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| Hines completes renovation of San Francisco office landmark The San Francisco office of Hines, the international real estate firm, and New York based Sterling American Property Inc., joint owners of 120 Montgomery Street in downtown San Francisco, announced the completion of a $30 million building renovation and the renaming of the property to 100 Montgomery. The 25-story, 430,000-square-foot building was originally designed by Wilbur D. Peugh in the early 1950s as the Equitable Life Building at 120 Montgomery Street and is considered a historically significant structure by the City of San Francisco planners and the local preservation community. At the time of its opening in 1955, the Equitable Life Building set the standard for the modern San Francisco skyscraper featuring full air conditioning, the latest in high-speed "operatorless" elevators, fluorescent lighting fixtures and acoustical ceiling treatment. The building's dynamic façade featured marble cladding, stainless steel window mullions and decorative aluminum spandrels with a three dimensional art-deco motif. In January 2006, the Hines/Sterling acquisition of 120 Montgomery Street marked the beginning of a 36-month redevelopment plan for the building. Over the previous 50 years, the building's façade had slowly deteriorated and when Hines/Sterling took ownership, the aluminum spandrel panels were corroding, the marble cladding was cracking, and there was a protective pedestrian scaffold over the sidewalk in place for several years that shielded passerby's from spalling marble fragments. Working closely with the San Francisco Planning Department, Hines, Sterling and the world renowned design firm of Robert A.M. Stern Architects designed a new building façade and lobby while carefully preserving the historic character of the building. The signature component of the renovation is the new lobby, which is carved into the building at the prominent corner of Montgomery and Sutter Streets, and defined by a dramatic elliptical wall of structural glass. The renovation also included a new state-of-the art crystallized glass panel façade system—the first of its kind on the West Coast—over-cladding the failing marble; refurbished exterior metal including the stainless steel window mullions and decorative aluminum panels; the renovation and preservation of the building's existing lobby on Montgomery Street; refinished elevator cabs; and new retail storefronts. Kendall/Heaton Associates of Houston, Texas, was architect-of-record. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Construction News :: home page |