SF New Developments

John King of the Chronicle wrote a great article about the new Whole Foods that recently opened under The Potrero – Potrero Hill’s latest condo development – The Potrero had a nice event celebrating the grand opening of the Whole Foods last week.

The Potrero’s latest availability includes units in both the North and the South buildings:

• Studios range from just under 450k up to 470k
• 1BR’s from just under 580k
• 1BR+Den’s from 678k
• 2BR’s flats and townhomes from 732k
• Two 3BR’s available as well…

Contact Mark Choey at 415.630.0204 for more availability information.

by John King at sfgate.com with photo by Chris Stewart

The new Whole Foods Market in San Francisco shows with meticulous precision why upscale grocery stores are coveted by communities that want to see themselves as fully rounded or on the map.

In the process, it also shows the design gap between mainstream America’s stylish retail environments and the boilerplate architecture that surrounds them.

We’ve taken the old phrase “beauty is only skin deep” and turned it inside out. Too many buildings are as perfunctory as can be, shells that don’t even try to add hints of surprise or delight. Then you go inside the savvier shops or restaurants, and every inch bristles with innovative life.

This particular Whole Foods – one of 22 in Northern California – is nestled against the base of Potrero Hill at the corner of 17th and Rhode Island streets. Upstairs are three floors of condominiums dubbed the Potrero; Whole Foods and a parking garage share the podium on which the 165 condos rest.

This is San Francisco, so rectangular bays pop out above the sidewalk here and there. We’re in a neighborhood with a blue-collar past, so some bays are clad in corrugated metal. Interspersed with the metal are stucco walls in varied hues; off-white tiles add a hint of masonry at ground level.

Sound familiar? Of course: You can find variations on this theme from Santa Rosa to San Jose. What the marketing brochure describes as “distinguished but discreet” is a thin coat of color hiding a concrete-and-plywood box. This isn’t architecture, it’s a development formula come to life…

Read the full story here>>