clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Twisty Cylinder to Play Sidekick to Transamerica's Pyramid

New, 18 comments

Developers Aegon Group and Lowe Enterprises' 38-story condo tower by the Transamerica Pyramid is moving ahead, says the SF Business Times, which means the duo was probably not on hand for the collective heart attack over residential tower stoppage. This go-around, the opposition has been curiously mute — strange, given correspondence we received more than a year ago begging someone to "strangle this deformity in its crib." Yeesh! Well, we know what the 248-unit deformity looks like now, and it's setting precedence for the FiDi's new funky tower district. SFBT's words: "555 Washington St. would start with a rectangular base and twist a quarter-turn as it rises, morphing into a circle at the top." The building's footprint would be a third less than zoning allows, which would allow the nearby redwood cluster to expand and become a city park. Mark Twain Alley will be converted into a pedestrian piazza (trend: spotted!), and restaurants will "spill out" into the alley. ETA: 2012, when sanity and profitability presumably return to the high-rise residence market.
· Developers press plan for tower by pyramid [SF Business Times]
· Group Hug, Everyone: High-Rise Construction Over Forevs? [Curbed SF]
· Future is Nigh for Pyramid Center [Curbed SF]
· CurbedWire: Trouble Near Transamerica? [Curbed SF]

UPDATE: Now with gallery action!