Lennar Multifamily Communities, a subsidiary of housing developer Lennar Corporation, is seeking approval of a 157-unit apartment building with ground-floor commercial space proposed for South Van Ness Avenue and 26th Street. A Planning Commission hearing originally scheduled for April 21 was rescheduled for August 11, as Organized Labor went to press. The developer recently signed a letter committing to employing an all-union workforce on the project.
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has appointed Patrick Mulligan Director of the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement.
Mulligan is a five-term Financial Secretary for Carpenters Local 22 and long-time member of the local. He is also a Trustee of the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council. Mulligan moves on from his role as director of CityBuild and replaces Donna Levitt, who held the position of OLSE director since 2002.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a height increase for Tishman Speyer’s 160 Folsom condominium high-rise on April 19. The Board’s vote amends the Redevelopment Plan for the Transbay Redevelopment Project Area (TRPA) to increase the maximum height limit from 300 feet to 400 feet on Block 1 of the TRPA. Supervisor Jane Kim and Mayor Ed Lee sponsored the legislation, which will allow Tishman Speyer to build a 39-story tower with an additional 73 housing units. In exchange for the increase in height, the developer agreed to increase the number of affordable units in the project to 40 percent. The original 300-foot proposal included 318 total residential units, with 112 (35 percent) affordable-to-moderate income households earning 80 to 120 percent of area median income. Under the newly approved proposal, the tower will have 391 units, with 156 affordable to moderate income households. The developer also agreed to provide a fund to help owners of below-market-rate units pay for monthly Homeowner Association dues.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) on May 10 approved extending the terms of the Project Labor Agreement governing work on its Water System Improvement Project (WSIP) to the work on its $6.9 billion Sewer System Improvement Project (SSIP).
Modernization work at San Francisco Unified School District sites covered by the Project Labor Agreement between the Building Trades and School District is progressing on schedule this summer. San Francisco voters approved a $531 million Facility Bond Measure in November 2011 – the third and final installment of $1.3 billion in bonds to modernize and improve safety in SFUSD facilities.
San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener was the top vote getter in the race for the State Senate on June 7, with 46 percent of the vote. Supervisor Jane Kim received 44 percent, and Republican Ken Loo 10 percent. Wiener and Kim will face off in the November General Election to succeed Senator Mark Leno, who is termed out. The district includes San Francisco and a section of northern San Mateo County. Wiener was endorsed by the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council in the primary.
The San Francisco Planning Commission approved the new Oceanwide Center project at its May 5 meeting. Developer Foster + Partners plans to build two mixed-use towers at First and Mission streets: A 605-foot tower featuring a 266-room hotel and residences, and an 850-foot office and residential tower. The new skyscrapers within the Transbay redevelopment area will be among the tallest in San Francisco and will have 2.1 million square feet of office, hotel and residential space, with 182 condominiums and 43,000 square feet of retail space.
The first phase of construction to transform Treasure Island into a new community began in March with the start of demolition of former Navy buildings on Yerba Buena Island. Approximately 94 acres on Yerba Buena Island and 367 acres on Treasure Island will become the site of a dense, mixed-use development with residential, commercial, cultural, hotel, recreational and retail uses centered around an intermodal transit hub.
