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

Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

Come along on a quick ferry ride up north, if you will, for restaurant designer Pat Kuleto’s houseboat in Sausalito has just hit the market. The 3-bed, 2-bath “floating home” — wow, you sure can squeeze a lot into those guys — was designed by Kuleto himself, naturally, and he calls it the “Lilypad.” Lilypad is where he “began building his award-winning restaurant dynasty,” says an agent. It features an open floor plan, three levels, a fireplace, and wet bar. It’s in an “exclusive location” with only four other houseboats, plus a security gate. Asking price: $495,000 … and you were thinking about settling for a 1-bedroom condo in the city. (If you’re San Francisco-bound, there are always those Mission Creek houseboats too.)
· 2350 Marinship Way #3 [Marin Modern]

Luke Brugnara, called the “city’s most bombastic commercial landlord” by the SF Weekly in a 2002 profile, got two and half years in prison for evading taxes on $45 million worth of property sales. Oh, and he’s also in trouble for messing with the endangered steelhead trout swimming through a stream on his Gilroy property. Maybe that Vegas thing’s not going to pan out. [SF Appeal]

Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

Let’s just cop to being on a cottage kick this week. The 2-bed, 2-bath Corona Heights tenancy in common at 45 Uranus Terrace is one of two vacant units in the building — the other’s a 1-bed, 1-bath. The listing suggests we “greet the city each morning through wall-to-wall windows” overlooking a “hypnotic view from an expansive deck.” Sounds good, and the view’s surely worth a lifetime of Uranus jokes. The 2-bed’s going for $825,000, and the 1-bed’s asking $649,000.
· 45 Uranus Ter [Redfin]
· 43 Uranus Ter [Redfin]

San Jose joins Mountain View as the second South Bay city to consider “pod cars,” or Jetsons/Incredibles-style personal rapid transit. Mayor Chuck Reed reportedly balked at the cost of an AirTrain-style automated people mover, $600 million, compared to $200 million for a pod car system. (Really?) Basically, you and maybe five of your closest friends pile into a single pod, which’ll take you nonstop to your destination — inevitably just some airport terminal. Still, it may be the most thrilling 90-second ride of your life. [IBA, previously]

[Existing church vs. old rendering of Anasazi's 1601 Larkin proposal]

We hear that developer John McInerney has amassed what he’s calling “overwhelming” support for his contentious condo project at 1601 Larkin. Even if, or even so, there are neighbors who aren’t taking this one lying down — the image above looks to be the same one a commenter yesterday said has been plastered over telephone poles in the area, and comes to us courtesy of the Middle Polk Neighborhood Association. (Note that the rendering is an older one.) The proposed six-story development, they say, is “completely out-of-character with our historic neighborhood in terms of height, bulk and materials.” They cite the Planning Department’s opposition to the proposed design, and they also lament the proposed demolition of the “Landmark quality church,” said to be the “only example” of architect George Washington Kramer’s work. Worse, there’s bad blood between the neighborhood and McInerney, whom they accuse of “letting the facade disintegrate through active abuse” and “not providing any adaptive reuse option” for the church.

Meanwhile, comments on yesterday’s post are boiling down to one deciding question: who’s one-trick-ponyer? Stanley Saitowitz, for his devotion to steel and glass boxes, or the Planning Department, for its apparent devotion to stucco and bay windows? Doc suggests the opaqueness of design adjudication has led architects to go to “those ‘Friends of San Francisco Planning’ dinners…to get on some imagined ‘approved list’ … Nothing against them. I just don’t binge and purge.” An urban planner’s offended by the suggestion that they’re doing too much. They’re perfectly within the rules of the game: “Too often, the design of our communities is relegated to developers and their hack architects. To all planners out there: become informed about design, and educate yourself about how to craft urban regulatory frameworks that positively impact the built environment and enhance quality of life. This is your mission. Do your jobs. Kudos to the SF Planning Department. But I’ll warn: do not become overzealous.”
· Are Planners Overstepping Bounds Telling Architects What to Do? [Curbed SF]

Well, after two years at Curbed, about a year and a half of which I spent as editor, it’s with sadness — and yet, I won’t lie, a modicum of elation — that I’ll be leaving my post. In fact, this’ll be my last week here. My thanks to you guys, loyal readers of Curbed SF, for making it such a lively place. It’s truly been an honor to hold down the fort here, and I owe Lock in New York for affording me the privilege of working this blog beat — as well as previous editors Philip Ferrato, Sarah Hromack, and Susie Cagle for leaving behind such big shoes to fill. I’ll be attending the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design in the fall, and should you for whatever reason feel the need to say hello, you can do so here.

My departure opens the door for some new blood in these parts. Curbed SF needs a new editor: if you dig San Francisco’s neighborhoods, if you love staring at new buildings, if you click through every real estate gallery on Curbed — drop a line to jobs@curbed.com and tell us a little bit about yourself. (If you’ve got a blog, please include a link to it, too.) The job is a part-time freelance gig, and requires someone based in San Francisco. If we like what we see, we’ll get back to you quickly. Thanks.

Remember the “Dark Prince,” the guy who had an accomplice speaking fake Chinese “gibberish” in a condo-buying con at One Rincon Hill? That’s not even half the story. The guy came here as an exchange student from Nepal, stole more than $500k from a Japanese woman (his fake fiancee!), then coaxed another $41k from her after she found out, and is partly responsible for the closure of New College. All this is nuts, but it gets even worse: he’s also facing a trial now for the murder of a 74-year-old Palm Springs retiree. You’d be hard pressed to believe it even after reading it. [SFGate, previously]

The city’s Neighborhood Marketplace Initiative doesn’t have 24th Street on its map, but the drag is nonetheless part of the program to give a leg up to businesses in the “developing neighborhood.” Mission Loc@l reports on a workshop held last night, more of which are to come, where neighbors gathered to brainstorm on what they wanted to see on the commercial strip in the next five to 10 years. The Neighborhood Marketplace Initiative actually targets a number of such “low and moderate-income commercial districts” around the city, including the Tenderloin, Divisadero (though that one looks like it may be flying the coop soon), Visitacion Valley, the Fillmore, etc. Suggestions? More street fairs, more events! Cafes for hanging out, brighter lights, “branding the corridor for a unified look.” And, fer cryin’ out loud, less street pissing in Balmy Alley? One guy suggested painting more Virgin Marys everywhere, as “perpetrators” don’t like to pee on her.
· The Future of 24th Street [Mission Loc@l]

["1252 Vespa Way," via Curbed SF Flickr photog Chris Saulit]

· Haight Street Market to double in size [SF Examiner]
· A fake door in Paris [BLDGBLOG]
· The architecture of Lost [Arch Daily]
· Who knew: four plans for L.A.-Vegas train [AP]
· $1 million worth of art for Hunters Point’s first phase [SFGate]
· Planning Dept seeking new zoning administrator [Snitch]

“I once made the presentation of our design for a medical building of about 125,000 square feet that did not feature Saitowitz’s channel glass and was actually more conservative than my personal tastes. After sitting back down and a few minutes of paper shuffling, the first comment from the planners in the room was, ‘have you considered bay windows?’ ” —redseca2 [Are Planners Overstepping Bounds Telling Architects What to Do?]