening now.
I really like how the bones of the original building look. I’m going to be really sad to see it go. It has a timeless modernist bent similar to Embarcadero Center. I wish they just updated the building, instead of sucking out its soul 🙁
A second crane is also going up, placed on the west side of 680 Folsom, squeezed in the narrow space next to that low garage building at the corner.
Now if somebody would just convert the old Pac Bell HQ to condos…
future home of macys.com. 250K deal in the works
Thank god this is finally happening. There is no redeeming value, aesthetic or otherwise, to the current lifeless, ugly skin on that thing.
I really don’t understand the comments that somehow it’s sad that they’re doing this. Sucking the “soul” out of the building??? What “soul”? It currently looks as lifeless and soul-less, and devoid of any real design aesthetic, as the day it first went up.
This is the best thing to happen to this corner of the city in quite some time. It can’t happen fast enough for me.