A Short Drive Home

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

San Francisco—National Real Estate Advisors LLC and Emerald Fund have teamed on the redevelopment 100 Van Ness, transforming the former California State Automobile Association corporate office into 418 luxury rental apartments in San Francisco, Calif.

“Initially, we were a lender on 100 Van Ness and at the time, we weren’t bullish on any markets from an equity perspective,” Jeffrey Kanne, National Real Estate Advisors’ president & CEO, told MHN. “The original plan was to update it as an office building, but when the crash hit, they decided to give us back the keys and we started a process of determining what to do with the property … after a lot of work and research, we decided to go forth with the renovation of the building as an apartment building.”

Additionally, National acquired the land next door, which will also be converted into a companion apartment that could share amenities with the high-rise. Construction on that building will begin before year’s end.

The 28-story building includes a new shimmering glass façade, a rooftop amenity deck, a state-of-the-art fitness center and multi-functional amenity floor. 100 Van Ness also offers its residents ample below-grade vehicular and bike parking.

“It’s a very tall building in an area that doesn’t have many tall buildings. Plus, it’s extremely difficult to develop apartments in San Francisco,” Kanne said. “We thought if we could successfully do this, we could get very high rents. We knew we would have extraordinary views and that the bones of the building were ideal for what we wanted to create.”

Located just a block from City Hall and the Civic Center, the building is nearby ample shopping, restaurants and entertainment venues, plus Twitter recently set up an office nearby. It’s also extremely well connected from a transportation perspective.

“We love the Hayes Valley area. There are many amenities nearby,” Kanne said. “Although people who live in San Francisco’s memories of the area are not good, it was apparent to us that businesses were moving into the area to attract young Millennial types and they have since flooded in. There are about 30,000 jobs within about five blocks of our site.”

The building is designed to be Green Point Rated and includes the latest building technology and energy management systems.

“Emerald Fund has been honored to work in partnership with National to transform an outdated office building into a gleaming residential tower,” Marc Babsin, Emerald Fund’s principal, said. “Together, we’ve not only developed one of the finest apartment buildings in the Bay Area, but we’ve helped to create a new, 24-hour neighborhood in San Francisco.”