San Francisco Business Times - April 15, 2005

by Lizette Wilson

 In the Pipeline

• 425 First Street - Michael Kriozere/Urban West Assoc (694 Units)
• 45 Lansing Street - Ezra Mercy/Alta Vista Ventures (305 Units)
• 340 Fremont Street - Ezra Mercy/Touchstone(380 Units)
• 375 Fremont Street - Theodore Brown/Brown Brew LLC (215 Units)
• 399 Fremont Street - Archdiocese of SF (205 Units)
• 333 Fremont Street - Rick Kaufman/City Core Development (80 Units)

Approved

• 201 Folsom/300 Spear - Tishman Speyer (1455 Units)
• 325 Fremont - (70 Units)
• 40-50 Lansing - (82 Units)

Rincon Hill’s residential profile is rising.

The San Francisco micro-neighborhood — flanked by the Bay Bridge and the Transbay Terminal — is being targeted by city officials who envision 3,675 new housing units, a 1.5 acre community park and $30 million in community goodies like public facilities and open space dotting the 20-block stretch.

The Planning Commission is expected to approve these and other details of the neighborhood plan April 21, recommending its passage to the Board of Supervisors, which will consider it in early May.

If adopted, the master plan would serve as a welcome mat for developers by fast tracking development approvals and permitting in the area and eliminating much of the discretionary reviews now common for many developments.

“With this there will be a lot more certainty for developers. You’ll be able to get lots of approvals and permits without a bunch of extra reviews,” said Marshall Foster, a citywide policy planner with the Planning Department. “There’s a lot of interest in having housing downtown. We’re moving quickly to seize on the interest now and try to shape new construction into what everyone wants to see for the area.”

The plan would have little effect on the largest area development — Tishman Speyer’s 1,455-unit complex at 300 Spear St. which is now under construction — or the two other projects with a combined 152 units which have also already been approved.

The plan would, however, make the approval process easier for developers of six other projects now in the pipeline which would create a combined 1,879 units and other landowners interested in redeveloping their sites.

Crafted by a consortium of stakeholders during the past two years, the plan calls for slender, carefully spaced residential towers — the largest floor plate will be 10,000 square feet — with the tallest at the top of the hill, and the shortest near the waterfront to ensure views remain uncluttered.

Although there will be some retail components, office development will be curtailed to 1 net square foot for every 6 net square feet of residential. Hotels will not be permitted: Because 40 percent of all new units are required to be two-bedrooms and larger, the new neighborhood is likely to attract families.

Then there’s the community improvements.

With developer impact fees at $14 a square foot, city officials estimate they’ll have some $30 million to upgrade public facilities throughout the 55 acre swath.

This will include purchasing 1.5 acres of land from Caltrans and converting it into a park which showcases ecological landscaping and has superb views of the Bay. The cash will also help create more pedestrian friendly areas and renovate the historic Sailor’s Union Building at First and Harrison. Plans call for transforming the building it into a community center with arts, recreation and retail and classrooms.

Foster was cautiously optimistic the plan would be fully adopted before summer.

He said: “Everyone is relatively on the same page on this.”

Lizette Wilson covers real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.