Avenue A

BDDW: Now Plugged By The Cool, Famous

2009-01-19T15:41:00.000-08:00

A ways back we mentioned one of our favorite new brands - BDDW - and highlighted their gorgeous handcarved tables and captain's mirrors.

As if they weren't ascending all the ladders easily enough on their own, REM's Michael Stipe and photographer Thomas Dozol gave them some handwritten applause as part of a photo shoot in their home.

Who needs an advertising budget at all when you get genuine, handwritten press from Michael Stipe and partner?

... And Speaking of Geniuses

2009-01-19T15:18:00.000-08:00

When The Onion covers one of the greatest open secret retail marketing disasters still in operation, we have to post a link: Difficult To Tell If T.J. Maxx Hit Hard By Recession

"The Giant Pool of Money"

2008-10-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

It's been forever, hasn't it? We took a posting break to let the major networks bombard you with CDO, derivative, and general housing disaster coverage, and after the fifth person asked us if we'd listened to Ira Glass' recent show on the debacle, thought we should post a link.

Share the despair through a few well-done vignettes here: http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=355

Avenue

p.s. We're speaking at a few conferences this Fall. Stay tuned for more info.

Cesar Rubio Photography

2007-11-05T18:59:00.001-08:00

A broker friend just asked us who we like (locally) for architectural photography, and we agreed it's Cesar Rubio. If we only had one shot, and needed it to grab more than 50% of passers-by, we'd spend the bulk of the budget letting Cesar get it right. He's done the sexier jobs, from SOM SF to Dwell, but he's not so commercial to avoid shooting a Tiburon interior now and again. Portfolio: here. (And no, we've not employed him, but will.)

160 San Marcos Avenue

2007-11-05T18:42:00.000-08:00

We absolutely love Craig Steely's work. He's always at least 5 years ahead of trends (glass tile in year 2000, anyone?), and can do modern with a warmth that few other local architects can muster. So we find ourselves wishing we could build his 3,700 SF single-family home design for 160 San Marcos Ave, which recently made its appearance on MLS; the lot and plans are yours for 850,000 underwritten land-loan smackers.

But Craig's site announces construction in 2005, and we're closing in on 2008. Community issues at design review? Indecisive seller? We hope it's not the former, for architecture's sake, but aren't betting on the latter...

Ahhh... Nostalgia Marketing

2007-10-19T16:16:00.000-07:00

When the market gets tough, we love some nostalgia campaigns. Un-real-estate related, but relevant in theory, 45 Ipod Cases has a really cool new product: tape cases perfectly crafted for your Nano. And they're $45. Duh.

Our favorite Friday marketing and design find:
http://www.45ipodcases.com/nano/case27.php

Brass. It's the New Chrome.

2007-10-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

(Guest Blogger -- Woo Woo!)

I, Guest Blogger, recently noticed a trend, and then heard Realtor whispers that were perhaps an initial validation of our observations. I wonder if modernist design is starting to go the way of modernist art. In the '70's, the hearty flamboyance and self-confidence of neo-expressionist art came as a very logical response to the mechanical precision and restraint of modernism. I think we're starting to see a similar transition now in the the world of design. Just in time too because when builders start opting for electric ranges because of their "sleek clean look", it makes us think consumers have pushed new-moderism just a tad too far. Don't get me wrong, I heart good, authentic modern design just as much as the next design-oriented individual but I also find a sense of comfort in the unabashed unpredictability of color and form that we see in places like Ian Schrager's reawakening: http://www.gramercyparkhotel.com/gramercy_park_hotel.html?gclid=CL_s-4Cr4YwCFRG3hgodlVsNzQ

Perhaps the abundance of muted colors everwhere has made us feel like we've cut off the circulation to our senses... this new look has the blood running back in again.

Borneo Sporenburg

2007-06-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

Lamenting the half-blocks of SF, with their quaint, tiny drives and each homes' perfectly- executed coved ceilings, we had to counter the high with a little low: great architecture of the early 1900's wasn't matched by any execution of smart outdoor space. (And no, we didn't expect it to be... ) Still, we ended up on Borneo Sporenburg again.

Your brief history (circa mid-1990s): "Borneo Sporenburg was a dock area on the outskirts of Amsterdam serving trade with Holland’s colonies in the East. As part of the phased regeneration of these now disused areas, a residential brief of 2500 dwellings was set for this zone, dictating a high density of housing, despite the predominant market demand for a suburban self-contained house. The development demonstrates that family housing is not incompatible with dense urban areas. It reverses the predominant social trend towards a dense urban core inhabited by childless couples, singles and the extremes of high and low income, and a suburban fringe occupied by middle-class families."

And so the design standards went on... arriving at a mandated 30-50% void (patio,outdoor, or public) space requirment per residence and the kind of facades we wouldn't mind seeing form a strip along any wanting Excelsior or SOMA street. While we're not the biggest fans of the Sphinx Garden (the public space aspect of the mandate above), we think we'll be easier to please with pics of the interior patios.

West 8 did the designing, though their website has too many other huge projects to celebrate to go into detail on Borneo S. Good luck googling for interior shots, but Harvard's Graduate School of Design has published Residential Waterfront, Borneo Sporenburg, Amsterdam, edited by Rodolfo Machado.

Holl in the KC

2007-06-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

How'd the great Steven Holl-designed-Kansas-City-art-museum reveal/soiree go? Surely someone was allowed to be there.

P.s. Steven Bowers has some great photos online from 2006, if you haven't been lucky enough to visit yet.

They're Cool. That's Why They're Expensive

2007-06-22T15:13:00.000-07:00

We admit it. We love this project. From the oh-so-forward thinkers of Hell-A who love their dogs enough to make a (BIG-ish) dog park in many of the city's new developments to the awesome pairing of white Arrital Cucine cabinetry with concrete floors and the built-in wine glass storage units. All of it does it for us.

If you haven't been to the "neighborhood", it kind-of borders something sometimes nicknamed "Skid Row." But now the "young professionals" are moving in, L.A. Live has hit the (friends and family) market, and you should really have a look at it all.

Laverne's Champagne Chair

2007-05-29T08:55:00.000-07:00

Obedient as we are, we followed-up on a designer recommendation, took a likin' to Erwin and Estelle Laverne's Champage Chair, and present to you a $2,400 transaction opportunity. A product of 1957 constructed with lucite, aluminum, and liquid leather(!), this chair is currently being offered by Monda Cane in NYC and is not to be confused with DWR's annual champagne chair contest, where designers with ridiculous amounts of talent create chairs from cork, foil, wire, and glue.

Because It's Friday...

2007-05-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

Meet #56 on Residential Design and Build's Top 100 New Products list: Motiv's "tissue paper holder and protector", for those too-close-to-the-sink spots. While this particular winner doesn't seem to be available online, Motiv's latest collections are now distributed through Bed Bath and Beyond and at a few dozen other California locations.

If You Have To Show The Copper Stars...

2007-05-24T11:08:00.000-07:00

There are hints of rationality in the SF market if you take the time to search for them, and the latest at 1448 Kearny certainly qualifies. Despite the killer Telegraph Hill location, the listing finally, finally expired after attempting to sell an interior-designed studio for about $2,110/SF. (Did they know that the Ritz-Carlton Residences in SF averaged $1,360/SF?)

Nevertheless, it produced a little new parlance around our offices. If a home has so few "grab factors" that you end up shooting copper stars on the beadboard walls, consider talking to the seller about pricing expectations again. We find ourselves referencing Kearny every few days with a sigh and a "We're getting into copper star territory" as we do one Brokers' tour or another.

The Story:

List price: $699,000 (Reductions? Oh, yes. Originally $778,000 or $2,360/SF)

List date: January 2, 2007

SF: Not provided by agent, but tax records show 330 SF

Comments: Sold fully-furnished; height restrictions

Citrino Update

2007-05-23T12:09:00.000-07:00

Citrino update: 1BRs starting at $500K; 2BRs starting $689K. All units have deeded parking and HOAs are estimated to hover in the mid-$300s. Drive-bys available at 566 South Van Ness.

Cheap Reads: Prefabulous

2007-05-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

It was only a matter of time before this title was used somewhere, anywhere, and here it is for $16.50 on Amazon. Sheri Koones' new book, published by Taunton Press, walks one through seven prefab approaches over the course of seven chapters titled Modular, Panelized, Structural Insulated Panels, Timber Frame, Log Construction, Concrete and Steel. It's nuts and bolts, not historical and experimental, but that probably means we're officially hitting mainstream status with prefab.

From the author, regarding her hopes for the text: "... by describing 7 different types of prefab construction ... that it will shed new light on this wonderful way of building a house. The houses profiled in this book are quite varied in size, style, and method of construction, but all of them were built in part or almost totally in a factory. In today's world I believe we are all concerned about preserving our resources and saving energy - prefab construction is an excellent option towards both of those ends. I have always hoped to be an advocate for the homeowner, providing options to help them make the best possible construction decisions."

Park Fifth Renderings

2007-05-22T12:56:00.000-07:00

David Houk released Park Fifth's rendering to the LA Times this month, illustrating exactly how 732 units should fit into two skyscrapers--one of which will be the tallest building west of Chicago (at 76 stories). A sales center will open this Summer, though ground shouldn't be broken before 2008 and construction isn't slated to complete until 2010. (So, expect some amazing new reservation-holding tactics employed in L.A. soon.)

Now taking names: Parkfifth.com.

P.S. Love the logo.

Because It's Friday... The Onion

2007-05-18T12:42:00.000-07:00

There's No Such Thing As A Free Seminar On How To Buy Distressed Property For No Money Down

See, We Told You They Are/n't Doing It

2007-05-18T09:47:00.001-07:00

The windows thing. It's more contagious than we'd first imagined. In the same week that we brought you Sotheby's electric blue, exploding sky, we also call your attention to a new SFH listing -- 75 Mars Street, San Francisco, featuring nebulous blurred windows (2 votes for real; 2 for fake). The two fake votes were mostly driven by the living room shot, where the shadows in the pano-view shot don't match those of the room. If the blur-views are Photoshop indeed, we absolutely need to get our eyes on the house of ill-repute that must be driving the "modifications."

Citrino

2007-05-17T15:20:00.000-07:00

Vanguard intros 32 one- and two-bedroom condominiums at their newest Mission project: Citrino. Homes will start in the $500,000s. Interest list only: http://www.citrinosf.com/

SF Evictions Down (Wait. What About the CRISIS?)

2007-05-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

With all the voiced concerns/screaming/squawking/insert your preference from the SF Tenant's Union of late regarding a (perceived?) eviction crisis, we're surprised to read the Rent Board's March 20, 2007 Annual Eviction Report.

In the words of Executive Director Delene Wolf:
"The number of notices filed with the Department this year represents an 8.9% decrease over the prior year’s total filings of 1,621, and is about the same as the prior year’s total of 1,446 filings."

Nuisance causes ranked first again (19.3% of all evictions), followed by lease breaches (18.6%), the ever-castigated Ellis Act (16.7%), and OMIs (14.9%).

Natch, the data begs this question: If nuisances are the most "successful" route to eviction, why aren't Chris Daly and Aaron Peskin doing all they can to make tenants exempt from ever causing them? We feel some legislation coming on whereby tenants may achieve angel status to avoid some eviction tactics. Even in absence of this, it's interesting to note that despite Mirkarimi, Daly, and Peskin's Just Cause, Ellis Act, and other maneurerings, ordinance changes seem to have had zero effect.

Read the Annual Eviction Report

The Exploding Sky's Sister

2007-05-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

As it's our day job, we've been slightly fascinated by the speed at which various new trends in real estate advertising are picked up by the general Realtor community before reaching their tipping point on the local MLS. Altering the sky on a listing's best facade shot caught on especially quickly, and some brokerages began using (and still do use) the exact same sky background, down to the cloud, on all of their listings.

You'll draw your own marketing line around what's an acceptable version of reality and what's crossed over into "misleading" territory (OK, so one approach is the equivalent of your mother, a talented photographer in her own right, taking a photo of you in your Sunday best, while the other is a lot like spending 8 hours in Photoshop erasing power lines, subbing the neighbor's cracked shale roof with new terra cotta tiles, and distorting perspective enough to make a 10 x 10 room appear to be twice that size.).

Wherever you stand on this one, we think we've spotted the sky trend's new baby sister: the electric blue nightfall shot--Photoshopped into every room in the house.

Pictured above: Sotheby's listing of a 3BR / 2.5BA SFH in Sunnyside, SF ( I said Sunnyside). Listed at $1,700,000 and recorded at 2,564 SF ($663/SF).

Now Selling: Ritz-Carlton Residences at L.A. Live

2007-05-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

Their VIP reservation event complete (Which Warriors bought where?), what remains of the 224 Ritz-Carlton Residences will now be available to the public. $1,100+/SF-ish; the residences begin at floor 27, with the top 3 floors being reserved for 12 penthouses. The project website is a registration page only, but worth bookmarking. Keep up with the entire L.A. Live project at AEG's site.

SB 464 - The Ellis Act Bill

2007-05-10T12:41:00.000-07:00

In the middle of flattening home prices, an imploding mortgage market, and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors' deficit spending (which now includes absolutely every scrap of surplus the City had, including the Rainy Day Fund), the movement of SB 464 continues through the California State Senate. SB 464 adds restrictions to already-restricted Ellis Act law by proposing that no landlord be allowed to exit the "landlord business" until after they have owned a property for at least 5 years.

That's right. No matter what financial, health-impacting, or emotional events befell a property owner during their first 5 years of ownership, if there are tenants on the property, the landlord will be forced to continue to perform all the landlord duties the State demands they perform for at least sixty months. Sure, not all landlords (or teachers, or bus drivers, etc.) are wonderful people. And this law assures that slumlords and evil landlords will have to stay in the business too.

Despite the obvious consequences of SB 464 (like that there's likely to be a mass Ellis Acting of all grandfathered buildings two seconds after the bill's passage and that it might be unconstitutional to force a citizen to work in a certain field for a number of years), tenant support groups are cheerleading the bill as the knife in the heart of evictions. The law would clearly steer developers and contractors away from tenant-occupied buildings, or in the least would increase the off-the-record tenant buyouts used to empty buildings before their sale in rent-controlled cities. SF tenants should be dancing in the streets if this bill stops getting postponed and is actually passed.

Keep up with it here.

Canine Gramercy

2007-05-09T17:01:00.000-07:00

On the heels of all the hotel REITs that have picked up the pieces multifamily dropped in your stock portfolio, cue the entrance of another boutique hotel chain: Wag Hotels. Notably, they've adopted the second-trendiest element in the hotel industry: calling suites condos ("Our feline guests stay in our two story Cat Condominium.").

(For the latest human hotel trend equivalent, check out Barry Sternlicht's 1 brand venture.)

The third Wag Hotel in California opens its doors this weekend in San Francisco. They "invite you and your dogs to come and see Wag Hotels new location in San Francisco on May 12th and 13th from 10am to 8pm both days. There will be hors d'oeuvres, music, treats and we are giving away 1 year free stay for the lucky dog, and many more free nights."

Featured Project: The Book Concern Building

2007-05-08T08:37:00.000-07:00

New construction in San Francisco can earn the right product $850+/SF. Naturally, developers then want $1,000+/SF, and they usually get there by building up, or building fabulous.

OR, you can build itty-bitty units of an entirely different tact that hit price points not seen since 1998 in San Francisco. You can do what the Book Concern Building did: convince people to live in 270 SF of space just so they can own it. Check out the six remaining units' prices -- especially the 261 SF studio at $1,045/SF. Even if your soft and hard costs put you at $350/SF to build, you're approaching 200% margins (pre-taxes, marketing, sales and other expenses).

At McAllister and 7th, Book Concern calls its location Civic Center, while the SFPD might call it a little more, say, Tenderloin-y. Add to this the building's former career as home to the Church of Scientology and, well, it doesn't seem to have mattered.