How Mixed-Use is Transforming the Bay Area
In S.F., there's there's more to mixed-use than adding a Whole Foods to apartment buildings. The new age of development will include more and more of these multi-use projects, forever changing the landscape of the Bay area. Hear from top players in the space at Bisnow's first-ever S.F. mixed-use summit at Hotel Nikko on Aug. 18, starting at 7:30am.
Our panel will include MBH Architects principal John McNulty (here with son Ryan at a golf tournament in support of Little Sisters of the Poor). MBH is collaborating with Bayside Development and PYATOK architecture + urban design on a stimulating new residential mixed-use development in Visitation Valley. It's also working on 300 Grant, a new six-story building with flagship retail and boutique commercial office space, straddling the financial and retail districts at the foot of Chinatown. MBH is also working with Tiffany & Co. and Christian Dior to remodel the Union Square flagships.
The firm recently completed Michael Mina’s Pabu restaurant on the ground floor of 101 Cal (pictured). Additionally, MBH is collaborating with Good Tidings Foundation, San Francisco Giants, Giants Community Fund, Major League Baseball and San Francisco State to design and build a youth baseball academy at San Francisco State University. John says the demand for both housing and office space are reflected in low residential and office vacancies, creating even more demand for mixed use.
Another speaker will be Environmental Building Strategies principal Matt Macko, who tells us the mixed-use market is good from a short-term perspective but it is driven by tech, bio-tech, and services to those sectors. The major stock indices show that we’re a little "hot" right now, yet everyone keeps telling him, "this time is different." At some point someone is going to get caught digging a little too far into the cookie jar, he says. The fact is mixed use diversifies risk and presents the market with something its been yearning for. Matt says don’t confuse mixed-use with residential over grocery; that confuses the concept.
EBS is working on a number of significant projects, including Salesforce Tower, projects for four large unnamed tech clients, the DPR HQ (its home base, below) and the Exploratorium.
Matt says the industry is also being challenged by the need to meet local and state goals for energy and water. At some point, someone will have to design the costs out and as they say, "tunnel through the cost barrier," he says.
Also speaking: Salesforce SVP Ford Fish, who told us last year about opening up a Salesforce cafe adjacent to the food court at Rincon Center. There were no advertisements for the cafe, just word of mouth; the first day, 400 coffees were poured. Ford finds himself walking three blocks there, not for free lattes, but simply because it's a cool hangout to see colleagues work differently. Hear from Ford and the rest of our all-star panel at Bisnow's first-ever San Francisco mixed-use summit at Hotel Nikko on Aug. 18, starting at 7:30am. Sign up here!
