SAN FRANCISCO PLANNING + URBAN RESEARCHASSOCIATIONSPUR 312 Sutter Street, Suite 500

San Francisco, California 94108-4305

t.415.781.8726f.415.781.7291

www.spur.org

Michael Alexander

BOARD MEMBERS

David BakerRick BarnaAndy BarnesJesse BloutGwyneth BordenMargo BradishPam BrewsterRyan BrooksClaudine ChengJulienne ChristensenGia DanillerLuisa EzquerroLisa FeldsteinFrank FudemTom HartVince HoenigmanJon HoltzmanCaryl ItoRedmond KernanPatricia KlitgaardRik KunnathJames LazarusEllen LouHenry LouieJohn McNultyChris MeanyPeter MezeySandy MoriDick MortenMark MosherPaul OkamotoLester Olmstead-RoseBrian O’NeillBrad PaulLaurence PelosiRoderick RocheMike SangiacomoNicole SawayaPaul SedwayAnna ShimkoDave SnyderJohn StewartStephen TaberLydia TanJeff TumlinSteven VettelClaudia ViekBrooks Walker IIIWells WhitneyGeorge WilliamsJ. Peter WinkelsteinHoward WongPaul Zeger

May 2, 2005

Mary G. MurphyFarella Braun + Martell, LLPRuss Building235 New MontgomerySan Francisco, CA 94104

Re: Proposed Residential Conversion of a Category I Preservation Building at 74 New Montgomery (The Call Building)

Dear Ms. Murphy:

On behalf of the members of the SPUR Project Review Committee, we would like to thank your team for bringing the proposed residential conversion of the historic Call Building at 74 New Montgomery to our group for consideration and review at our April meeting.

The mission of the SPUR Project Review Committee is to consider projects that are of citywide importance and to evaluate them according to criteria related to land use, public realm interface, building design and environmental effects. In all cases, we are seeking a combination of excellent planning and design solutions that will ensure the positive contribution of each project to a safe, comfortable, visually appealing and useful urban setting for the people who live and work in San Francisco.

We believe your project is of special importance for the city not only because of its potential contribution to San Francisco’s goal of creating a 24-hour downtown that mixes office, commercial and residential uses, but because it will re-purpose a historic building in a conservation district, giving it new life while retaining a significant landmark of “old San Francisco.” Moreover, this building’s location—fronting three urban alleys, as well as the bustling New Montgomery Street—presents an important opportunity both to add a residential presence to an already lively area, and to address some of the social and urban design challenges posed by the alleys. By activating them as urban small streets, their ‘negatives” can be turned to “positives,” and they can make a real contribution to the neighborhood’s fine-grained urban fabric.

As a result of our review and discussion of the 74 New Montgomery project, we provide the following comments for your information and action.

Land Use In general, the Committee finds the project to be an appropriate use for the site. As currently envisioned, the project is comprised of a 400-foot residential tower containing approximately 280 residential units (up to a maximum of 305 units), with one-to-one parking that will be serviced by 24-hour valet, and will not be independently accessible. A small amount of retail will be present at ground-level on the Harrison Street side. Townhouses will animate the street edge along Lansing Street. Rincon Hill has the potential to be one of the most exciting neighborhoods in San Francisco, merging high density housing into an area with an already strong urban character defined by the of the stately Sailors Union of the Pacific and the diversity of industrial buildings—many of which have been adapted for re-use as office, studio and living space. 45 Lansing conforms to the Rincon Hill Plan nearing completion by the City Planning Department by providing significant numbers of new housing units, by enhancing the urban form of the area with a tower that is well-spaced with respect to other new construction (One Rincon Hill, for example), and by paying close attention to the pedestrian ground-level experience. As the project moves forward, the committee would like to hear more about the project’s contribution to inclusionary housing, its participation in the larger public realm benefits package for the neighborhood, and its willingness to participate in a Mello-Roos community facilities improvement district—all of which are important to the overall success of Rincon Hill. Public Realm Interface and the Promotion of a Pedestrian-Oriented Environment 45 Lansing effectively has two faces: it will front Harrison Street, which is heavily trafficked and much in need of calming and pedestrian improvements. It will also front Lansing Street (effectively the building’s front door), which is an industrial alley with the potential to become another SOMA South Park-style urban oasis—given the proper care and attention. The most important comments we have concern the Harrison Street frontage and parking. Here, the committee found a disproportionate amount of street frontage dedicated to vehicular access. Much of the committee’s discussion focused on the placement and orientation of the loading docks and garage entrance. It makes sense to locate these elements on the Harrison Street side, but it seemed clear during the presentation that the project requires one loading dock rather than two (under the Rincon Hill Plan) and that the impact of the loading dock on this frontage could be minimized by shifting its placement—perhaps by moving it to the west side of the building and working out an arrangement with 81 Lansing to share the small driveway already located there. The possibility of reducing the number of loading docks from two to one should be seriously explored. Additionally, the possibility of switching the retail and loading space on Harrison was suggested as a way of providing pedestrian through access from Harrison to Lansing. Some means of “short-cutting” this very long block would do much to improve the quality of its pedestrian experience.

With the respect to the Lansing Street side, the committee urges the project sponsor to do everything possible to encourage a lively mix of users (pedestrians, bikes, slow moving vehicles). Some of this can be accomplished through building design (see below). But much may be a process of working with City Planning and the Department of Public Works to encourage a more visionary treatment of Guy-Lansing as an intimate urban alley way. This would include building complexity into the streetscape and right of way to slow down traffic (landscaping—including the possibility of individualized plantings at the townhouse stoops, places to park strollers and bicycles, someplace to put a basket ball hoop, etc.). More radically, it would mean working to create a “woonerf”-style living street in which pedestrians and vehicles could share the right of way (eliminating curbs, using alternative paving to slow traffic, etc.). In general, SPUR would encourage the reduction of parking ratios in this transit-rich neighborhood. In addition, we would urge you to consider two other strategies that mitigate the effects of locating up to 305 parking spaces in a transit friendly neighborhood: Establish a pod of City CarShare vehicles to allow people to use a car whenever they

want without having to own (and park) it and intensively market it to new residents. Carshare opportunities are increasingly becoming a standard amenity in projects of this scale.

Unbundle the parking spaces from the units when setting prices, so that people can make their own decision about whether they want to pay the extra cost of purchasing a parking space. This is becoming the standard way to provide parking in San Francisco, and SPUR feels that it is important that Rincon follow this strategic citywide best practice.

Finally, although the committee feels that establishing some sort of through access between Harrison and Lansing will do much to encourage pedestrian activity on both streets, the ongoing presence of the suburban-style gas station at the corner of Harrison and First Street is the challenge on that corner and along Harrison. While the project sponsor clearly has no control over this site, it will undoubtedly have a significant negative impact on the pedestrian experience of the neighborhood as Rincon is built out. We urge the project sponsor to work closely with the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors and Department of City Planning to find a way to substantially improve this neighborhood by minimizing the presence of the gas station, if not removing it entirely. Building Design The majority of the committee was in agreement that this was one of the most elegant and convincing tower designs we have seen thus far. The use of side core construction is a brilliant solution to the challenges of this particular site and would seem to allow for more flexibility in expressing the relationship of the tower as a whole form to the individual units housed within it. The committee was generally supportive of the light coloration of the building and its emphasis on transparency. As the design is refined, the

committee would like to see some sort of treatment of the currently “blank” core wall on the Essex Street side. The Harrison Street side presents the greatest opportunity to express the modern urban verticality of the skyscraper tower itself, perhaps even bringing a sense of that verticality all the way to street level. On the Lansing Street side, a greater articulation of the podium-level townhouse facades would give more angles of view up and down the street (angled bay or balconies, slit windows over the entry stairs, etc.), keeping more “eyes on the street” and also allowing the townhouses themselves to contribute actively to the life of the street. Some committee members felt strongly that it would be important to give clear expression to the entrance to the tower lobby on Lansing Street—even though Lansing is a small, intimate street, the lobby entrance should have a grander feel than the townhouse front doors/stoops. And several committee members expressed hope that the podium-level garden terrace referenced during the presentation would become a reality in the final design. Environmental Effects The Committee was supportive of the project sponsor’s decision to use operable windows and to provide bicycle parking. The use of high performance thermal glass in the tower, high-efficiency mechanicals, and water and energy-conserving interior fixtures are strongly recommended. However, one of the greatest contributions to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly environment would be to work with City agencies to find ways to proactively manage the bridge and commute traffic that converges daily on First and Harrison. The gas station is a part of this puzzle as its prominence announces the dedication of this intersection to automobiles. But the people who will live at 45 Lansing, as well as at One Rincon Hill and surrounding developments, need to feel safe at this corner, and need to have reliable and comfortable access to their homes. Addressing these issues will go a long way toward ensuring that Rincon Hill is a place where neighbors can meet each other on the streets, but not in their cars. In sum, the SPUR Project Review Committee finds 45 Lansing Street to be a project with significant potential to bring new housing to the City and to contribute to the liveliness of Rincon Hill as a real neighborhood. We hope that you will take our recommendations into consideration. We will follow further refinements of this project with great interest and invite you to bring the project back before our committee when the design nears its final stages. Consideration for Endorsement Should you intend to request SPUR to consider this project for endorsement, you should contact the Committee co-chairs at the appropriate time. Consideration for endorsement begins with a formal response by projects sponsors to this review letter, including an update on any significant changes to the project program or design since the project was initially presented at SPUR. The project is then taken up for discussion by an endorsement subcommittee of SPUR board members who serve on committees in the areas of project review, urban policy and design, sustainability, and transportation. We

normally require a month’s lead-time to schedule a meeting of the endorsement subcommittee. Please do not hesitate to contact us for questions/clarifications. Sincerely,

Jeannene Przyblyski Co-Chair, SPUR Project Review Committee cc: SPUR Board of Directors