Last Friday I hastily threw some pictures and video up on this blog of my visit to the almost highest point of the tallest residential building west of the Mississippi. I promised the full story and more “unobstructed view” pictures, so here goes…(Some pictures that wouldn’t fit in this screen can be viewed in full glory by clicking the photo.)
Why not start things off with a booming view that some lucky home owner will have from their window. This is looking North, North East at Treasure Island, the Bay Bridge (obviously), the East Bay, and if you look to the right, you’ll even see Mt. Diablo.
But how did we get there? Very scarily would have to be my answer. If you are afraid of heights, this is definitely not something I would recommend. We were hoisted to the 59th floor using the very same elevators that hoist the construction crew up and down this building all day long. These aren’t the same elevators that will be zooming up the middle of the building taking guests to their cocktail party on the top of the Bay. These were the elevators clinging to the side of the building. (Notice how tiny the crane looks.)
Once you get to the top, you are are so close to the crane you could almost touch it.
As I mentioned in the previous post, and as you can see from the videos, there were a few notables in attendance: Former Mayor Willie Brown; developer Mike Kriozere, architects Chris Pemberton and John Lahey of Solomon Cordwell Buenz; reporters from pretty much every news agency around; and of course…yours truly. ;-)
But somebody you probably would never get to know or ever hear about is Julie and her cowboy hat construction hat, which is now in the time capsule (among other things like “People Magazine”, ORH coffee mugs, newspapers, autographed baseball, autographed picture of the developers and architects, water bottles, a formal Proclamation of July 20th as Mike Kriozere day in the city of San Francisco, and all kinds of other stuff) that will be opened in 50 years. Julie is an elevator operator, one of many, that thinks nothing of hanging out 600 feet above ground with nothing between you and the bottom except for some very loosely strung netting. (Mean tattoos are just for looks, I assumed, because she was pretty damn nice.)
As you can imagine, the views are insane. This is looking from the “bridge” that goes from the elevators to the structure. Looking Northwest. You can see the Transamerica, Alcatraz, Marin County, and the fog was covering the Golden Gate, but it is visible a bit to the left.
Competition among developments downtown is huge, but boy did the Infinity look tiny from up here.
Views from the southwestern corner unit on the 41st floor, looking West. It felt a little better to have walls protecting us from plummeting, but the views were not as crisp.
Same floor (41st) views from the Northeasterly corner unit, looking East towards Oakland.
More city views from the 59th floor.
This is a pretty lousy picture, but it is a look from the 41st floor of the altering of the Bay Bridge freeway to go around the structure.
Down South towards the shipyard.
As for sales of the building, as we mentioned previously, they have sold all but 6 units in the tower and 2 of 14 townhomes. Currently there are 5000+ people on the “waiting list” for tower two, and sales have been brisk, to say the least. According to the sales office a good 30-40% of sales so far have been investors, another 30-40% second home purchases, and obviously the rest are people purchasing as a primary residence.
The amenities are great, the views insane, and the location top notch. One Rincon Hill gets a HUGE recommendation from me.
If you bought the northeast corner penthouse unit and you are reading this…I make a killer fresh lime margarita and would be happy to share and ease the stress of your move-in. Just give me shout.
–One Rincon Hill: Topping off at 600 ft with a picture and VIDEO medley [theFrontSteps]