Development in San Francisco requires tenacity, patience, and a palate for the unexpected. On the morning of September 13, 2016 Carl Shannon, Senior Managing Director with Tishman Speyer, spoke before a group of ULI members to tell the enthralling story of the Lumina development and its sister project the Infinity. A story that Carl began with an illustrative look at the history of Rincon Hill.

Now anchored prominently next to the Bay Bridge, this neighborhood has a history as rich as it is complex. In the late 19^th century the area had grown into a dichotomy of high-end Victorian residential and commercial development anchored around the nearby shipping yards. After fires destroyed much of the area in 1906, residential was slowly squeezed out in favor of larger industrial facilities. With the construction of the Embarcadero Freeway the neighborhood seemed destined to remain isolated. It was not until the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that an opportunity was created to restore the area to its diverse roots.

In 1999 when Tishman Speyer first proposed to develop the site it was faced with the challenge of creating a residential development, while maintaining a contract with the United States Postal Service to retain a functional postal operation and 273 parking spaces for delivery trucks. As Carl went on to eloquently explain, the Lumina and Infinity proposals were respectively the biggest condo developments in the city at the time and faced tremendous zoning hurdles. With a significant investment in the project Tishman Speyer was able to effectively extend the USPS contract through 2007 and lower the purchase price, setting the stage for the first condo project in the company’s history.

Amazingly, during the excavation of the Infinity site, crews unearthed a historic ship from the gold rush era in what had been a wrecking yard. With the project hitting an unexpected stand-still, Carl described the huge efforts to draw up a three-way deal between the Maritime Museum and the Museum of the City of San Francisco to move and store the boat.

The Infinity towers project came to completion, with 650 units, in the midst of the global economic crisis. Although 250 units sold pre bottom-out, Tishman Speyer was looking at 400 empty units at a time when people were falling out of contract. Rather than panic and sit on these units, Carl explained the bold decision to negotiate asking prices down by 20-25 percent. Subsequently, in 2009 Infinity sold 309 units, making it the best-selling condominium project in the United States that year.

With the challenges of the Infinty project successfully navigated the Lumina project seemed poised for success. However, this project was not without its own unique challenges. First, Tishman Speyer had to secure an equity partner. After partnering with Vanke out of China and securing the necessary debt capital the project was ready to be fully financed. Talks with the USPS determined that it no longer made sense to sort mail in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood and the site was ready for development. The project broke ground in 2013, to the discovery of another boat! With the prerequisite knowledge of boat removal on-hand the team was able to move the project forward. Nearing completion in 2014 the Lumina project was ready to be glassed-in. However, a coup in Thailand had put severe limitations on labor and exports. Tishman Speyer was able to expedite its shipment of glass only to arrive at the height of the western ports labor strike. The project was finished in 2015 overcoming a bevy of interesting challenges.

Following Carl’s talk ULI members were treated to a behind the scenes tour of the development. At just over 1 million square-feet the Lumina has 656 units situated in two high-rise towers. Residents benefit from access to numerous amenities, including a fitness center with a climbing wall, spa facilities, a 75-foot lap pool, a landscaped rooftop terrace with barbeques, an outdoor viewing screen, and more. The project is aiming for LEED Silver Certification, an achievement that would pay complement to its functional design and sleek look.