NNN Brokers USA – San Francisco Commercial Real Estate Brokers: "The Scoop"

Unfortunately neither the kitchen nor baths match the condition of the living, dining or entry hall. And don’t get us started on those replacement windows. Purchased for $1,175,000 in July of 2005, 335 Lawton is back on the market…

["Grrr Ahhh!" via Curbed SF Flickr photog davitydave]

· Tenderloin: fear, art, mural [THE LOIN]
· eBay findings: Muni bus for sale! [SFist]
· Cayucos: one of America’s coolest small towns [CNN]
· Police chief: bring back the intelligence unit [SFGate]
· Noted: Boston condo auction fails hard [Curbed NYC]
· Great hometowns: exploitation and the glow of nostalgia [Observer]

Arnie cares not for a special “infrastructure financing district” that San Francisco would have set up for the rehab of crumbling Pier 70. The governor vetoed a law that would have allowed the city to issue bonds to pay for such rehab— bonds that would be repaid by property taxes coming from the the spiffed up pier. Last year, voters pulled the “yes” lever on a proposition that would have put city funds into the pier’s redevelopment, based on future hotel and payroll tax revenues. The project envisions 3 million square feet of offices, restaurants, and shops… someday. [SF Examiner, previously]

Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

This 1-bedroom in the top floor of the IronWorks building in SoMa might be the very white counterpart to last week’s very red kitchen in the Bayview. In fact, we’re not sure we’ve ever seen a home quite as blinding as this one. In any case, the cumulative effect at least tells the story that it’s an immaculately clean place, even situated at Harrison and 8th as it is. For 1,676 square feet and two parking spaces, asking price is $749,000. Blink back the tears!
· 1221 Harrison St #24 [Redfin]

There’s something cute about an index that tracks the sentiments of homebuilders, that rather broody bunch that’s so sensitive to market fluctuations. The latest survey shows builders have lost confidence by one point, the first dip since June— probably because that federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers is about to expire. Guess they’ll have to find something else to get buyers on the hook. [SFGate]

Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

The Hayes at 55 Page, which proudly trumpeted this past July that it had completely sold out all its 111 residences, has its first resale on the market just three months later. Unit 220 has 2 beds, 2 baths, 1,238 square feet, and homeowners dues of $385 a month. Asking: $739,000, just a tad below the starting range for their 2-bedroom homes last year, which was $789,000 to $930,000. So much for that investment.
· 55 Page St #220 [Redfin]
· CurbedWire: The Hayes Sells Out [Curbed SF]
· Curbed Inside Update: First Look at The Hayes [Curbed SF]

Last week, Octavia Court at Oak and Octavia was featured on Curbed’s mapstravaganza on San Francisco’s Central Freeway parcels. The 15-unit housing development for the developmentally disabled was probably the smallest of the bunch (besides the pop-up retail project), and is also the first second in the series of 24 parcels to actually break ground. Nonprofit developer Satellite Housing will house a vocational training program for the disabled on the ground floor. As SocketSite notes, the architect on the project has switched from Fougeron Architecture to IE Collaborative.
· Curbed Guide: Central Freeway Developments [Curbed SF]
· Octavia Court: Paved with Good Intentions [Curbed SF]

The big bad economy has claimed Chinatown alleys as another victim in its vortex of despair. Refurbishment work began in 2000 on 31 of the neighborhood’s 41 alleys, and has continued ever since on a one-off basis. Funding, however, has dried up since the downturn, pressing the big pause button on repaving, tree plantings, and all that. Still, work may yet resume if the alleys end up in the city’s 10-year capital plan. [SF Examiner, previously]

Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

Back to Curbed’s roundup of hypothetical design interventions to various problems: presented by Good magazine and SPUR, along with AIA San Francisco and CEO for Cities, the design series recently proposed filling in the Ferry Building’s backyard with mobile kiosks, and installing the Spanish Steps on Broadway. That same night, Stamen Design went to the podium to propose a bike parking solution for the SFMTA. The city currently faces myriad bike-parking problems, not least among them the years-long moratorium on any bike infrastructure ever, barring a full environmental impact report. The problem, in short: more people are riding bikes now, and the city’s infrastructure hasn’t caught up — or hasn’t been able to catch up — yet. Stamen’s solution? Put very simply: bike corrals installed along streets and hemmed in by bollards.

Stamen Design, like the designers who took Broadway into Photoshop, isn’t an urban design firm. They specialize in visual representations of data, and were responsible for the “Trees, Cabs, and Crime” map that appeared on Curbed some time ago. Still, they gave it a good old college try, and came up with a proposal to sprinkle bike corrals like the Main Library’s all over the city. The corrals would be sheltered from the elements and lit at night. Because sidewalk space is limited, bike parking would go into the street, but be delineated by bollards. They also recommended strategies to increase bike parking on non-city space:

Cities such as Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have planning code regulations on the books that require a share of new parking facilities be allotted for bicycles in both commercial and residential developments. New York went a step further and mandated that existing private garages sacrifice some car space for bikes. San Francisco has some regulations similar to Pittsburg’s and Philadelphia’s, but they’re pretty weak. If mandating a larger share of bicycle parking proves difficult (parking in San Francisco being as politically charged an issue as it is) the city should consider encouraging garages and new developments to provide it with tax breaks.

All interesting design and policy proposals. Then Stamen goes off the rails with an idea to “seed the city with beater bikes,” thus materially devaluing the bicycle, making it less of a theft target and more of a casual, hey-I-found-a-bike-leaning-against-the-wall ride. Hellooooo, critical mass.
· My foray into bicycle infrastructure planning [Com Pulse]
· Bike Parking: A Modest Proposal [Slide Share]
· Broadway Brainstorm: Neon Fortunes and Spanish Steps [Curbed SF]
· Ferry Building Brainstorm: Floating Gardens, Trees and More Vendors [Curbed SF]

A twist on the Mid-Market signage proposal! Well, sort of: a promotions company is pushing back against the city’s 2002 prohibition of general advertising signs in San Francisco. The law is the reason Mid-Market has to get a new ordinance passed in order to have signage allowed between 5th and 7th, and it’s also the reason Contest Promotions LLC has been cited by the city over a dozen times for alleged violations of the advertising ban. The company says San Francisco’s ban on signs is, according to the SF Examiner, “unconstitutional and vague,” and deprives off-site advertisers of the same rights that stores have in their own storefront windows. And so to the courts they’ve gone. It’s too early to tell, perhaps, whether the suit will end up hurting or helping Mid-Market’s cause du jour.
· Sign ban faces challenge [SF Examiner]
· Mid-Market’s Billboard Fight Hits the Air [Curbed SF]
· Mid-Market’s Man With a Plan: So Crazy It Might Work? [Curbed SF]
· Mid-Market Buzz: Foreign Cinema Sibling On Its Way, Plus Ballot Measure [Curbed SF]