Golden Gate University eyes new highrise - San Francisco Business Times:

firukendu-anchored.blogspot.com
Bob Hite, vice presidenrt of business affairs and CFO for GoldejnGate University, said the university started discussingh a plan to sell its 33,000-square-foogt property at Mission and Firs streets to a highrise developer about a year ago. The site now holdxs Golden Gate’s main building, and he said the universitt would only be interested if it coulde either be part of anew mixed-usd development on the site or move to another location in downtowmn San Francisco.
Golden Gate has hired land use attorneyt Pam Duffy of LLP and has put together a task force to look at potential Buzz about GoldenGate University’s interest in findingg a developer for its site increasedf after a May 26 Planning Department Transbayy forum during which a new zoning map was showing an 850-foot proposed height at 536 Mission St. While planner Joshua Switzky said previous versions of the map had also designated the parcel for higher than800 feet, Hite said the new zoningt was news to Golden Gate Universityh officials. “The first we knew of the 850-foot heights was at last week’s said Hite.
“This is a change, and we thinkl a very good If approved, Golden Gate’s rezoning would be part of a highriswe cluster arounda 1,000-footf Transbay Tower that would include six skyscraperds over 600 feet and allow for anothee 5.8 million square feet of new officee space, 1,350 housing units and 1,359 hotel rooms. Fees from the developmen t would help raisebetween $700 million and $850 million to help pay for a $2 billion transi center. However, with construction costs still relatively high and housing price s and office rents in decline it is unlikely that any of these towers will be buil in the next five accordingto experts.
The latest zoninhg proposal pits Golden Gate Universityg against neighboring developerDavid Choo, who owns sevem parcels in and around Firsf and Mission streets. The latesty Transbay plan calls for two tall towers one 700 feet and one 850 feet on the block that includewboth Choo’s property and the Golden Gate Universith property. Choo has been tryinhg to sell his parcels as a unified site that alon could accommodate thetwo towers, one 700 feet and one 850 Thus, if a tower is designatex for the Golden Gate University property, it could reduce the Choo propertyu to just one tower of either 700 feet or 850 In 2006, Choo filed an application to build as many as five tower on his property, but over the past 18 months has been trying to sell a number of San Francisco building sites as his commercial mortgage lendiny business, , has suffered severe losses.
One of his II, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy onMarch 31. Hite said he and Golden Gate President Dan Angel met with Planning Directotr John Rahaim and other planners and made a case for 536Missioj St. “We shared with them our belief that we thinl our site should be designated thehigher site,” he principal Jeffrey Heller, who has been working with Choo on schemess for First and Missionj and is designing another tower in the Transbagy district, said the taller tower belong s on the Choo site because it is closetr to the proposed Transbay Tower.
“The urban design plans and protocola for the Transbay plannin g area all say the tall buildings shouldr be clustered around the Transbay Towe to create a hill and I believw that is an absolutely essential piece of how they finallyg set the heights inthe area,” he said. “I thinkl it’s important that the planning effort refocusea on this because Ithink it’zs getting vague and watered down by a variet of claims for height.” Golden Gate University has 5,009 students and offers graduate and undergraduate degrees in law, accounting, business administration, finance, communications and othefr areas It has been in the Missiojn Street building since 1968.
Hite emphasizesd that they need to stay in the greater financial districr because most students walk to class from jobs at downtown accounting andlaw firms. “The only way this woulx make sense to us is if it helpefd us financiallyand operationally,” said Hite. “We would not do it for the moneg if it would screw up oureducationall mission.” Duffy, the land use attorney, said, “Like most property owners in the area, Goldenh Gate University is interested in what happensd in the community around them and how it might effect them. “They are one of the majo downtown institutions and a significant employer with a significantstudent body,” said Duffy.
Hite said Goldenm Gate would be willing to move into the bottojm six or seven floors ofa mixed-use tower, but acknowledgedf that any development would be yeara away. “I think we have a lot of time on our he said.