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

Sister site Eater SF notes that Conduit on Valencia is shutting down, effective immediately. A harsh fate for the Stanley Saitowitz-designed restaurant, which stood out for its eye-catching copper-pipe decor. You might recall that one of the co-owners of Conduit, Brian Spiers, was last on our radar for spearheading the development of 1960 Market St., an Arquitectonica-designed residential project that seems to have shipping-container envy as its architectural motif.
· The Shutter: Conduit Bows Out After Just Over Two Years [Eater SF]
· Market/Buchanan Gets Pause for Thinkage [Curbed SF]

CalGreen is what they’re calling the green building code just unanimously adopted by the California Building Standards Commission. The standard, which would require that half of construction waste be recycled, water-saving plumbing be installed, and other such green things be implemented in future construction, were actually opposed by some groups, including Sierra Club and the people behind the LEED rating system. At issue was CalGreen’s relative weakness compared to already existing green building standards in cities like San Francisco and L.A., but also — according to the LEED folks — the difficulty of enforcing or evaluating implementations of CalGreen. Local officials don’t have the kind of “technical expertise,” they say, that LEED-accredited people do. (Plus, they presumably won’t feel the need to pay for those LEED tests.) In any case, the move will allow cities to maintain their own, stricter standards, meaning only that the bar’s been raised statewide for places that didn’t have green building rules to begin with.
· State adopts greenest building codes in U.S. [SFGate]
· Environmental groups try to block parts of California’s green building code [LAT]

[Image via Flickr/mirnanda]

Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

Then: $1,299,000
Now: $1,199,000
You Save: $100,000, or 7.7 percent!

This 3-bed, 3-bath Corona Heights house first hit the market back in November, and is now modestly lighter two months in. The listing advertises a “Tales of the City STUNNING Historic Victorian Gem,” but really, they had us at the 1-bed, 1-bath “Carmel Style” cottage out back. It’s legal too! And is that stained glass we spy in that picture? There’s more to see at the listing.
· 56 56A Mars St [Redfin]

Polk Gulch is experiencing something of a spike in prostitution, judging from neighbors’ reports and police busts. Says one resident: “We went from ‘not much activity’ to two and three girls on a street corner.” Cops have been busting johns in stings, but residents seem to be concerned also about “pimp-on-pimp violence” and all the other nasty stuff that comes with. And Polk was doing so well! [CBS 5]

The decision in favor of an L.A. developer, allowing him to set his own rent rates, is headed toward killing affordable rental units in potential new developments here too, at least temporarily. In order to comply with state law, the Board of Supes has introduced legislation that would have developers pay a fee to the city, rather than be required to include affordable units in their rental projects — currently there’s the option of including cheaper apartments, or of paying an in-lieu fee to the city. Until (or unless!) the original state law is amended to allow for cities to mandate a percentage of affordable units, that may very well be the way forward. Says the director of a tenant-advocacy nonprofit: “The impact of the decision is that less affordable rental housing is going to be built in jurisdictions like San Francisco until that [state] law is amended or set aside.”
· Developer fees forced to change [SF Examiner]
· San Francisco Dealing With Affordable Fallout From L.A. Project [Curbed SF]

[Image: L.A.'s Piero II, the development that started it all]

["One-hour empire," via Curbed SF Flickr photog Justin.Beck]

· SoMa neighborhood, DPW turning landstrip into park [SF Examiner]
· California’s green building code a developer’s way out? [Greenspace]
· TL mystery: “Tendorloin Tony’s Tours” [Uptown Almanac]
· A broker’s tips on unwarranted rooms [Inside SF RE]
· More signatures than needed for Santa Clara stadium [City Insider]
· A Haight powwow on the condo-less Whole Foods [SF Citizen]
· Ohlones say: protect ancient Hunters Point sites [SF BayView]
· The Tendernob sucks because of … Academy of Art? [Tenderblog]

“And for the love of god: yes, SF needs middle-and lower-income housing, desperately. You know how not to provide that? Block all construction of new high-end condos, thus throwing yuppies and trustafarians into competition for the same housing stock as working-class families. Is this really that hard to understand?” [Commissioners Say Twisty Cylinder's Report Was Too Subjective]

MISSION BAY: Remember when Curbed went inside Mission Creek’s houseboats last year? The Potrero Library Campaign’s bringing the tour back for its second year, meaning another round of people gets a chance to go gawking at the inside of other people’s houseboats (and some other homes in Potrero Hill). Tickets are $25 each or $40 a pair, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan 24. Email mary.abler@friendssfpl.org or call (415) 626-7512, ext. 107. [CurbedWire]

OAKLAND: The Ellington has sold Oakland’s first million-dollar condo since October 2008 — a $1.1 million two-bedroom penthouse. There’s also a second penthouse in escrow for $1.549 million. [Curbed Inbox]

[Update: Gallery removed. More images, sans graffiti van, at Bruce Damonte Photography]

Apparently accolades don’t necessarily translate into escrow: the AIA-distinction-laden house at 147 Laidley has been unable to snag a buyer since mid-2009. The 3,150-square-foot, 4-bedroom Glen Park home, designed by James Zack and Lisa de Vito, has now been looking for a renter on Craigslist for about a week, as spotted by SocketSite. On a month to month basis for half a year to a year, its asking rate is $12,500 a month. Oof.

Update: We hear the place is no longer renting.

· Brand New Modern Masterpiece! [Craigslist, via SocketSite]
· Laidley House [Bruce Damonte Photography]
· Soon to Market: Glen Park Trophy Property [Curbed SF]

The Academy of Art University got no break from the Board of Supes committee hearing yesterday — supe and former supe alike piled on the school for all its code violations. Former supes president Aaron Peskin showed up to say that “nobody else gets away with dragging their feet for the better part of the decade.” Another supervisor more or less concurred: “I’ve been here for 10 years, and you’ve been a problem since I’ve been here.”

As discussed when we caught the verbal spankings in November, the heart of the problem is the institution’s apparently insatiable hunger for real estate in the city — snapping up buildings and converting them to academic use without permission, while depleting San Francisco’s housing stock. University president Elisa Stephens sounded a contrite note when she said “we take full responsibility,” but the Board of Supes Land Use Committee is going to submit them to quarterly reviews anyway. There’s also the proposal from a longtime Academy of Art critic, who says the city could impose fees for its continued development. According to the SF Weekly, Stephens “scowled at (his) suggestions.”
· Supes Lambaste Academy of Art [The Snitch]
· S.F. Supes to monitor Academy of Art University [SFGate]
· Academy of Art Speaks on Code Tramplings: ‘A Lot of Red Tape’ [Curbed SF]
· Academy of Art Gets a Timeout, Cars Are Moving Down Van Ness [Curbed SF]