Site G (Parking Garage) Meeting Report
Always a great host, architect Jim Ishimaru of VBN Architects, walked us through the latest design of the parking garage set to go up on the existing Amtrak parking lot. The last community meeting on this site was in October 2004, so many new stakeholders have moved to the area and were unaware of what is being planned. Issues with the original design (which goes back to 2002), were:

1. Making sure that retail space on the ground floor was suitable for a grocery store. More unusable, poorly designed retail space is the last thing the neighborhood needs.

2. Look at further reducing the height and massing of the garage, by either going underground one or more stories, and/or by moving some of the parking garage over the existing train tracks and Embarcadero so that it tied together more obviously to the Jack London Square side of Embarcadero. After all, technically, this garage will be serving the future retail customers of Jack London Square. Anything that can bring the parking garage closer to the heart of the "Square", would be beneficial to all.

3. Add character to the building. When the original plan was discussed in the Planning Commission meetings, the plan was very plain and utilitarian - because "it's a parking garage and it should look like a parking garage". Well, here's the issue: it's a parking garage sitting in the midst of the Historic Waterfront Warehouse District, it's sitting closer to residential buildings than it is the retail it is supposed to serve, AND it shouldn't take away from the lovely train station.

4. There was concern about noise and vibration from the railroad causing a multitude of car alarms to go off.

So first, to answer the question about building massing and height, that's not going to change. It's just too cost prohibitive to build down because of the water table, and it's too cost prohibitive to even attempt building across the train tracks because of all the right-of-way issues, etc.

The latest "5 Arch Scheme" as they refer to it, adds glass and steel latice detailing to the building, as well as integrating the existing arches seen in the train station design. Unfortunately, they've now added a few design elements that caused concern and will force the architects to further review the design - one being a lighted sign similar to the Ghiradelli Square sign that you can see from the Bay looking to San Francisco, and the other is a beam of light coming from one corner (which would be 2nd & Harrison). Gary Knecht, who lives at 3rd & Harrison, had no objection to the light beam, but others with views facing that direction did. As for the lighted sign along the roof of the building, that's just crazy! The building is already more tall than many would like, and it seems that this sort of sign would be better served on the top of Barnes & Noble, or the planned Harvest Hall. The designator should be the heart of JLS, and blue "P" signs should lead people to the parking areas.

The issue of construction type was also raised, specifically in regards to pile driving, and the architect said that a waffle type foundation was currently being considered, and this was the first he'd heard of pile driving. Since the issue had come up regarding JLS, it is wondered if Harvest Hall and other JLS buildings might be up for consideration using traditional pile driving. If so, sadly the community may have already lost their chance to stop that from happening.

There will probably be one more community meeting prior to this project returning to the Design Review Committee, which is the next step before going before the Planning Commission. Jack London News will post further meeting dates as they are announced.
Posted 4/07/2006