SoMa Grand

SoMa Grand breaks ground

Dan Levy | SF Chronicle

Sunday, October 30, 2005

The SoMa Grand, a 246-unit condominium project on the site of a parking lot, broke ground last week on Mission Street between Seventh and Eighth streets. It”s a $120 million venture between developers AIG Capital and TMG, with Joie de Vivre Hospitality providing input on branding and lifestyle amenities. “Our original vision was doing a commercial project with parking, but as the market dynamics changed we envisioned it as more residential,” said Alexis Wong, chief executive of AIG Capital. The company acquired the site in 2000 and saw it through the entitlement process before bringing aboard TMG and Joie de Vive. One controversial aspect of the project was parking. More than 600 spaces were displaced and the city required partial compensation for the lost stalls. So the building will have 184 spots for residents, less than a 1-to-1 ratio, and 320 available to the public in a four-story podium below the condo units. However, the huge federal office tower is rising down the street at Mission and Seventh. That enormous building is going up with no added parking, meaning that it”s clear who will have dibs on the SoMa Grand garage.