200-214 Van Ness site

In a move which shouldn’t catch any plugged-in readers by surprise, the proposed plans for razing the Light House for the Blind building at 214 Van Ness Avenue and adjoining 27 apartments at 200 Van Ness, and orchestrating the development of a twelve-story building for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music to rise on the Van Ness Corridor site, have been cut down to size.

As originally proposed, a 20-foot-tall performance space would have been built atop a 120-foot building with 320 beds of student housing, 28 replacement apartments for those to be demolished, classrooms/rehearsal/performance space for the Conservatory, and a 2,200 square foot restaurant on the ground floor of the building below.

But as we first reported earlier this year, Planning was pushing back on the proposed height for the site, which is currently only zoned for 96 feet, but appeared amenable to 120 feet overall.

And as such, the proposed performance space has now been integrated into the main envelope of the 120-foot-tall building to rise at 200 Van Ness Avenue, as designed by Mark Cavagnero Associates.

200 Van Ness Avenue Rendering

That being said, the tip-top of the performance hall’s sloped roof and adjacent student resource center would still rise a little above the 120-foot threshold as proposed.

200 Van Ness Avenue Rendering - Performance Space

24 thoughts on “Conservatory of Music Tower Cut down to Size”
  1. Silly having glass walls in a performance space. Firstly, one should focus on the music, not the views. Secondly, glass reflects sound and this room will have standing waves aplenty, seriously compromising the sound and experience of the audience and players alike.

    1. You’ve obviously never been to the Kennedy Center Jazz venue located in the Time/CNN Building located on Columbus Circle. Really welcome this development here.

        1. Actually, it does. Maybe not in the lobby, but certainly in the auditorium. Shows how much you know about sound.

          1. I used to work for a company called ACS. I’ve forgotten more about acoustics than you’ll ever know.

          2. So you’re saying that you’ve forgotten more about acoustics than SIA Acoustics & Meyer Sound will ever know? My my, you do live in a fantasy world.

        2. I live with a musician who’s played at SF Jazz. The acoustics are great for things mic’ed up to the speaker system. Not so much anything else.

  2. where’s the all glass slide from the top corner down the left façade?

    not sure which building looks better, the rendering, the tower behind or the prior AAA building demolished…

    building skins and minimalism, you either have some kind of detail, or you might as well think pre-cast panels. value engineering should ruin it shortly…

  3. This will be a nice addition to the performing arts area. With opera/symphony/ballet/jazz in one area, it creates a unified center that supports the arts, as well as the retail/restaurants of Hayes Valley. Now,
    there should be some BMR housing in the area – as part of luxury building – that is dedicated to performers.

  4. This rendering should be compared to the built product once they review the budget and technical limitations. This is the same firm that did SF Jazz, which also looked WAY better in renderings than it does in real life , as seen from the exterior. The glass looks plastick-y, tacky and not translucent and ethereal like these drawings always show them to be.

    Oh well. My 2 cents.

    1. The SF Jazz Center has horrible acoustics, which I’m sure will be the case with this place too. It’s all style over substance in San Francisco these days. Pathetic.

      1. I assume you are being facetious? SF Jazz’s Miner Auditorium has fantastic acoustics. Even the little Joe Henderson Lab in the back has great sound.

  5. I can’t take the opinion of anyone with “stop driving” as a screen name. This clearly in-your-face adherence to the new anti driving orthodoxy reveals a mind as open as your typically closed minded religious acolyte, or worse a modern day nanny who could never allow others to enjoy the pleasure of such horrible things as soft drinks, single family homes, patches of private outdoor space, non-bay windows, or a leisurely private automobile drive along a coastal road!

    1. If you are still buying gasoline in 2016, you’re hopeless. Love the generalizations that follow your statement about being close-minded. If you had an ounce of wit, you’d see the hypocrisy in your comment.

  6. Reminder – SOTA proposal to move downtown, Tech-Hub downtown, and more development and density adjacent on south van ness…

    Problem – MUNI is currently packed to the gills, what transit system will these people use, besides bike and walk? Muni needs to be adjusted along with Van Ness systems to allow for Mass-Transit line along Van Ness, switch the BRT to LRV or at least a system that can bear the crunch of people… Otherwise, night at the opera will be re-worded as “TRAFFIC-JAM-AT-THE-OPERAb 24/7″…

  7. This doesn’t go with the intimate nature of classical music and the genre will soon be unrecognizable. :Losing its tradition and class. So Sad

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