The eight-story building at 300 California Street was constructed in 1946, rising 112 feet in height with 77 parking spaces for autos in an underground garage below. A plan to raze the building and build 20 stories on the site was proposed back in 1996 but abandoned.
On the boards since 2007, a plan to simply add four stories atop the existing building at the corner of California and Battery has been dusted-off, a plan which will bring the downtown building’s height to 192 feet in an area zoned for the development up to 400.
A 1,200 square foot publicly-accessible rooftop garden would be built as part of the project.
As the expanded 300 California Street building and corner would look fully rendered:
San Francisco’s Planning Department is recommending that the City’s Planning Commission approve the four story addition as proposed this week.
You can’t hear them, but the dogs are howling :p
A building that could really use a vertical extension is One Market
Good – Putting the rooftop mechanical EQ in a penthouse enclosure per the rendering will improve the sightlines for many people in the surrounding taller buildings.
That assumes that the green in the rendering is a green roof and not a color code for “put ugly stuff here”.
They’ve extended several buildings in this fashion in the Texas Medical Center, where I used to work. In those cases, the buildings were originally engineered with future vertical expansion in mind… I wonder if this building was similarly designed.
Sad waste of potential, and sadly fugly design.
Those “publicly accessible” rooftop gardens are BS these days. Post 9/11, it’s really difficult to get through building security to enjoy the views unless you actually work in that building (hi there, One Market Plaza).
It should be 200ft, great spot for a new skyscraper!
There was a similar proposal for 100 California a few years ago. (The building was supposedly designed to accommodate several extra levels). Anyone know the status of that?
Help, I’m melting….
My father works in one of 400 California’s corner offices, which face that building. I didn’t realize it, but the other day I sat in his office and didn’t even notice it. Adding four stories should at least add some more space in a city that needs it.
400 feet sounds better.
600 even betterer.
Perhaps someone who owns the high rise immediately to the north has the juice with the City to protect the majority of the windows in that property from being blocked by a taller building…Or maybe they are just owned by the same person and they are balancing out their investments…