901 Tennessee Site

The designs for a new development to rise in Dogpatch behind the former Police Station at 2300 3rd Street and adjacent to the former Fire Station at 909 Tennessee, a building which was purchased by a plugged-in reader a few year back, have been revised and refined.

As proposed, the existing one-story Furniture Innovation warehouse and showroom building at 901 Tennessee Street, a non‐contributing building within the Dogpatch Landmark District, will be razed in order to make room for a four-story building with 44 dwelling units – a mix of 3 studios, 23 one-bedrooms, 15 two-bedrooms, and 3 three-bedrooms – over an underground garage for 33 cars.

901 Tennessee Rendering

While designed by Workshop1 to reflect the materials and details found throughout the historic Dogpatch neighborhood, “including shiplap wood siding, rusted steel panels and ground level commercial-style entry stoops,” the Planning Department is recommending a number of further refinements, including “further refinement of the ground floor treatment of the 20thStreet façade to reinforce compatibility with the surrounding district,” a “more clearly defined pattern of fenestration on the second, third and fourth floor levels,” and “a simple cornice or an articulated roofline.”

901 Tennessee Design Aerial

The development also includes parking for 88 bikes and a 3,700 square foot roof deck, but it does not include any retail along the streets.  The plan for 901 Tennessee is expected to be presented to San Francisco’s Planning Commission in October in order to be approved or denied.

901 Tennessee Design 20th Street

25 thoughts on “Designs For Industrial Chic Development In Historic Dogpatch”
  1. This is a nice project; bold, simple industrial look. Integrates well with the existing context.

    Parking for cars and bikes is appropriate and will be well received.

  2. As much as I’ll miss the Furniture Innovation warehouse, great industrial restrained look. If the materials are smart and well executed, this will be a classic. Like the casement windows playing off the industrial area. Maybe the plywood-stucco designer crowd can learn a thing form this handsome building. This of course should be another two+ floors on what is becoming a major neighborhood corridor.

    1. It seems we now have faux industrial buildings being built to reflect the existing faux materials and details found throughout the increasingly faux historic Dogpatch neighborhood.

      1. Yup, with all of those 1880’s Pelton Cottages, 1920’s Victorians and older brick buildings, Dogpatch is definitely faux historic. What, what?

        1. I said that the neighborhood is “increasingly” faux historic/industrial. A number of the new imitation industrial buildings are replacing the real deal. Some of us find it particularly ironic that the same “activists” who took the initiative to create a historic district in Dogpatch to successfully fight the onslaught of live/work buildings in the late 1990’s are inexplicably supportive of the newer bigger live/work redux structures that are spreading like a blight in the very same neighborhood.

          1. Given that that was 15-20 years ago, are you so sure that the “activists” even live in Dogpatch now? The neighborhood has changed quite a bit. And, why is this building more of a blight than the existing windowless blot that it will be replacing?

          2. “Given that that was 15-20 years ago, are you so sure that the “activists” even live in Dogpatch now?” They are still very much present. The ugliness of the current “blot” doesn’t justify yet another in an endless string of unremarkable pseudo-lofts up and down 3rd street.

          3. So, what, preserve the current ugly pointless 1-story warehouse? Would that make the “activists” happy? I didn’t live here 15-20 years ago, but I live here now and I say build this. The only faux we need to get rid of here are faux progressives who are consistently anti-progress. Let me guess, you want the city to buy this land and turn it into a park.

    2. why did you introduce “faux industrial” into the conversation? Contemporary would be fine. Faux industrial?

        1. who are you talking to, and why are you using inappropriate words? again, what is “faux industrial” about this building, and what is “faux industrial,” for that matter? I’d think faux industrial would be the now long shuttered interior of Circuit restaurant, or something. Not what this building is, which is contemporary,

        2. I think the point is that this looks sort of like an old factory – i.e. an industrial building. But it, of course, was not really ever an industrial building but has simply been designed to look like one, and thus the “faux.”

        3. Yes, it has the lines and fenestration of a factory/warehouse structure from the first half of the 20th century. And then there’s cor-ten steel which was originally developed for heavy industrial and infrastructure uses.

          I’m OK with this building. It is contemporary enough to not look as nauseatingly retro and tacky as San Jose’s The Plant. Speaking of “plant” and San Jose, Plant 51 did it right.

          Best is to protect Dogpatch’s real industrial heritage, most of which is already gone. I hope the preservation of Pier 70s historic core doesn’t get watered down.

    3. It’s not faux anything. It’s simply about using ordinary materials in a way that reflects the surrounding context. You don’t know what you’re talking about.

  3. So what architectural language should they be using? The digital mastrubations of “creative” architectural studios in universities? Victorian? Or should there be no building at all?

  4. Workshop 1 – developer/architect, per 901Tennessee.com.

    This area seems appropriate for the use of a more innovative material palate. The rendering suggests concrete and Cor-ten steel, which I think I would prefer, but I’m willing to defer to the designer’s judgement on this one.

  5. Why isn’t anyone paying attention to the surrounding context of the building directly behind the project? The old police station is a gem and not at all industrial.

  6. This looks like another horrible raze-and-flip by a greedy developer that’s totally and completely out of character with the neighborhood. I hope the Dogpatch Neighborhood Association does everything they can to block this faux- crap monstrosity, I know we will, our community is within a hundred feet of the place. Hopefully our voices will be heard.

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