505 Montgomery Street

History

505 Montgomery was developed by the Empire Group of San Francisco. Empire assembled ten contiguous parcels in 1978, The initial design called for a 28-story building, 416 ft high including a 16 ft mechanical penthouse and ground-floor commercial space. The design was revised to a 24-story building based on floor area ratio calculations, and the final conditional use authorization was granted in June 1984.

Retrofitting projects, including a 1994 lighting retrofit, earned the building an Energy Star label. National Office Partners (NOP), a partnership between Hines Interests LP and CalPERS, acquired 505 Montgomery from Mitsui Fudosan and The Empire Group in 1999. The building was subsequently sold by NOP to RREEF in 2005.

Design

505 Montgomery was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in homage to the Art Deco skyscrapers of the 1930s. It features a stepped-back trapezoidal (mansard) roof and the exterior is clad in polished Barre Gray granite.

Empire Park

Empire Park is located at 642 Commercial Street, and was provided by the developers of 505 Montgomery as a privately owned public space. The initial building design included a pedestrian arcade at the site of 505 Montgomery connecting Sacramento and Commercial streets. However, the arcade would have been rather small, expensive, shaded, and the commercial atmosphere was thought to be unwelcoming for the neighboring community of Chinatown. Therefore, the public open space was moved to a nearby property, which also freed up additional leaseable floor space in 505 Montgomery.

The park originally was named Grabhorn Park, for the Grabhorn Press, the fine printer located on the site from the early 1930s to the early 1940s.

In 2016, a plaque was laid in the "floor" of Empire Park claiming that the park is on the former site of the Eureka Lodgings, where Emperor Norton is documented to have lived from sometime in 1864 or 1865 until his death in January 1880. But, recent research shows that this claim is inaccurate; the Eureka was on a site adjacent to the park that now is occupied by a 4-story apartment building at 650/652 Commercial.

References

References

1. "Emporis building ID 118848". [[Emporis]].
2. {{skyscraperpage. 13246
3. . (2013). ["1988 — 505 Montgomery Street"](http://prologis30th.com/node/47).
4. Baker, Katie. (October 22, 2010). "Ask The Appeal: Why Does 505 Montgomery Have A Mini Empire State Building On Top?". The San Francisco Appeal.
5. Brown, Martin E.. (January 7, 1983). "Initial Study: 505 Montgomery St. Office Building (82.463E)". The Empire Group.
6. . ["ENERGY STAR Labeled Building Profile, 505 Montgomery"](http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=%20labeled_buildings.showProfile&profile_id=1003828).
7. . (January 28, 1999). ["National Office Partners Acquires 505 Montgomery in Downtown San Francisco"](http://newhines.myhines.com/press/releases/01-28-99.aspx). *Hines*.
8. (February 2, 2005). "National Office Partners Limited Partnership Sells 12 Assets". Hines Interests Limited Partnership.
9. (1998). "Urban Design Downtown: Poetics and Politics of Form". University of California Press.
10. (March 11, 2013). "Empire Park".
11. John Lumea, [http://emperornortontrust.org/blog/2022/9/26/new-analysis-id-and-location-of-emperor-norton-lodgings-624-commercial-st-sf "Emperor Norton’s Residence, the Eureka Lodgings, Was Not Located (Exactly) Where You Think It Was"], The Emperor Norton Trust, September 26, 2022.