1000 Van Ness

Holliday Development partnered with two development companies to transform a landmark-listed San Francisco building into a 450,000-square-foot mixed-use development. Fifty-one luxury loft condominiums were created along with a 14-screen AMC multiplex cinema, a 35,000-square-foot CRUNCH! fitness center, the Venture Frog restaurant and business incubator, and 401 underground public parking spaces. The lofts, known as The Marquee, offered San Francisco its first north-of-Market Street loft units.

Completed: 1999
Project value: $75 Million
Number of units: 53 residential units
Commercial tenants: 3 tenants
Project area: 450,000 square feet
Residential area: 75,000 square feet
Commercial area: 150,000 square feet
Site area: 82,363 square feet
Average unit size: 1400 square feet
Average unit price (1999): $450,000
Average unit price (2003): $800,000
Density per acre: 28 units/acre
Parking: 450 spaces

• The landmark building had to be rehabilitated into residential, commercial, and retail uses.
• Rehabilitation tax credits were required to enhance commercial profitability.
• A new seismic and structural foundation system was required for the existing building, and a 70-foot pit had to be excavated to create a new adjoining subterranean parking structure.
• Ownership had to be subdivided into discrete parcels and operational declarations.
• The development represented the first high-end loft product in the city.

Framework

1000 Van Ness was conceived in 1991 after a chance meeting in Japan between Rick Holliday and Ford Motor Company, who owned a San Francisco building. Their building—an eight-story, landmark-listed, concrete-framed structure—had been built in 1921 as a Cadillac showroom, and was appropriately exuberant and luxurious. It had most recently been used as a political-campaign office, and was on the market. Rick Holliday understood that the additional city block of real estate directly behind the building presented a huge opportunity for expanding the 250,000- square-foot building. As the economy waxed and waned and an assortment of planning bureaucracies entered the picture, the plans varied as well. In the end, a mixed-use condo-retail-leisure development was chosen. In 1996, Holliday Development partnered with AMC Theatres, which was interested in expanding its San Francisco presence. AMC signed on as the anchor tenant in what would become a steel-framed 14-screen, 3,300-seat multiplex theater extension to the historic building. In 1997, the project was spilt into two separate partnerships: commercial and residential. The Martin Group and Burnham Pacific Properties spearheaded the commercial project. The residential development, The Marquee lofts became the primary responsibility of Holliday Development. By the time the residential portion was under construction, San Francisco’s dot-com boom had begun and real estate prices were soaring. Holliday Development rapidly changed its for-rent housing plans to a luxury for-sale loft project. Each studio, signature, and penthouse unit featured hardwood floors, 12-foot-high concrete columns and ceilings, original wood sash windows, granite countertops, mahogany cabinets, stainless-steel appliances, custom kitchen islands, and custom options through our Design Center. When The Marquee lofts went on the market, the lofts sold out in three to four months at $450 per square foot, which made The Marquee lofts the highest priced lofts in San Francisco at the time.

Impact

Highly successful from every angle, 1000 Van Ness helped solidify Holliday Development’s standing as an innovative and pioneering development company. Today, the commercial and residential success of 1000 Van Ness make it a sought after San Francisco address.