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PriceSpotter Big Reveal: Living Large At the Palms
October 6th, 2008
PriceSpotter is Curbed's asking price guessing game. We provide you with some details and pictures from an apartment listing, and you take a crack at the price in the comments. Wednesday reveal. And hey, cheaters never win, and winners never cheat!
Click the image above to view the full photogallery.
This week's divisive PriceSpotter entrant was unit #629 in The Palms, the hotel-like condo at 555 4th Street. 629 is one of the largest units in the building with four bedrooms over 2,133 sq ft, two balconies, and a spa-like master bath. Personal opinions were split, but almost everyone agreed that the listing price would fall somewhere around 1.5M. Surprisingly, The closest guess of the week was also the highest: $1,750,000 from reader A Castro Condo or a Town in Kansas. Even more surprising - that number isn't even close. The actual listing price is $2,199,000 - almost a half million more. Sharpen the axe, we've got ourselves a future PriceChopper.
· 555 4th St. #629 [MLS]
· Living Large At the Palms [Curbed SF]
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Density and Street Bills Make The Cut: Governor Schwarzenegger, whose hand has likely...
October 6th, 2008
Governor Schwarzenegger, whose hand has likely malformed into a claw after signing so many vetoes last night, signed SB 375 and AB 1358 into law with nary a moment to spare. That means, respectively, more incentives for density and transit-oriented developments, and friendlier streets for pedestrians. SB 375 will likely have more impact in L.A., where density has always been more a question than a fact of life. Then again, we've been grappling a bit with density ourselves lately. [Transbay Blog]
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Better in the East Bay: Weather, Real Estate?
October 6th, 2008
Is San Francisco's commercial vacancy rate increasing as companies move across the Bay? Hey - what's good enough for Levi's,is good enough for everyone else, right? Like its weather, the Oakland commercial real estate scene is hotter than San Francisco, and in an article singing the praises of East Bay development, The New York Times looks at the legacy of Jerry Brown, the largest upcoming construction projects in the area (re: Lennar), and the perks of building around the Bay - among them, the raw development potential of the largest available shoreline in any American metropolis; a shoreline that's rapidly increasing as refineries and military shipyards close their doors. The Bay Area: brazenly building in the face of the doomsday economy.
· Bay Area Holds Commercial Appeal Despite Stumbles of Housing Market [New York Times]
· SoMa Not Spared in New Office RE Slump
[image via rebron.org]
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Mayor To Businesses: Go Solar or Go...Just Go Solar, Ok?
October 6th, 2008
The Gav's been laying down some serious green gauntlets lately. Now that the mayor has announced his plan to green city hall, he's asking the city's biggest businesses to do the same and step up by installing enough solar panels to produce 5 megawatts of electricity. The carrot? A 30% tax credit and free solar assessment & energy audits are being offered to the 1,500 largest companies in the city if they join the Solar Founder's Circle (which sounds suspiciously like some sort of druidic cult). San Francisco's current solar output would double If all 1,500 organizations agree to the mayor's plan - producing enough cumulative energy to power 42,000 households.
·S.F. Mayor Newsom challenges city's largest businesses to install solar [SF Business Times]
·Gavin Declares Civic Center "Sustainable Resource District" [Curbed SF]
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Morning Mortgage Meltdown: No One's Buying: Mortgage applications dropped 23% last week...
October 6th, 2008
Mortgage applications dropped 23% last week in the wake of the government's failure to pass a bailout plan and with credit freezes making it harder to get a loan. The refinance index also fell by more than 34%. It's official: the economic apocalypse is upon us. DON'T PANIC. [CNN Money]
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Tuesday PM Linkage
October 6th, 2008
[Bay Bridge and One Rincon Hill, courtesy Curbed SF Flickr photog serge s.]
· The man doesn't rest: Renzo's second building at LACMA [AN]
· Walgreen's gets owned by court, tobacco ban stays [Bloomberg]
· Either Obama loves leather, or Folsom loves Obama [SFist]
· Luscious Garage turns your hybrid into a plug-in [CNN]
· Three beds, five baths, and a lot of art: $25 million [WSJ]
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Speaking of Broken Windows Theory...: The Streets and Neighborhoods Workgroup is...
October 6th, 2008
The Streets and Neighborhoods Workgroup is hoping to clean up the streets of the beleaguered SF tourist hotspots. The group is foregoing loftier discussions about things like the root cause of homelessness, going instead after the specific problems: aggressive panhandling, street pooing, wild pissing, what have you. Talk so far has focused on creating "drug-free zones" where illicit acts get a heavier smackdown. Not everyone's on the same page yet, but most can agree that "dealing crack is a bad idea." That's as good a place to start as any. [SF Gate]
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Ask Curbed SF: Cole Valley Mystery House
October 6th, 2008
In need of guidance, oh wayward one? Turn to the oracle that is the Ask Curbed SF inbox. We'll burden the masses with your problems, and they, our all-knowing readers, will command thee.
We love finding non-traditional homes in San Francisco, so we were psyched to see this question land in the inbox.
Hi Curbed. i was hoping someone might know something about this house (see attached image) in Cole Valley on Schrader street. I don't think it is new, per say [sic] but it definitely sticks out in the neighborhood. Any idea who built it or when?
We're stumped - so we turn to you, dear readers. What's the deal with the Cole Valley home for narrow living?
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The joint futures of Cow Palace and Daly City are once again uncertain, as the governor vetoed the "savior" bill allowing the sale of the arena parking lot to the city. This being the parking lot that Daly City would develop into stores, schools, post offices, and any other pieces of basic civic infrastructure that they apparently lack. The deal was also pretty sweet for Cow Palace managers, who would have earned $20 million from the sale. Instead, it's Plan B: lease the lot to developers for a much smaller project. Daly City - you're on your own. As for the questionable future of the precious Cow Palace, we like one Curbed commeter's idea to 
Let there be no doubt, San Francisco is green and it's all thanks to Greener-Than-Thou poster child Gavin Newsom. Three environmental press conferences in three days? Seriously, Gav? The enthusiasm is appreciated, but what would possibly justify another new announcement? A little bragging and a friendly reminder, it seems. Apparently, there's some sort of solar rebate program that started in July - maybe you've heard of it, GoSolarSF? It grants businesses and home owners up to $6,000 to install solar panels. Since the program's inception 60 applications per month have been submitted to the city, who have the ambitious goal of installing 10,000 solar rooftops by 2010 (wasn't it 
