ClementinaCares, a neighborhood organization comprised of tenants, homeowners, and small business owners located between 6th & 3rd, and Howard & Shipley Streets, recently voted to endorse the 900 Folsom project.  The project sponsor originally met with ClementinaCares in the summer of 2007, and through a series of conversations on overall massing, streetscape experience, and design, the project has evolved into a less dense building with a dynamic range of uses at the ground level.  We look forward to a continued dialogue with ClementinaCares, and other neighborhood organizations, as the project continues to go through planning review and construction.

The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the Eastern Neighborhoods rezoning on November 25th.  The rezoning, which commenced about 10 years ago (yes, 10 years ago!), is as mammoth as the necessary time frame.  Spanning from the northern tip of Soma all the way down to the southern side of the Mission, the rezoning covers 2,200 acres, or about one quarter of the city.

The 900 Folsom project has anticipated the rezoning, and is consistent with all applicable codes.  Going forward, it’s our hope (and belief) that the rezoning will create a clearer process for everyone involved in neighborhood land use issues.  As Martha Stewart would say, it’s a good thing!

After extensive outreach, we are proud to announce endorsement of this project from the Yerba Buena Alliance. The Yerba Buena Alliance was instrumental in the creation of the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District, which will help to clean, green, and support the arts & cultural activities in the Yerba Buena Neighborhood.

Design forum III was a great success, thanks to the efforts of our architects, landscape architects, and a good turnout from the community. The evening focused on the streetscape experience, and started off with a preferencing exercise that involved community members placing color coded dotes on image boards to highlight shared desires, and of course things that were less palatable, on an aesthetic level.

Next, the group reviewed the streetscape from a more user-oriented perspective, writing down items and treatments that came to mind when they envisioned interacting with the site. These notes (Post Its, actually) were grouped by common themes.

One of the overarching themes that became clear through the exercises was the desire for green, enviting space. Softscapes as opposed to hardscapes. “There is plenty of grey and industrial in Soma,” and there was a strong desire to “see Yerba Buena Garden extend west,” through the use of street trees, vegetation, and potential pocket parks. Security and maintenance, family usability, and of course dog friendliness were other themes.

Thank you to all who attended. Full notes from the evening are available here. We will be incorporating this feedback into our design, and hope to share it with the community in the not too distant future.

Cities, and the built environment, have often been a muse for many of our greatest writers. Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities comes to mind, as does Ayn Rand’s epic, The Fountainhead, still inspiring today’s youth, and championing the spirit of individuality, through the lense of architecture.

SPUR recently highlighted the biography of Pier Giorgio Di Cicco, Toronto’s poet laureate, and city planning consultant. Municipal Mind: Manifestos for the Creative City provides a vastly different, and refreshing, perspective on the nature of living in a changing city. “There is a paradox in the civic nature,” says Di Ciccio. “The citizen resents densification, yet wants to be seduced to public encounter.” This is the heart of the question we face every day. Ultimately, Di Cicco hits the nail on the head. “There is one essential philosophical criteria for urban design, and it is the notion of “welcome.”  We may never be able to say it as eloquently as a poet laureate, or for that matter just a simple poet, but this notion of “welcome,” for our prospective buyers, and existing neighbors, is urban development at its most fundamental.

Design Forum II was held on July 8th, at Vehicle SF on 6th Street.   The general perception was that the overall massing and design direction of the project were fine, contingent upon successful design of a dynamic, pedestrian oriented experience at the streetscape.  A summary of the comments are available here.

Project Sponsor will be hosting an upcoming forum on August 5th, 6:00pm, at 260 5th Street (Live Nation Building).  This forum will seek to drill down on design and programming at the streetscape.  Members of the community with experience as a commercial tenant or landlord are strongly encouraged to attend.

We look forward to seeing you there.

A group of students from San Francisco State recently completed a sprawling survey of the sights, sounds and ties that bind 6th street, and its surrounding area, into one of San Francisco’s most eclectic neighborhoods.  Based on our community feedback, we’ve come to understand our project’s location as uniquely transitional, lying between the light industrial history of West Soma, and the arts, expositions, and density of the Yerba Buena neighborhood. The study’s use of the word “intermezzo” to describe the area, which is defined as a short dramatic, musical, or other entertainment of light character, introduced between the acts of a drama or opera, may ultimately be a more poetic way of capturing this area’s transitional nature than we ever could have imagined.  Definitely deserving of an ‘A’ in our books!

The South of Market Project Area Committee (Sompac) takes note of the 900 Folsom & 260 5th Street project in their monthly newsletter. Indeed, we do hope this site can serve as a “new, integrated way forward for positive urban development.” On that note, don’t forget to drop us a line with your thoughts.

The latest design direction has been posted to the Project tab. You can also download it here. Please let us know what you think on the Comments page as we continue on this iterative process.

A design charrette was held on May 5th to gather input from members of the community on design issues relating to the project. It was a very productive session, with a summary of the comments available here.