SF New Developments

Neighborhood plan fuels first building project

San Francisco Business Times – November 17, 2006 by J.K. Dineen

For six years local builder Brian Spiers has carefully watched the Market-Octavia plan wend its way through the city”s seemingly endless planning process. Now the plan is on the brink of passing, and Spiers is poised to be a pioneer in the new wave of housing development the zoning changes are expected to spur.

Spiers has acquired a prominent 22,000-square-foot lot at the corner of Buchanan and Market streets for between $9 million and $11 million. Currently a Union 76 gas station, the parcel is one of several along Market Street the plan identifies as a top priority for the Market-Octavia area. The Market-Octavia plan aims to create a transit-oriented neighborhood with dense housing over retail and streets that that cater to walkers and bikers. The plan covers 379 acres including Hayes Valley, a portion of Mid-Market and Mission Dolores and part of Duboce Triangle. The plan, could result in 4,400 more housing units over the next 20 years, allows taller buildings near Van Ness Avenue and Market, but reduces heights in residential neighborhoods like Hayes Valley. It allows for three 400-foot towers clustered around the intersection of Market and Van Ness. “There are a lot people waiting for this plan to go through — they don”t want to submit anything under the old zoning,” he said. Spiers has hired Miami-based design super star Arquitectonica to design an eight-story, 115-unit building on a sloped lot stepping down from the tan art deco apartment building above on Buchanan Street.

Arquitectonica is more often associated with high-profile statement buildings like Tishman Speyer”s Infinity project on Rincon Hill, but Spiers was referred to the firm by another builder and he was thrilled it said yes. “The Planning Department wants good design and I hired Arquitectonica because I wanted to give them good design,” said Spiers. “If you go up and down Market Street, this is one of the most visible sites. It is an important corner within the plan.” Spiers, a former carpenter, last year finished a 28-unit mixed-use project at 270 Valencia St., next to the old Levi Strauss factory. The plan requires ground-floor retail along Market Street between Noe Street and Van Ness Avenue. Spiers has 220 feet of frontage along Market Street and plans to build a restaurant and two retail spaces. Spiers owns two bars in the city, including the Lucky 13, just up Market Street from the site.

He said he would have loved to have had the new plan in place for the Valencia Street project because it would have given him 15-foot heights on his ground floor retail, instead of 10. Chris Foley of Polaris Group brokered the land deal and will market the condo project when it is done. He said that Spiers, a Sunset District native, was determined to build a “pioneering project under the plan.” “He wants to really build an incredible, world-class building, which is why he hired a killer designer,” said Foley. “It is going to cost him a lot of money, but he wants to be proud of the building and for the city to be proud of the building.” Lead Market-Octavia planner John Billovits said he hopes the Planning Commission will approve the plan Dec. 7 and move it to the Board of Supervisors by Dec. 14. He said it”s been satisfying to see developers like Spiers come forward plan-consistent projects. “The plan is about more than just buildings, it”s about neighborhood building,” he said, J.K. Dineen covers real estate for the San Francisco Business Times. Original Article

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