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

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Here’s something architects don’t normally flat out admit about their designs: “I wanted someone to barf when they look at it.” That’s Berkeley-based Thom Faulders, obviously on the warped work above. Deformscape was created in the backyard of Apple exec Jeff Dauber’s Potrero Hill home. The wall and floor planes are actually entirely flat and perpendicular, and the tree vortex is an illusion created by the sloping lines. Fun! Incidentally, Faulders did pretty much the same thing to the inside of Dauber’s house, dubbed Deform House. Naturally.
· Deformscape [Faulders Studio]
· Apple Exec’s Backyard Is Designed for Barfing [Fast Company]
· Curbed Inside: San Francisco Living Home Tour [Curbed SF]

["Either/Or," via Curbed SF Flickr photog Troy Holden]

· California’s TV efficiency rules: no more power hogs [Wired]
· Jobs are up for architects as projects get going again [LA Times]
· Fannie Mae’s letting families rent their foreclosed homes [Forbes]
· Futurama’s Bender tries life as a house [Warming Glow]
· Signs of life: 58% increase in house sales [The Front Steps]
· BART to Livermore! Meetings commence soon [Website, via Curbed Inbox]

“I used to live downtown Minneapolis and loved-loved-loved when the Target opened over there. There were some fears about parking shortages before the store opened, but the shopping pattern at that store ended up being different from the usual Target. People didn’t drive specifically to that Target but walked over on their lunch/coffee breaks. Downtown workers ended up going there more frequently but for smaller amount purchases so that they can take it on the bus with them in the evening.” [Target's Dodged Bullet]

["Enjoy Coca-Cola," via Curbed SF Flickr photog Troy Holden]

· The neon Coke sign’s getting an efficiency revamp [Biz Wire]
· Another Embarcadero pier fixed up, turning resto [SF Examiner]
· Stocking stuffers: John King’s architecture book list [SFGate]
· Nation’s superproject void is also a void in our hearts [NYT]
· Cavallo Point: Army base turned hot eco resort [WSJ]

The Tenderloin’s community court is all hugs and kisses for the neighborhood’s minor-infraction offenders. The court’s modeled on a similar one in Manhattan, and is meant to help people get on their feet and help themselves, rather than repeatedly jailing them. Do well and get a $10 Safeway gift card, maybe even a round of applause from the courtroom. That’s… different. [SFGate]

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Then: $825,000
Now: $765,000
You Save: $60,000, or 7.2 percent!

“Detached on three sides,” this Mission (Noe-ish) top-floor condo looks almost like a single-family house. (Just forget about that fourth side.) It’s got 3 beds and 1 bath, a deck, and what looks like a nice sunny yard. Could be a winner, unless we’re missing something. Homeowners dues: $1? Cute.
· 3557 23rd St [Redfin]

Megadeveloper Lennar has been tasked with cleaning up not one but two former Navy sites in the Bay Area. The first, and our favorite by far, Hunters Point/Candlestick Point, and the second, Mare Island Shipyard in Vallejo. Given the wobbliness of the economy, in particular for people who put houses together, it might worry city leaders that one company, and one company alone, has the job of reforming these depressed areas. But as the Chron reports, Lennar’s in great shape! The partners in the Vallejo project have already dropped out, but they themselves are still going strong. There are the usual cost overruns and lower than projected revenue intake, but who doesn’t experience that? In the meantime, everyone appears to have confidence that the housing developer won’t have too much trouble creating a neighborhood from scratch on a Superfund site.
· Shipyards developer stays course in bad economy [SFGate]
· Hunters Point Report Drops, 49ers Stadium Still in the Works [Curbed SF]

Remember those neighbors in the Upper Haight who wanted a couple’s solar panels down, or moved out of sight, because they were a hazard to “safety”? It’s happening down in SoCal too, with homeowners associations denying people their “solar rights” — then themselves getting a little slap from the state’s Solar Rights Act of 1978, which makes it illegal to keep people from installing the panels unless they really are a safety hazard. Now a similar bill’s making its way through Congress. Says a solar installer: “”Some homeowners groups are just unaware (of the law). But they also like their control.” [LA Times, previously]

Built as a hotel in 1929, converted to condominiums in 1962, and better known for its studios and one-bedrooms, the 3,879 square foot penthouse (#2101) atop The Hamilton (631 O’Farrell) has hit the market asking $4,500,000. A bit of…

“Real estate investment among wealthy individuals [with more than $800,000 to invest] is set to rise to 30 percent of the average portfolio for the next few years from 28 percent now, according to [a Barclays global] survey. That excludes…