SF New Developments

Moving up in San Francisco: The Transamerica Pyramid is higher at 853 feet — but even now, with the tower still not finished, every other building north of Los Angeles is lower Carl Nolte, Chronicle Staff Writer

Jaimie Rubio, who is 54 years old, does the heavy lifting for One Rincon Hill, the $290 million project that will be the tallest residential building in the West when it is completed next year. Rubio is one of two tower-crane operators working for Bovis Lend Lease, the principal contractor at One Rincon. He works in a tiny enclosed cab, smaller than an office workstation, at the top of the crane, virtually at the top of San Francisco. His blue-and-yellow crane stands next to the One Rincon tower and above it, like a giant mechanical bird hovering over the steel and concrete construction site. The One Rincon tower is more than 500 feet high now, counting the concrete core that was built first. When it is finished, the top of the 60-story building will be 641 feet high. It will be a landmark tower, right next to the Bay Bridge, and a monument to the men and women who built it. Julie Ann Linsley, who runs one of the elevators — called hoists — says she can see the tower from her home in Oakland. “It looks cool,”" she says, “It looks exhilarating. There”s a lot of energy on this job.”

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