Just another waterfront height-busting development: 75 Howard

An undistinguished 31-story, 350-foot high luxury high-rise condo building facing the Embarcadero is being proposed for 75 Howard Street. It would tower over nearby buildings. A mixed-use variant would allow 82 hotel rooms and 109 market-rate residential units. The owners are the Paramount Group (50%) and Morgan Stanley (50%). Both companies are based in New York. The Planning Dept’s Notice of Preparation (NOP ) of an Environmental Impact Report has been issued and comments are due January 11.

HEIGHT:
The building would exceed the site’s established height limit by 75%. It would only be about 15-feet shorter than one of the towers at One Market Plaza. It is boxy with one small setback at the 7th floor. Its neighbors to the north and south have deeper setbacks at this level and numerous setbacks higher up.

Although the developers stated they wanted to be “in line with the other buildings in the area,” 75 Howard would actually tower over its neighbors. According to numbers provided by the Planning Dept, this building would be:

• 32% higher than its closest neighbor to the west, 201 Spear. (Only a narrow pedestrian alley separates the two.)
• 25% higher than Rincon Center across the street.
• 20% higher than the Gap Building to the south.

A survey of all buildings one block in each direction shows 75 Howard would exceed all of them in height.

REQUIREMENT THAT BUILDINGS STEP DOWN:
This project is within the Transit Center District Plan (TCDP) which requires buildings to step-down as they get closer to the Bay. The San Francisco Urban Design Plan also suggests stepping down in height to avoid boxy, bulky buildings.