SF New Developments

Wilson Meany Sullivan recasts AT&T building
by J.K. Dineen

Wilson Meany Sullivan plans to reinvent the classic Pacific Telephone Building on New Montgomery Street as a five-star hotel and condominium tower, with a spa, restaurant and bar, according to several sources working on the project.
The developer is in contract to buy the 26-story Art Moderne tower at 140 New Montgomery St. from AT&T for $118 million. The 342,000-square-foot structure is selling for $345 a square foot, but WMS and financial partner Stockbridge Capital Partners will likely shell out an additional $500 a square foot to convert it from an empty AT&T office to the deluxe downtown destination.

Sources said WMS was talking to a variety of hotel operators and had not selected one. Company principal Tom Sullivan stressed the exact mix of residences and hotel rooms would be worked out with city and planning department officials, but that it would be some combination of a high-end hotel and residences.

“Our quality target is extremely high,” he said.

Architecture firm Hornberger + Worstell has been hired as project architect, along with historic preservation specialists Page & Turnbull. Plant Construction Co. will be the contractor on the project. Mark Hornberger, a principal with Hornberger + Worstell, said the light gray terra cotta tapered skyscraper is a “wonderful historic landmark property and we want to be very careful about the work we do.” He said the building could support about 100 residences and 70 to 80 hotel rooms and would be “more intimate than the St. Regis with an even higher level of service.” The deal includes a 441-space, eight-level parking garage on Natoma Street behind the Pacific Telephone Building.

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