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

[I Am Always the Real Me via Curbed Flickr Pool/Erik Wilson]

· What’s one billion times brighter than the sun? [Gizmodo]
· Eric Quezada, SF housing rights activist, dies [SF Weekly]
· On Valencia: Farewell parking lots, hello condos [Mission Loc@l]
· The SF Zoo got a Lady Ross’ turaco (that’s a type of bird) [SF Gate]
· Foreclosure sales tick up while prices slide [WSJ]

The “vintage” fad has struck the Tenderloin, of all places, but which era of old industrial San Francisco should be immortalized? There’s a wall which featured multiple advertisements layered over each other, as well as innumerable tags and graffiti. When Precita Eyes decided to restore it, as well as four other “historic advertising murals” in the TL, they decided to restore the most recent ads, an odd choice for a retro move. This means restoring half of a giant Coca Cola billboard, the other half of which was covered by an ad for “United Railways Telegraph Schools.” That ad is also being restored, along with one for Original Joe’s Italian Foods. No word yet on if they’re planning on saving any of the graffiti. – Cole Armstrong [SF Gate]

Oliver Burgelman, SF Realtor and creator of the new “Price Squares” website, explains his invention as follows: “Many clients want price per square foot data for San Francisco real estate, and realtors typically tell them the information is not helpful because every property is so different. [But] it occurred to me that a home’s price per square foot, when shown in comparison to other properties, could be a great way to start the process of understanding the local real estate market if it were shown in real time.” Using the site, you can compare any property, anywhere on a San Francisco map, to see the most current– and most local–price-per-square data on the Interwebs. [Price Squares]

[Nightscape via Curbed Flickr Pool/Esther Reyes]

· What’s in your mortgage payment? [Zillow Blog]
· Berkeley group restores 2,000-year old place of worship [Berkeleyside]
· What to do on Muni in an earthquake [Muni Diaries]
· Behold, the official Word Series baby [SFist]
· Fresh & Easy Bayview opens, offers 1K donations, freebies [Eater SF]

Click here to view the full photogallery.

548 Diamond in Noe Valley is a 3-bed, 1.5-bath, 1,763-square-foot abode that just landed on the market with an asking price of $1,195,000. The house was built in 1913, and although it’s certainly gone under enough renovations to bring it up to today’s standards, it still maintains some of its original charm. Tall ceilings, beautiful built-in cabinetry, ornate moulding and intricate hardwood flooring. A good example would be the dining room, which has a beamed ceiling and built-in buffet. The “800 square foot lower level is perfect for rumpus room or future expansion!” Which unfortunately means that there’s no garage. There is, however, leased parking nearby for $350 a month.

· 548 Diamond [Redfin]

This morning at approximately 11:50AM contractors working for the Transbay Transit Center Program struck and damaged a 16 inch high pressure gas pipe. Beale Street between Mission and Howard streets were closed while PG&E and the SFPD work to repair the line. UPDATE: Beale Street between Mission and Howard streets has been reduced to one lane of traffic as PG&E repairs the line. [Curbed Inbox]

In need of guidance, oh wayward one? Turn to the oracle that is the Ask Curbed SF inbox. We’ll burden the masses with your problems, and they, our all-knowing readers, will command thee.

Under Construction at CCSF
[Photo Credit: from the incomparable Google Streetview, a few months ago]

A reader asks: “Since I now take the #10 bus almost every day, I pass City College’s “new” Chinatown campus. Is it just my imagination, or has this been going on forever?” As a matter of fact, not forever, but yes, since 1997, and last month Andrea Koskey at the SF Examiner took a long look at the project. We hope she has the movie rights, because the project’s starting to look like Polanski’s “Chinatown”, just with less water. There have been lawsuits, a change in location, bitter neighborhood opposition to the view-blocking original designs, casting deep shadows into Portsmouth Square and affecting the Quigong classes. And students are so noisy!

Best of all, allegations of shenanigans by now-former City College administrators who allegedly diverted construction funds to political campaigns in support of state education measures and their failure to have both plan changes and cost overruns approved by the relevant bureaucracies. Right now, the new CCSF administrators are trying to pick up the pieces, deal with a ballooning budget that’s now $40M over, and arguing with architects over fees. CCSF blames the architects, but says they’re on schedule to open in 2012- there are posts in our archives back to 2007.
· City College of San Francisco’s North Beach, Chinatown campus is a labored project [SF Examiner]
· City College of San Francisco [EHDD]
· Lawyer Up! City College Campus Opposed [Curbed SF]
· City College of San Francisco Coverage [Curbed SF Archives]

The People’s Guide is Curbed SF’s tour o’ the nabes, lead by our most loyal readers, favorite bloggers, and other luminaries of our choosing. Have a piece to say? We’ll be happy to hand over the megaphone. Notice a new voice on Curbed SF over the past few weeks? Join us in welcoming our latest Curbed operative, contributor Anna Marie.[photo via Scott Erwert]

Neighborhood: Inner-Sunset

Tell us something we don’t know about the Inner Sunset: People might not know: Because the main part of Inner-Sunset is sort of a valley pooled below the hills of Golden Gate Heights, a lot of folks don’t realize how gorgeous- and vertical- the topography of this ‘nabe really is. We have a lot more open spaces than just the Golden Gate Park, (though that’s our front yard, basically, and a fine one at that!). We also enjoy multiple spiraling, secret garden-like stairways– one of which, on 16th Ave between Moraga and Noriega, has been bedazzled by an impressive tile mosaic– and panoramic views of the city if you’re willing to climb a bit. Also little known, the Sutro Tower, looming over us day and night, is suspected by locals to be protection from alien invasion. As proof, we offer the fact that we have never been invaded by aliens!

Local customs of note: Farmer’s Market on Sundays followed by Bloody Marys spiked with Jalapeno vodka and Guinness at the Fireside Bar. And yes, they have a fireplace, which you pretty much need 6 out of 7 days in this victim of a coastal climate ‘hood.

Hidden gems in the Inner Sunset: Pomelo: amazing internationally flavored restaurant, no bigger than a decent walk-in closet, where you can watch your locally grown, organic, sustainable and totally delicious food as it cooks.

For unique shopping, I love Urban Bazaar: earrings made from old watches? Check! Dog collars fashioned from recycled guitar strings? Totally awesome check!

Are your neighbors “rotten neighbor” worthy? If so, dish. If not…well, why not? The Inner-Sunset is kind of suburban feeling, lots of families and students and such. Most neighbors are good ones. The only drag is UCSF: I love doctors and nurses, but am still learning to ignore them when they sit at tables next to mine wearing blood spattered scrubs as we all try to eat a meal. On the plus side, I believe that all this exposure to other people’s illnesses has strengthened my immune system!

Inflate the bubble or burst it: What’s not-so-swell about your “perfect” neighborhood? Plan no barbeques. Plan no outdoor wedding. Plan no outdoor concert. “Seasons” mean nothing to the gods of Inner-Sunset weather, who are deaf to your prayers and promises, and if you ask for sun and gentle breezes, you will be punished by swirling wet gales of wind and fog worthy of Dickensian London.

On the other hand, if you want that London (film shoot? Photo-sensitivity?), you’ll get 80 degrees and nary a cloud in the sky.

The final word on the Inner Sunset: An easy neighborhood for dog lovers, kid lovers, park lovers, and fog lovers….. with excellent MUNI and freeway access when you want to escape every one of them.

The tea house in the Japanese Tea Garden will be renamed the Jack Hirose Tea House, reports the SF Examiner. The Rec and Park Commission approved the renaming of the tea house last week, and will install a commemorative plaque at the site. Jack Hirose was the Japanese Tea Garden concessionaire from 1959 to 1992, although he remained active in supporting the garden after he officially concluded his business. He passed away two years ago. “One of Jack Hirose’s last acts of generosity was to support the proposal of Carol Murata in the 2008 [request for proposal] process to select a concessionaire for the Tea House and Gift Shop by pledging $500,000 for the refurbishments of those facilities,” according to the Rec and Park Proposal to name the tea house after him.
· Japanese Tea Garden’s tea house named after Jack Hirose [SF Examiner]
[photo via Ernest Gaudreau]

Click here to view the full photogallery.

We swooned over the swanky penthouse atop 540 Delancey Street back in late June of this year. The 2-bed, 4-bath, 4,300-square-foot penthouse is located on the top floor of the historic SouthEnd Warehouse. There are decks galore (at least one off each bedroom) and the master suite has the ability to be turned into two levels. The wraparound patio will provide the dweller with a platform for party central. The penthouse was first listed in April and then delisted in early June. Then it came back with an asking price of $2,899,000. We’re happy to report that as of yesterday, the expansive pad has sold for $3,000,000. Congrats to the lucky buyer!

· 540 Delancey, Unit 402-3 [Redfin]

· Lets Take a Look at Some Swank Penthouses [Curbed SF]