Most nonresidential construction projects are delivered late. And then there’s 1095 Market Street in San Francisco, an office building-to-hotel conversion that was supposed to take 18 months to complete but, for a host of reasons—some COVID related, others architectural—was finally finished last spring, five years after the project was started.
“I would need three hours to explain why,” laughed Todd Pesavento, Project Executive with Skanska USA Building, the project’s general contractor that also provided design-build services for mechanical, electrical, fire protection, and historical elements. BD+C interviewed Pesavento last week with Jason Wright, Associate Designer and a Conservation and Preservation Specialist with Page & Turnbull, which handled most of the historic restoration of this 115-year-old building.
Pesavento explained that the building—which was also known as the Grant Building—had “numerous” structural and foundation issues whose installation took a year to redesign and implement. An exterior wood column had deteriorated to the point where it had to be replaced from the 8th floor to the roof six floors above. That replacement also required removing and replacing historic brick. There was also more lead paint in the building than expected that needed remediation.
BAR Architects, the project’s architect, had to rebuild the building’s ground-floor storefront and to recreate the building’s wood window system that is now sound- and weatherproof.
Pesavento noted that four of the building’s original terracotta pilasters were coated with several layers of paint that were removed. Those pilasters were used as models to recreate nine other pilasters from glass fiber-reinforced concrete (GFRC) material, each with seven components.
Wright added that the brick and terracotta in the middle of the building, with a lot of different shapes, had to be cleaned and, where necessary, repaired or replaced, which meant some arduous color matching.
REPLACING THE BUILDING’S DECORATIVE FLOURISH
One of the biggest parts of this historic restoration was reconstructing missing cornices, which Wright said had been cut off the building in the 1950s. Page & Turnbull never found the original drawings, but did locate high-res images of the building (with its cornices) in local and state libraries. Recreating the cornices required Skanska and its subs to work with 3D-printed models.
The finished product is now a 203-key Yotel micro hotel, that brand’s first micro in the western U.S. Features like self-check-in kiosks, loft-style sleeping layouts, smart televisions and public co-working and meeting space are geared toward the burgeoning neighborhood’s millennial travelers and professionals. A rooftop bar and ground-floor restaurant and bar are open to the public.
Pesavento said that Synapse Development Group, this project’s developer, was “very hands-on, and involved” during the design phase. The biggest challenge in this adaptive reuse was the mechanical system, because the bathrooms within most office buildings are in the middle of the building. For the hotel, all of the plumbing had to be rerouted. Pesavento added that the hotel was laid out to avoid the interior’s existing structures (such as columns), so the execution “needed a lot of field coordination.”
The converted building, which for all intents and purposes had been missing its bottom and crown, “is now timeless,” said Pesavento.
Related Stories
MFPRO+ Research | Sep 11, 2023
Conversions of multifamily dwellings to ‘mansions’ leading to dwindling affordable stock
Small multifamily homes have historically provided inexpensive housing for renters and buyers, but developers have converted many of them in recent decades into larger, single-family units. This has worsened the affordable housing crisis, say researchers.
Adaptive Reuse | Aug 31, 2023
New York City creates team to accelerate office-to-residential conversions
New York City has a new Office Conversion Accelerator Team that provides a single point of contact within city government to help speed adaptive reuse projects. Projects that create 50 or more housing units from office buildings are eligible for this new program.
Adaptive Reuse | Aug 31, 2023
Small town takes over big box
GBBN associate Claire Shafer, AIA, breaks down the firm's recreational adaptive reuse project for a small Indiana town.
Adaptive Reuse | Aug 17, 2023
How to design for adaptive reuse: Don’t reinvent the wheel
Gresham Smith demonstrates the opportunities of adaptive reuse, specifically reusing empty big-box retail and malls, many of which sit unused or underutilized across the country.
Adaptive Reuse | Aug 16, 2023
One of New York’s largest office-to-residential conversions kicks off soon
One of New York City’s largest office-to-residential conversions will soon be underway in lower Manhattan. 55 Broad Street, which served as the headquarters for Goldman Sachs from 1967 until 1983, will be reborn as a residence with 571 market rate apartments. The 30-story building will offer a wealth of amenities including a private club, wellness and fitness activities.
Adaptive Reuse | Jul 27, 2023
Number of U.S. adaptive reuse projects jumps to 122,000 from 77,000
The number of adaptive reuse projects in the pipeline grew to a record 122,000 in 2023 from 77,000 registered last year, according to RentCafe’s annual Adaptive Reuse Report. Of the 122,000 apartments currently undergoing conversion, 45,000 are the result of office repurposing, representing 37% of the total, followed by hotels (23% of future projects).
Urban Planning | Jul 26, 2023
America’s first 100% electric city shows the potential of government-industry alignment
Ithaca has turned heads with the start of its latest venture: Fully decarbonize and electrify the city by 2030.
Multifamily Housing | Jul 25, 2023
San Francisco seeks proposals for adaptive reuse of underutilized downtown office buildings
The City of San Francisco released a Request For Interest to identify office building conversions that city officials could help expedite with zoning changes, regulatory measures, and financial incentives.
Sustainability | Jul 13, 2023
Deep green retrofits: Updating old buildings to new sustainability standards
HOK’s David Weatherhead and Atenor’s Eoin Conroy discuss the challenges and opportunities of refurbishing old buildings to meet modern-day sustainability standards.
Multifamily Housing | Jul 11, 2023
Converting downtown office into multifamily residential: Let’s stop and think about this
Is the office-to-residential conversion really what’s best for our downtowns from a cultural, urban, economic perspective? Or is this silver bullet really a poison pill?