The best views of the Richmond are soon to be from the new Presidio Landmark apartments inside the Presidio gate at 15th Avenue. The Examiner reports today that the 78-year-old building, formerly a hospital, is on schedule to open for tenants this summer.
The new website for the complex, thepresidiolandmark.com includes floor plans for 1 Bedroom/1 Bath, 1 Bedroom/1.5 Bath, and 2 Bedroom/2 Bath units, ranging from 550 to 1500 sq. feet. Pictures on the site show details of the kitchen and bathrooms which will shine with stainless steel, sleek countertops and modern fixtures.
The building will include a fitness center, yoga and pilates studio, a wine tasting room, marble stairs and hallways… See, it’s schwanky, right? No word yet on what the rents will be.
As an extra bonus, green living is included! Half of the building site has been restored using drought-tolerant, non-invasive plants, exterior lighting is minimal and never points into the sky (to reduce light pollution!), and rainwater runoff is captured onsite and routed into an underground acquifer. I think they mean routed into muddy pools on 15th Avenue, right? 😉
There’s also dual-flush toilets (a trend I hope catches on more), separate trash and recycling chutes on every floor, radiant floor heating, and solar power.
The Green Apple mascot makes a fun appearance on the Neighborhood overview on the website, and they make mention of Kamei Restaurant Supply. I love Kamei too but mentioning it on a real estate website seems a little odd.
The site also has a section on Townhome Living where it says there are seven, 3-story, 3 bedroom/3 bath townhomes that are available. I assume these are the old officer’s homes on the east side of the property that overlook Park Presidio Boulevard. If so, I am glad those will be restored to their former glory.
The Examiner also reports that some changes will be made to better accomodate traffic to and from the complex. “To help address neighbors’ concerns about traffic jams in their hitherto quiet streets, the 14th Avenue gate will be opened for inbound traffic, which will loop and flow outbound through the 15th Avenue gate, according to Presidio Trust spokeswoman Dana Polk.” The Presidio Shuttle will also change its route to include the new residences.
I’m looking forward to the first open houses! What do you guys think?
Sarah B.
P.S. – Commenter cat pointed me to a fascinating collection of pics from the abandoned hospital that were taken in 2004 (it was shut down in ’88). It gives you a sense of what they had to deal with during the remodel, not to mention how creepy the place was (don’t miss the shot of the morgue!):
this place is CRAZY scary! i would never live here! there used to be old medical equipment inside that they just completely abandoned in the 80’s (worth thousands and thousands of dollars) I’ve seen pictures of the morgue – unreal. I’ve also heard there are rooms that lock from the outside in with no escape. for mental patients? (medical research, animal experiments… wow.) the place is HAUNTED big time…. :p after a while, they fenced it up and put a guard outside to keep taggers out. There used to be some beautiful art on the walls… for artwork and history:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/loupiote/sets/433042/with/18323409/
http://www.fecalface.com/SF/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=427&Itemid=63
Wasn’t the hospital that was there, haunted or was that just a rumor?
BOO!
Thanks for the great picture links. Those morgue drawers are indeed very creepy! And all the abandoned equipment. You could not have paid me enough to wander that place in the dark of night!!
In its abandoned state, the building definitely gave me the creeps. But once it’s all done and madeover, I bet it will be great. And i’m sure the ghosts will learn to get along with the new residents. Besides, I hear ghosts are totally into yoga.
Sarah B.
A movie about the new residents of a swanky apartment building in the Presidio being haunted by the ghosts of the creepy abandoned hospital the building used to be…sounds like a box-office winner!
Don’t forget the cemetery out back with the 1,000+ folks still mostly in it (under the now tennis court). In the corner of the building near the old morgue top floor watch for the lights to go on in the middle of the night with no-one there. I’ve spent a few party nights in the place in my younger days. The best part was a great party location, the worst part after some doobies and wine, that cold feeling on the back of the neck and wondering hmmmm is it me? Many times!SPOOKO!
These will be market rate places- PT Barnum would be happy, there still are suckers born every minute!
If blog readers would be up for a midnite history tour around the place, I would be happy to lead it. Sarah- do you dare?
Oh David you spooky party animal! You think I want to wander in those woods in the dark of night?!?! Shivers! And bodies under the tennis court? Groooooan. It’s bad enough we have them tucked away under the Legion. They really should have filmed an episode of “Paranormal Cops” in the hospital before renovations began.
Sarah B.
Am I the only one kind of bummed about this? Another cookie-cutter apartment complex with stainless steel appliances? What I love about (most) San Francisco apartments is the little quirks and vintage touches that so many of them have (my apartment kitchen has a spice cabinet–a little door, and lots of little shelves just big enough to fit spice jars–and it also has a little built-in hutch where I keep all my dry ingredients for baking). By contrast, these places look to me like examples of what I call the HGTVing of America: every apartment starts to look the same based on whatever is in vogue at the time–in this case, stainless steel kitchens (where is the warm coziness in that??), the standard condo kitchen island with bar stools, laminate flooring. Nothing about these units says “San Francisco”–they could just as easily be found in L.A. or Tucson, AZ. To me, there’s no charm or personality to such apartments, and I can’t imagine paying “market rate” to live in such a place.
@Sarah (nice name BTW!) –
I totally get where you’re coming from. Yes, hi-rise living is the anti-San Francisco in many ways. I love my flat with its mouldings and creaky wood floors – it’s real character.
But what is uniquely SF is the location and environment surrounding this complex. The Presidio is a unique place and there are few cities in the country where you could live in such a pocket that is both suburban and urban.
And given what the property has looked like since 1988, it’s nice to have some tlc going into the space. Will be interesting to see what the rents will be. Anyone care to guess?
Sarah B.
i think it’s great that they’ve put this monstrous building to good use. as fun as it was to sneak in at night and get spooked, it really was just a huge eyesore and waste of space. at least now more people can see how awesome the views are at the top 🙂
Just saw Landmark yesterday for first time. Awesome. But it did give me the creeps. Thanks for posting the incredible photo display of before pictures. They really did clean it all up. But did they really cover up the graveyard with a tennis court! Horrible.