Golden Gate University eyes new highrise - St. Louis Business Journal:

sucujovide.wordpress.com
Bob Hite, vice president of businesw affairs and CFO for Golden Gate said the university started discussinf a plan to sellits 33,000-square-foot propertt at Mission and First streets to a highrised developer about a year ago. The site now holdw Golden Gate’s main building, and he said the universityu would only be interested if it coulxd either be part of anew mixed-use developmen on the site or move to another location in downtown San Francisco. Goldenm Gate has hired land use attornety Pam Duffy of LLP and has put together a task force to look atpotentiakl deals.
Buzz about Golden Gate University’s interest in finding a developert for its site increasex after a May 26 Planninhg Department Transbay forum during which a new zoning map was showingan 850-foot proposed height at 536 Missio St. While planner Joshuw Switzky said previous versionsd of the map had also designated the parcel for higheer than800 feet, Hite said the new zoning was news to Goldenm Gate University officials. “The first we knew of the 850-foof heights was at last week’sd meeting,” said Hite.
“This is a and we think a very good If approved, Golden Gate’s rezoning would be part of a highrisew cluster around a 1,000-foot Transbay Tower that wouls include six skyscrapers over 600 feet and alloqw for another 5.8 million square feet of new officre space, 1,350 housing units and 1,350 hotel Fees from the development would help raise betweejn $700 million and $850 million to help pay for a $2 billionj transit center. However, with construction costw still relatively high and housing prices and office rents in decline it is unlikelyg that any of these towers will be built in the next five accordingto experts.
The latest zoning proposakl pits Golden Gate University against neighboring developerDavid Choo, who owns sevejn parcels in and around Firsf and Mission streets. The latest Transbay plan calls for two talltowersa — one 700 feet and one 850 feet on the block that includes both Choo’s propertg and the Golden Gate Universitt property. Choo has been trying to sell his parcels as a unifiex site that alone could accommodat e thetwo towers, one 700 feet and one 850 Thus, if a tower is designated for the Goldenh Gate University property, it could reduce the Choo property to just one tower of either 700 feet or 850 feet.
In 2006, Choo filed an applicationn to build as many as five towerd onhis property, but over the past 18 monthss has been trying to sell a numbert of San Francisco building sites as his commercial mortgage lending business, , has suffered severde losses. One of his funds, II, filed for Chaptedr 11 bankruptcy onMarch 31. Hite said he and Goldenj Gate President Dan Angel met with Planninb Director John Rahaim and other planners and made a case for 536 Mission St. “We shared with them our belief that we thinik our site should be designated thehigher site,” he said.
principalo Jeffrey Heller, who has been workinhg with Choo on schemes for First and Mission and is designint another tower in theTransbay district, said the talletr tower belongs on the Choo site because it is closer to the proposed Transbagy Tower. “The urban design plansx and protocols for the Transbay planning area all say the tall buildingds should be clustered around the Transbay Towerr to create a hill and I believe that is an absolutely essential piece of how they finally set the heights in the he said.
“I think it’s importanty that the planning effort refocusezs on this because Ithink it’s gettingt vague and watered down by a variety of claims for Golden Gate University has 5,000 students and offerss graduate and undergraduate degrees in law, accounting, business administration, communications and other areas It has been in the Mission Street building since 1968. Hite emphasized that they need to stay in the greater financial district because most students walk to class from jobs at downtownb accounting andlaw firms. “The only way this would make sensd to us is if it helper us financiallyand operationally,” said Hite.
“W would not do it for the mone y if it would screw up oureducational Duffy, the land use attorney, “Like most property owners in the area, Goldem Gate University is interested in what happens in the community around them and how it mighyt effect them. “They are one of the majodr downtown institutions and a significant employer with a significantstudentf body,” said Duffy. Hite said Golden Gate would be willinvg to move into the bottom six or seven floorsx ofa mixed-use but acknowledged that any developmentf would be years away. “I thin we have a lot of time on our he said.