CFAH

330 Townsend Tower Rendered

While currently only zoned for development up to 85 feet in height, STUDIOS Architecture has drafted two variants of a modern tower to rise up to 300-feet at 330 Townsend Street, across the street from the current Caltrain Station and a block away from a future Central Subway stop.

As proposed by the CIM Group which acquired the Central SoMa parcel last year, the existing two-story brick and timber building at 330 Townsend Street – which is currently home to Marlowe and a mix of 40-odd commercial tenants – would be razed in order to make way for one of two towers to rise.

As rendered above and drawn below, one proposal includes a 26-story tower with 204,000 square feet of residential space over 212,000 square feet of office space and a bit of retail on the first floor.

330 Townsend Design: Residential Variant

A variant of the modern design would forego the residential component and result in a 21-story commercial building rising 300 feet with nearly 400,000 square feet of office space and two retail spaces on the ground floor.

330 Townsend Tower: Commercial Variant

Both proposals include parking in an underground garage.

Once again, while both proposals are designed to rise 300-feet, the 330 Townsend Street parcel is currently only zoned for development up to 85-feet in height.  The draft Central Corridor Area Plan does, however, include a possible up-zoning of the site to 300-feet, an increase which would have to be approved by the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors and then survive any legal challenges or efforts to block it at the ballot box.

Comments from Plugged-In Readers

  1. Posted by formerly%whatever

    Build it!

  2. Posted by mow

    It seems since this is next to a transit station, it would be zoned for high density. Instead, it’s only zoned for 85 ft. in height. In my opinion, the zoning for this area should be reviewed.

    • Posted by RAGING BEAR

      But will that actually happen in SF?

  3. Posted by Joseph A

    It might seem a dramatic for the area, BUT , truth be told we are probably looking no less then 2 dozen construction cranes being raised across the 10 blocks bordered by 2nd, 7th, Townsend, and Bryant , in over the next 5 years ,

  4. Posted by Dustin

    Yes! Build it, build it!

  5. Posted by The Milkshake of Despair

    Groovy! It is a little reminiscent of the “boot building” over the Lille Europe station

  6. Posted by invented

    Slightly sensationally modern, but this area could definitely use a dose of looker energy.

  7. Posted by cfb

    Nice! I hope this gets built and I hope we see more stuff like this with the central SOMA plan.

  8. Posted by Alex

    build it! I love the modern taste it has, maybe make it a bit taller since they’re planning to build on the rail yard

  9. Posted by anon

    Pretty short for right next to a train station and subway station, but not too bad otherwise. Tacking on another 200 feet or so would only make sense.

  10. Posted by ciparis

    The zoning there needs adjusting anyway; I hope they build the larger of the two.

  11. Posted by jwb

    Only two retail spaces? Should be multiple smaller spaces to attract more various and interesting storefronts. Otherwise this proposal looks great.

    • Posted by anon

      I dunno, this area could kind of use some large spaces. A couple big box stores would be a welcome addition.

      • Posted by Mike

        Really? Within a 10-15 minute walk from here there is already a Costco, Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Office Max, Target, and others. Big box retail tends to suck all charm and appeal out of an area, which seems very short-sighted for a dense area like this.

        • Posted by anon

          Yes, that’s why Union Square and the surrounding area is so charmless and without appeal. lol

  12. Posted by anon

    A 30 story building in that location? Never going to happen. This must be a joke.

    • Posted by cfb

      There are a bunch of 15-20 story buildings just down the block from this already, it’ll fit in fine. I’m sure there were NIMBYs who flipped out when those were proposed too.

  13. Posted by jamesjr

    Love it. Build it.

  14. Posted by Futurist

    STUDIOS is still stuck between POMO and International Style. they need to focus.

  15. Posted by James

    A knockoff Graves podium under a Koolhaas tower? We can do better.

    • Posted by R+ (formerly known as R, until some johnny-come-lately stole it)

      Clearly we can’t do better.

    • Posted by The Milkshake of Despair

      We could also get another generic Mission Bay legoland structure. I’ll take this GravesKoolhaas chimera over more of the same.

  16. Posted by Mike

    What happens to the residents / owners of 330 Townsend?

  17. Posted by Strike

    330 Townsend is a commercial buildings, so they will receive notice.

  18. Posted by bill johnson

    any idea what the schedule on this is

Comments are closed.

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