PROJECT UPDATES:

SFMOMA/Firehouse

On behalf of SFMOMA, Webcor is completing the construction of the firehouse on Folsom Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets.

The new facility, designed and built to the City’s specifications, will replace Firehouse 1 on the site of the future SFMOMA Expansion.

The land swap between SFMOMA and the City went into effect in mid-February. Construction of the new museum will begin this summer.

Prowler assisted SFMOMA by providing community and government relations services.

Here's what Greg Johnson, Director of the SFMOMA Expansion Project said about David's role:

"David is among the handful of team members whose work led to the approvals of our expansion and the firehouse. We really relied on his judgment, relationships, and experience every step of the way."

UCSF Mission Bay

Mayor Ed Lee and UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann joined a handful of invited guests at a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the opening of Genentech Hall, the first building built in Mission Bay.  The new 43-acre biomedical research campus and the Benioff Childrens Hospital (under construction) will ensure that UCSF remains one of the top spots in the world for medical advances and their applications.  David Prowler was the Mayor's Project Manager for the creation of Mission Bay.

888 Brannan Street

This historic battery factory is coming back to life as the new home of Airbnb. Prowler advised the owner, SKS, on Planning approvals for the conversion.

RECOMMENDED READING

San Francisco Chinatown: A Guide to Its History & Architecture by Philip Choy

— A close up look at how Chinatown came to be, from the birth of the City at Portsmouth Square to the “veritable fairy palaces filled with the choicest treasures of the Orient” that saved the community from relocation to Hunters Point in 1906, to the International Hotel and beyond.

SFMTA's REAL ESTATE VISION FOR THE 21st CENTURY

"Outstanding consultant team delivering a great process and a great outcome"

Ed Reiskin, Director of Transportation, SF Municipal Transportation Agency

A team of consultants directed by David Prowler recently completed a report called SFMTA’s Real Estate Vision for the 21st Century.

It’s a blueprint for addressing the real estate challenges confronting our transportation system:

• To meet growing demand, the passenger fleet will grow about 20% by 2030, with some vehicle types doubling;
• Some facilities are obsolete and seismically vulnerable. For example, the base for repairing overhead lines is in an 1893- era unreinforced masonry building;
• The entire system of maintaining and parking vehicles could be more efficient, enabling operating savings, better working conditions, and better service.

In addition, SFMTA has the chance to offer selected sites for development, providing revenue to address facilities needs and to help meet City smart growth goals.

The SFMTA Board accepted the report at its meeting of January 29. No decisions have been made regarding report implemetation.

The report results from collaboration between the consultants, including Prowler Inc., Parsons Brinckerhoff, Gensler, Keyser Marston Associates, and Vital Environments and the staff of SFMTA. We held 8 workshops, toured SFMTA facilities and interviewed line staff, and conducted a survey of sister agencies to learn how they do things. We held briefings with members of the Board of Supervisors and their staffs, the SFMTA Citizens Advisory Committee, and SPUR.

Here is the link that leads to the Vision Report. Some of the key recommendations:

• Increasing flexibility by accommodating longer buses everywhere and adding electric lines capacity to the Flynn Yard;
• Consolidating storage, paint and body repair, and the historic fleet;
• Increasing energy and water sustainability;
• Addressing obsolescence and vulnerability of Presidio and Potrero facilities in partnership with private developers;
• Offering the Upper Yard at Balboa Station to the Mayor’s Office of Housing;

The report recommends implementation measures including financing sources.

RECENT POSTS AT PROWLER BLOG

You ought to check out the blog, www.davidprowler.wordpress.com.

JK Dineen of the San Francisco Business Times posted on Facebook, “ I love David Prowler’s blog”. Posts concern urbanism and design and have recently touched on the past lives of Rockefeller Center, the surrealist architecture of Frederick J. Keisler, broken clocks, and mastodons.