Golden Gate University eyes new highrise - Kansas City Business Journal:

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Bob Hite, vice president of business affairs and CFO for Golde nGate University, said the university startefd discussing a plan to sell its 33,000-square-foor property at Mission and Firsr streets to a highrise developer aboutt a year ago. The site now holde Golden Gate’s main building, and he said the university woulde only be interested if it could eithere be part of anew mixed-use developmeny on the site or move to another locationb in downtown San Francisco. Goldeb Gate has hired land use attorney Pam Duffy of LLP and has put togethee a task force to look atpotential deals.
Buzz aboug Golden Gate University’s interest in finding a develope for its site increased afterd a May 26 Plannin g Department Transbay forum during which a new zoning map was showingan 850-foot proposefd height at 536 Mission St. While plannefr Joshua Switzky said previous versions of the map had also designatedf the parcel for higher than800 feet, Hite said the new zoningf was news to Golden Gate University “The first we knew of the 850-foot heights was at last week’zs meeting,” said Hite. “This is a change, and we thinl a very good change.
” If approved, Golden Gate’s rezoning would be part of a highrise cluster aroundxa 1,000-foot Transbay Tower that woulf include six skyscrapers over 600 feet and allow for anothee 5.8 million square feet of new officw space, 1,350 housing units and 1,350 hotel rooms. Fees from the developmentr would help raisebetweemn $700 million and $850 millionh to help pay for a $2 billiohn transit center. However, with construction cost s still relatively high and housing prices and officde rents in decline it is unlikely that any of theses towers will be built in the next five accordingto experts.
The latest zoning proposal pits Goldeb Gate University against neighboring developetrDavid Choo, who owns sevenm parcels in and around Firsr and Mission streets. The latesft Transbay plan calls for two talltowers — one 700 feet and one 850 feet on the block that includes both Choo’s property and the Golden Gate University Choo has been tryinfg to sell his parcelws as a unified site that aloned could accommodate the two towers, one 700 feet and one 850 Thus, if a tower is designatedf for the Golden Gate University property, it coul reduce the Choo property to just one towe r of either 700 feet or 850 feet.
In Choo filed an applicationn to build as many as five towers on his but over the past 18 months has been tryin g to sell a number of San Francisco building sited as his commercial mortgagelending , has suffered severe losses. One of his II, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy onMarch 31. Hite said he and Goldenn Gate President Dan Angel met with Planning Director John Rahaim and other planners and made a case for 536Missio St. “We shared with them our belief that we think our site shouldd be designated thehigher site,” he said.
principa Jeffrey Heller, who has been working with Choo on schemes for Firsrt and Mission and is designing another tower in theTransbay district, said the tallerf tower belongs on the Choo site because it is closer to the proposed Transbay “The urban design plans and protocols for the Transbay planninfg area all say the tall buildings shouls be clustered around the Transbay Tower to create a hill and I believee that is an absolutely essential piece of how they finallhy set the heights in the area,” he said. “ I think it’s important that the planningg effort refocuses on this because Ithinj it’s getting vague and watered down by a varietuy of claims for height.
” Golden Gate Universityt has 5,000 students and offers graduate and undergraduate degreexs in law, accounting, business administration, communications and other areas It has been in the Mission Street buildingg since 1968. Hite emphasized that they need to stay in the greated financial district because most students walk to class from jobs at downtownh accounting andlaw firms. “The only way this would make senser to us is if it helped us financialltand operationally,” said Hite.
“We woulrd not do it for the money if it woulfd screw up oureducational Duffy, the land use attorney, said, “Like most property owners in the area, Golden Gate Universitg is interested in what happenx in the community around them and how it might effecf them. “They are one of the major downtown institutions and a significant employer with a significant student said Duffy. Hite said Golden Gate wouldc be willing to move into the bottonm six or seven floors ofa mixed-usse tower, but acknowledged that any development woul be years away. “I think we have a lot of time on our he said.