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

The Daily Beast recently released the results of its second annual list of America’s Smartest Cities: From First-to-Worst. Using statistics like what percentage of the population has a graduate degree or how many year-to-date adult nonfiction booksales helped them figure out which cities were the best, and the worst. On last year’s list the Bay Area (San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose) was ranked #2, this year? #3. We were beat out by Hartford-New Haven. [The Daily Beast]

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Earlier this month a Curbed reader asked what the deal was with 285 Ellis in the Tenderloin, which has been undergoing an intense renovation for quite some time. It used to be a ballroom and dancing school, but then the building was bought in 2008 and the ballroom business got evicted. We told them that the upper levels are being converted to residential use. Fancy smancy style. Kind of weird for the location, no? Today we received some photos of the details of the partially-finished exterior. Take a look!

· The Tenderloin: Dancing With Carpenters, Cha-Cha-Cha! [Curbed SF]

If you’re wondering what Food Network star and entertaining “expert” Sandra Lee does whens she’s not focused on boyfriend Andrew Cuomo’s race to be New York State Governor, our sister site Curbed National has the answer. That is, she creates tablescapes, and grandly. A full photogallery reveals the most extravagant Halloween-decorating moments ever to be aired on Lee’s show, Semi-Homemade Cooking. [Curbed National]

The Chronicle reports that Linden Living Alley, over yonder in Hayes Valley, finally opened last week after five years of bureaucratic battles over in City Hall. On the heels of other urban innovations like parklets and pop-up parks, this project has cozy concrete seating, some welcome plant life, and access to some of the most famous coffee in these parts. So here you have it dear readers: you will be able to get Blue Bottle Coffee in a park, just not the one you thought. [SF Gate]

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This 2-bed, 1-bath, 947 square foot top floor condo is all about location. At least that’s why we’re assuming it’s $899,000. You’re knee-deep in Cow Hollow, and a mere block from Union Street and only three from the World’s Most Classy bar, Bar None, where they have an entire room dedicated to beer pong. Back to the condo. The building’s Edwardian. Built in 1922. Interiors maintain a wee bit of its original charm. We’re seriously digging the dark wood used for the window frames and built in storage, it’s a nice touch. Small but effective, both the kitchen and the bathroom come with top tier finishes that really fancy up the place. The nicely-landscaped backyard is shared, as is the laundry room. You also get 1-car parking. HOA dues are $325.

· 1796 Green [Redfin]

[DY 07720 via Curbed Flickr Pool/cs@sf]

· Buildings all over SF are turning Giants orange [SF Appeal]
· Tenderloin wine branding [Tenderblog]
· Ghost hunting in the Richmond [Richmond SF Blog]
· SF setting up public viewing for World Series [SF Business Times]
· Zombies taking over historic street car this morning, etc [SF Appeal]

Palo Alto: home to roaming hills, a portion of Stanford University, Facebook, and not a station for California’s proposed $43 billion San Francisco-to-Los Angeles bullet train. Yesterday the City Council voted unanimously against having the bullet train stop in Palo Alto, citing traffic woes and a 1,000-space parking structure that the city would foot the bill for. [SF Gate]

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Photo Credits: Mad Men; BEST; Crown Zellerbach via Life Magazine

We watch Mad Men because we no longer live in a time where we can smoke, drink, or have sex at work. Well, we also watch it for the furniture and the clothes plus the booze and sex. More entertaining than Bewitched, its situation-comedy ad-agency ancestor. Easier to watch than cinema history like Joan Crawford’s immortal cinematic vehicle The Best of Everything, where the publishing company sets, sex and booze seem to have been a direct inspiration for Mad Men. Along with sex and booze. True, the obsession that is Mad Men is set in New York, but it could just as easily be in San Francisco’s 1959 Crown-Zellerbach building.

And of course, now students at UC Berkeley can take a Mad Men course (two credits!) as part of UCB’s DeCal program, a student-run program of electives outside the usual course material. Not entirely a leap- DeCal has its roots in Berkeley’s 1960′s Free Speech Movement. What better place to deconstruct the era? The course offering was over-subscribed and will be repeated- we love that eighty people most likely born in the ‘Eighties showed up for a class with thirty places about the culture of the ‘Sixties. Curbed National’s all about Mad Men as well, with the floor plans of Sterling Cooper Draper Price and where to buy the furniture in Don Draper’s office.
· The Best of Everything [BELT]
· Crown-Zellerbach Headquarters [SOM]
· “Mad Men” in a Class All it’s Own at UC Berkeley>/a> [SFGate]
· DeCal [DeCal Program. UCB]
· Mad Men Coverage [Curbed National Archives]

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Was: $630,000

Now: $599,000

You Save: $31,000

Sitting pretty and on the market for 45 days is 83 Sharon, a 2-bed, 1-bath top floor condo located in Eureka Valley. The unit comes with a double parlor that has what appears to be an angled wood burning fireplace, something we don’t see often. Now, we know this is merely staging, but how sad a picture is the kitchen dining setup painting? Dinner for two, let’s face the wall. But with an awkward kitchen layout like this one, we bet we’d find ourselves dining on the living room coffee table more often than not. Buying the unit comes with exclusive roof rights and “could be the perfect place for people watching while tending your garden.” Or yelling at the nearby Everett Middle School children, your choice. Monthly HOA dues are $198. There’s no parking.
· 83 Sharon [Redfin]

In an attempt to save money while keeping up their impeccable gardening work, the Rec & Park Department will be adding a crew of 10 apprentice gardeners to their workforce. According to the Chronicle, the apprentices will work their way through a 2- to 3-year program to “learn the how-tos of proper mowing, weeding, pruning, digging, planting, controlling pests and clearing illegal homeless encampments.” [SF Gate]