Union Hill Development

Discuss items in the urban core outside of Downtown as described above. Everything in the core including the east side (18th & Vine area), Northeast, Plaza, Westport, Brookside, Valentine, Waldo, 39th street, & the entire midtown area.
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FangKC
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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by FangKC »

New Union Hill lofts open to ravenous leasing demand

http://tinyurl.com/kkdyzzx
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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by moderne »

Lots of silly hype in that article which is more advertisement than reporting. More than 3 months behind schedule. Sloppy execution and shortcuts. projects (landscaping started half-ass then abandoned. Mistatements about the availabilty of internet and tv providers. Abandonment of cantilvered iron balconys in center units looks lilke something from east of TRoost where the porch structure rotted away and flimsy bars put in front of door.
If I had know the execution was to differ so much from the architecural renderings I would not have leased here despie the wonderful urban neighborhood.
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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by smh »

moderne wrote:Lots of silly hype in that article which is more advertisement than reporting. More than 3 months behind schedule. Sloppy execution and shortcuts. projects (landscaping started half-ass then abandoned. Mistatements about the availabilty of internet and tv providers. Abandonment of cantilvered iron balconys in center units looks lilke something from east of TRoost where the porch structure rotted away and flimsy bars put in front of door.
If I had know the execution was to differ so much from the architecural renderings I would not have leased here despie the wonderful urban neighborhood.
Have the balconies on the 30th Street buildings been completely abandoned? The project looks incomplete without them. Especially because they went ahead and cut holes in the facades where electrical was supposed to run.
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grovester
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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by grovester »

If so, somebody needs to start a kickstarter for that.
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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by smh »

BREAKING: Union Hill says on Twitter the balconies are still in the works and will be installed soon. Thank god.
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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by moderne »

Something about fabrication and redesign.
The new book Union Cemetary has some great info about early residents great and humble. Some nice photos of homes and mansions long gone.
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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by rxlexi »

Some nice photos of homes and mansions long gone.
Interesting. I'd be curious to see what the overall neighborhood looked like prior to the redevelopment beginning in the 80's. I distinctly remember the awful light industrial buildings along the eastern hill where Founders phase I is now...was a very strange area.
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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by moderne »

The cemetary originally went all the way to Main. Not really much about "Union Hill" the neighborhood surrounding the cemetary, but that moniker is a late 20th century name for what included several different subdivision names. The old home photos are of homes people planted in the cemetary lived in, not ones on the hilll.

BTW,Union Hill is north of 31st, technically in DT according to this boards and the city's definition. Should not this thread be in the DT section?
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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by rxlexi »

The old home photos are of homes people planted in the cemetary lived in, not ones on the hilll.
I was thinking that might be the case as I typed my prior response. Somewhat less interested, in that case. Would be very cool to see what, if any, neighborhood existed along the sloping hill from the cemetery to the homes up along 31st/Grand, etc.
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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by Critical_Mass »

Ragan Building--

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Taylor Building--

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Single family home infill--

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New townhomes--

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McGee Building--

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Next building under construction--

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29 Gilliam under construction across the street--

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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by moderne »

So many problems since move in. Rush to finish resulted in very sloppy shoddy finishes. Crooked cabinet doors and drawers, gaps, scratches, dents. Cheap carpet with cheapest pad is like walking on bare concrete. Dog pee in elevator. Last weekend 3 days of sewer back up into garage. Lovely to walk out of elevator smelling of dog urine into odor of human feces.
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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by FangKC »

I came across these imagines on the Jantsch Architects site.

http://jaikc.com/Residential/Unionoaks.htm

The numbers of the houses would be on the west side of the Oak Street. The development is called Union Oaks.

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I'm guessing these are the lots.

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Does anyone know if there are still plans to build these houses eventually?
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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by moderne »

That overgrowth of jungle has not been there for at least 6 months.
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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by FangKC »

I wonder if the lot clearance is a clue they are ready to develop?
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Demosthenes
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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by Demosthenes »

What's with all the garages? So these new houses about to be constructed on Oak all have 2 car garages? And it appears the townhomes on McGee or whatever have garages too. There is definitely an alley behind the townhomes, so why not at least build the garage into the back of the house, with access through the alley?

The Oak block doesn't currently have an alley, but they could easily add one in on the south end of the block, which would go right up to the houses. I get that there are already plenty of garages and curb cuts in this neighborhood, but any time we can avoid them we should. Seems pretty simple here.
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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by FangKC »

Yes, I agree about the garages Demo. However, it's not a major freakout. Plenty of older houses in San Francisco have garage doors facing the street. It doesn't have to be so bad if they choose high-quality garage door styles, and not the cheap white vinyl-faced ones.

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I did do a mockup of the site, and I believe they could put an alley in behind those lots. There is already an alley running east-west behind the bars on 31st Street. One could extend a back alley from that and have separate garages in the back of the lots--instead of front-facing garages facing Oak. There would still be enough room to have small backyards behind the houses.

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Here are some examples of garage doors that are more attractive, and are less noticed in the overall design of the frontage of the house. One can also minimize driveways be imaginative use of materials like brick, stone, or stamped, colored concrete. Note: I'm not advocating the houses, just showing the garage door designs.

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Last edited by FangKC on Wed Jan 28, 2015 7:13 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by FangKC »

Those house designs by Jantsch Architects are sort of uninspiring though. I'd rather see any of these:

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Re: Union Hill Development

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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by FangKC »

One could also build nice garages with little studio, or apartments on top of them.

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Re: Union Hill Development

Post by smh »

What disappoints me about the new houses on McGee/DeGroff are how prominent the garages are. There will never be the warm glow of activity inside the homes cascading onto the street, because the street facing windows are actually the garage. But I agree, a front garage isn't the end of the world, but an alley would be my strong preference.
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