News
The Return of Development
March 15, 2012
| If the sounds of construction in San Francisco seem kind of quiet on March 27, Bisnow’s San Francisco Construction & Development Summit at the InterContinental Hotel San Francisco might be to blame. Folks won’t want to miss the insights of our all-star panel, including Shorenstein Realty Services’ Todd Sklar and Forest City’s Alexa Arena. |
 |
| As head of the development group, Todd manages Shorenstein’s development activities from site evaluation, entitlement, design, and construction to initial tenant improvements. He tells us substantial renovations are under way on three buildings in San Francisco, including two totaling 1.1M SF at Market Square. That’s where Twitter will occupy 215k SF in June, underscoring the tech industry’s contribution to the revitalization of the city’s Central Market district. (Luckily, he's allowed to draw up the plans in more than 140 characters.) Meanwhile, 188 Spear St, where Shorenstein has added a four-story addition, will be completed in July. The company also recently entitled 2.2M SF at Oyster Point in South San Francisco with SKS Investments. As if all that weren’t enough, Todd’s working on his 100-year-old house in Noe Valley. Folks often say they don’t build ’em like they used to, “and I always respond, it’s a good thing.” |
 |
| Alexa heads up all projects and activities for Forest City’s NorCal region and advises on innovation-based projects nationally. She’s the original visionary behind Forest City’s 5M Project—a mixed-use, 24/7 development on four acres in Downtown San Francisco. A few years ago, the company asked what it is about cities that drive creativity and innovation and came up with the dense, urban environment, where people will experience a creative culture on the street-level “before you enter your building.” (All hail mimes!) The project, encompassing just under 2M SF, is about a year and a half from being fully entitled. Alexa’s also working on the Pier 70 project in a public-private partnership with the Port of San Francisco. The 25-acre, office-oriented project is a portion of a larger port master plan. It’ll be mostly new construction and is about three years out. Maybe growing up in a household of five girls led Alexa to find creative ways to get personal space |
