The Four Seasons Hotel at 757 Market Street was first to combine condominiums and a hotel, followed in 2005 by the St. Regis. The Four Seasons property came online in September 2001 and was slow to sell. It went on to have the highest resale price per square foot in SOMA, and became a refuge for some of the monied Pac Heights crowd who exchanged their single-family home living experience for “just the luxury, please.” Millennium Tower, a 4-star hotel without a hotel, followed in 2009.
Four Seasons Residences, aka “706,” makes its debut amid the Covid-19 crisis. This development is two buildings: a new, 45-story tower on Mission and the historic, 10-story Aronson building on the corner of Mission and 3rd. The two “706” buildings are effectively a “Millennium-plus,” with fewer, larger units. There are 142 units at 757 Market, 100+ at St. Regis, 410 at Millennium, and 146 at 706 — 128 in the tower and 18 at Aronson. Fewer units means higher ceilings, averaging 10’ in the tower and 12’ in the Aronson, and fewer units per floor.
Abraham Aronson was a 19th century immigrant from Russia who came to San Francisco and was originally in the business of selling furniture. Around 1886, he built a large structure on Stockton Street to house his expanding furnishings enterprise and subsequently focused on commercial buildings under his Aronson Realty Company. After he changed his career to focus on buying old buildings and replacing them with new high-end structures, he became one of San Francisco’s most prolific commercial builders.
Source: Bancroft Library
His namesake, the Aronson Building, was constructed in 1903 for about $1 million. In the early 1900s, the Aronson building was the largest and most expensive building under private ownership built south of Market Street and west of New Montgomery Street.
For many years, Rochester Big & Tall was located on the ground level of the Aronson building while upper floors were home to many garment manufacturing businesses.
Big & Tall is no more. Ground level users in new developments are often restaurants, fitness centers, or retail shops. No occupant has yet been identified for the ground level at 706.
One might note that from 1907 until the Prohibition began in 1920, there was a saloon on the corner of Mission and 3rd.
Maybe a new saloon will be in our future!
Our game to rebuild the Transamerica Pyramid is coming soon. Learn more here.
