Built in 1966 and last remodeled in 1998, plans to add four stories atop the existing seven-story building at 633 Folsom Street, adjacent to the 200-foot BLU (631 Folsom), are working their way through Planning.
The proposed addition would add 90,000 square feet of office space to the 172,000 square foot building, along with 2,300 square feet of new retail (for a total of 3,300) and 5,000 square feet of public open space, including the building’s covered arcade, along Folsom.
After the addition, the eleven-story building, which sits on a Central SoMa site zoned for development up to 200 feet in height, would be 160-feet-tall (commercial stories are taller than residential) with relatively minor foundation improvements required.
And with respect to the architecture, “the addition will create a seamless design with the existing building and will maintain its character and that of the neighborhood, and will support the City’s urban design policies,” according to the architects (Gensler) and project sponsor (Swig).
The entire building at 633 Folsom is currently leased to CPMC through 2018, at which point CPMC’s new Cathedral Hill campus should be ready for occupancy.
One point of clarification – the title implies the public open space will be increased. But in the body of the article it refers of new retail space but does not qualify the open space with “new”.
Will there be a net increase in public open space?
By adding 90K feet of office space this project will need to get in line for the M allocation which is used up. They will be competing against more “favored” projects for the allotment. If they had gone with 50K more feet of office space there is a separate allotment which has excess space available in it I believe.
If they were going to go for 90K and be put in the “beauty contest” I wonder why they didn’t just build it out to the max allowed height of 200 feet. Unless adding more than 4 stories allotment which I believe has available allotment space. perhaps going any taller would have required much more than minor foundation work and didn’t pencil out.
I have to assume “seamless” doesn’t refer to the facade. Reskinning would be a vast improvement.
the rendering does look slightly sleeker, but that may just be wishful thinking.
Considering when it was built (“Great Generation” my ass Brokaw), it’s not that bad.
I think it’s a kind of cool thing to see. It’s like a building stacked on top of a building. There’s no reason the whole building has to look uniform as long as they put it together in an interesting way.
The BLU views will be cropped to the west. Expect a fight.
Had not thought of that. Isn’t there a proposal for a condo of 12 or 14 stories across the street from here. At the Canton (think that’s the name) restaurant site. Read about it somewhere a while ago. it may have been at SS. That too would block views to the west.
[Editor’s Note: Condos To Replace Canton Seafood, Over 300 Units Could Rise.]
Hopefully they replace the window gaskets that appear to be popping out, creaking in heat and have air leaks
Do people still say “Raise the Roof”?
UPDATE: Folsom Street Rising and Newly Rendered
UPDATE: New Plans for Raising the Roof and Office Space in Central SoMa