San Francisco Real Estate: "The Scoop"

Monday PM Linkage

admin0 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:58:16 +0000

[Image courtesy Curbed SF Flickr photog Lets_dothat]

· Death Star hovers over SF, civilians carry on [Gizmodo]
· San Jose’s anti-sprawl plan [SF Gate]
· Brokers to buyers: thx for the add [Consumerist]
· Outside Lands promises Muni failwhale action [N-Judah Chronicles]
· Market Street “Aquarium of Death”? [SFist]

Marin to Metallica: Don’t Mess!: Marin nature enthusiasts are pissed at…

admin0 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:49:49 +0000

Marin nature enthusiasts are pissed at Metallica front man James Hetfield, who recently installed a 300 foot-long, 8 to 10 foot-high corrugated metal-and-barbed wire (ouch) fence. A fence that just happens to block a trail popular with hikers, bikers, and equestrians— someone recently sprayed “SHAME DISGRACE” across the thing. To be fair, Hetfield has been cool in the past: Back in 2002, he offered the county development rights to his property in order to build 44 single-family homes. Officials are obviously hoping he’ll play nice-nice again. [Marin Independent Journal]

Spotted: Critical Mass for Smart Cars

admin0 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:49:41 +0000

“Just like Critical Mass, except for cars” notes SF Citizen of this Smart Car rally on Lombard Street. An army of “Smarties” lined up at 8:30 yesterday morning for a scenic cruise that ended in Sausalito, with some carrying on for at tour down highway 1. Obamamobile: present and accounted for.
· SmartCars Take Over San Francisco’s Lombard Street [SF Citizen]

Architecture Watch: Olympic Village Scores LEED Gold

admin0 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:49:32 +0000

Join us for Architecture Watch, wherein Curbed SF steps out into the blue yonder, collecting the best, worst, and wonkiest of projects. Nominate!

Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

Three cheers for international diplomacy! The U.S. has awarded China a LEED Gold award for its Olympic Village, which is greening the event one medal at a time with solar panels, green roofs, and an extensive rainwater recycling system. At the moment, 1,600 athletes are living in 42 residential buildings spread over 160-acres. Seven community centers, a health center, gyms, swimming pools, retail buildings and, a kindergarten (?!) also make up the site. Rooftop and ground green space keeps storm runoff to a minimum (60 percent of roofs are vegetated, while 90 percent of parking was built underground to allow for even *more* green space). Bicycle paths, pedestrian walkways— the trappings of green utopia: present and accounted for. Developers plan to convert the Olympic Village into residential condominiums by 2009, and a whopping 80 percent are already sold.
· A “Gold” for China: Olympic Village Receives LEED Award [Curbed SF]

Protest Review: Zombies, Meet Anonymous: The greater downtown area saw one…

admin0 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:49:26 +0000

The greater downtown area saw one of its best protests yet on Saturday, as the “Anonymous” anti-Scientology group that rallies each weekend at its FiDi H.Q. met with the notorious zombie flash mob who converged on the neighborhood at the same time. Hijinks and hilarity ensued— good times were had by all. [SFist]

That’s Rather Hideous: Staging or Scourge?

admin0 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:49:21 +0000

That’s Rather Hideous is the report filed by Curbed SF’s own interior design vice squad. Spot an offender? File a complaint— or a compliment. Witness protection guaranteed. Note: As we don’t employ a company sketch artist, digital photos are always appreciated.

From a reader who “couldn’t resist”: “Nothing says “professionally staged” like a million green dishes dangling like a pox upon the house.” [Curbed Inbox]

Living and Working in Lofts: A Brief History

admin0 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:49:15 +0000

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is mulling over a plan to impose fees on “live-work” lofts that haven’t inspired much “work” after all. What happened, people? Way back in a time fondly remembered as the 1980’s, live-work lofts were conceived as a means of insuring that young could remain in the city. Artists! In the city! Imagine. Developer’s fees were low and projects tended to be densely packed (and free of the parks and sidewalks that tend to identify an area as an actual neighborhood). Along came the boom of the mid-1990’s, and pro-growth Mayor Mr. Willie Brown. Developers became hip to the very loosely-written legislation surrounding live-work projects, easily exploiting loopholes to avoid fees and increase profits. As for Willie & Co., they looked the other way in the name of urban renewal. Now that sounds more like the San Francisco we know and love.
· How S.F.’s live-work development boom began [SF Gate]

PriceSpotter: Keepin’ it Real in Noe Valley

admin0 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:49:10 +0000

PriceSpotter is Curbed’s asking price guessing game. We provide you with some details and pictures from an apartment listing, and you take a crack at the price in the comments. Wednesday reveal. And hey, cheaters never win, and winners never cheat!

Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

We like this week’s PriceSpotter entry for its honesty: No wide angle lenses or slick professional lighting were used for this home at the corner of Castro and Duncan in Noe Valley. And sure, maybe the listing is a little worse off for it, but your price guesses can only benefit from such candor, right? Take a stab in the comments.

· 4 bedrooms, 2 baths
· 2,001 sq ft
· Contemporary Home in 1978
· Wood-beam ceiling
· landscaped garden

Housing Moratorium Lifted: Now What?

admin0 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:49:02 +0000

Now that the Eastern Neighborhoods Plan has been approved by the San Francisco Planning Commission and awaits approval from the Board of Supervisors— we can just imagine the collective lip-licking at City Hall— a moratorium has been lifted on the development of 2,000 housing units in those neighborhoods. Until now, said units have been languishing in planning limbo due to their inclusion of light industrial development (a.k.a. production, distribution, and repair, or “PDR”). Until recently, there was no real definition of PDR. Now that there is, however, builders can begin to once again move forward with the early phases of the Eastern Neighborhood Plan, including a 20-unit project at 129 Ninth Street and a 41-unit condominium development at 1717 17th Street that includes 10,000 square feet of PDR.

Unfortunately, these projects, some of which filed for permit as far back as 2004, will come to fruition in today’s vastly different housing market. As a result, some developments that could have been occupied by now may lie dormant due to financial woes. While a few projects will start construction at full speed, other builders are less optimistic, noting that the plan still needs Board approval— and as we know, everyone likes to have their say in San Francisco politics, so … Keep holding, eastern neighborhoods.
· S.F. housing projects emerge from deep freeze [Examiner]
· Curbed Explains: Eastern Nabes and “Light Industry” [Curbed SF]
· Brace, NIMBY’s: Eastern Neighborhood Plan Approved Today [Curbed SF]

Quid Pro Quo: City Taps Live-Work Loft Owners

admin0 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:48:55 +0000

Beware, loft cheaters: the board of supervisors has its collective eye on you. Owners of live-work lofts are technically required to use their homes as studio space, too — that’s why the city gave fee breaks to the developers who built approximately 3,000 units on the east side of the city between 1988 to 2000. (Before banning live-work construction altogether, following a 2001 moratorium on such construction.) The rule, as it turns out, wasn’t all that enforceable, and the city’s now feeling a pang of regret over $10 million or so in lost funds; as the lofts were classified as commercial construction, developers were let off the hook on fees that generally cover schools and other localized services. Perhaps hoping to right past wrongs, Supervisor Sophie Maxwell has proposed imposing quid pro quo fees on live-work loft owners— namely, in exchange for said fees, residents would get “real” neighborhood amenities such as sidewalks and better street lighting in their otherwise industrial areas. People who don’t volunteer to pay such fees won’t, naturally, get shiny new street lamps. But at least one land-use attorney spies another unenforceable policy: “People don’t go to planning school to become cops.”
· Fees considered for S.F. live-’work’ lofts [SF Gate]