Back in 2002, Millennium Partners proposed the development of Millennium Tower, a new condominium complex at 301 Mission, essentially a 5-Star hotel without a hotel. This was soon after Millennium Partners launched its Four Seasons Hotel (the first combination hotel/condominium property in San Francisco at 757 Market Street). Four Seasons condominiums sold well after overcoming
555 California Street (“Triple Nickel”), formerly known as the Bank of America Center, was completed in 1969. At that time, it was the tallest building in the U.S. west of the Mississippi. The bank was originally the Bank of Italy, founded in a converted saloon by A. P. Giannini in 1904. Having made several investments in the smaller Bank of America,
Oracle Park—aka AT&T Park, Pacific Bell Park and SBC Park—is where the San Francisco Giants hold court, and where a statue of Willie Mays adorns the entrance at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, which is surrounded by 24 palm trees, in honor of Mays’ number, 24. The ballpark opened March 2000, replacing Candlestick (“The Stick”) as
The San Francisco City Hall, bathed here in Golden State Warriors blue, is a Beaux-Arts beauty with a rotunda taller than the U.S. Capitol building by 42 feet. It’s the place to attend Planning Commission hearings, confer with da mayor and district supervisors, obtain all sorts of licenses, and be featured in multiple films like Raiders
Since we left you last month with “One More Saloon Please,” it seems appropriate to focus on a more sobering subject like Grace Cathedral. However, before leaving the topic of saloons, please allow me to share this pic with important words from The Tonight Show host and philosopher Johnny Carson. Grace Church, the ancestral parish
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
In large cities, transformation is inevitable. Structures are built, repurposed, remodeled, and leveled regularly. However, some cities have a few structures that stand for decades. I believe the "secrets to longevity" can be whittled down to three components: 1) Quality design and construction; 2) Multiple "face lifts" and adjustments to meet client needs; 3) Location.
After 25 years as a Silicon Valley techie, what’s next? Maybe trade the 1's and 0's of coding for something that “lasts,” like a building? Not just any building, but one that captures the attention of millions every night, say, for 50+ years. The Transamerica Pyramid, which is approaching its 50th anniversary in 2022, had been
Given all the bad news emanating from the recent COVID-19 outbreak, I thought I would focus on something uplifting and enduring this month, like the Palace of Fine Arts. But first, an image from Craftinga to (hopefully) bring a smile to your face: The original post from @CraftingaCom on Twitter reads, "Behind the doors of
For some unknown reason, I thought I would look into San Francisco’s 10 most popular tourist attractions--after all, I am told that tourism is the city’s biggest industry. While I was not shocked to find that the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz made the list, I was surprised to see “high tea at the Westin St. Francis,” in the top 10…with no