Yesterday, it was Millennium Tower this and Millennium Tower that, and a little bell in our mind started ringing a ding-a-ling-a-ling. Where had we heard that name before? For an apartment and retail tower? In a city that, like Boston, was big, but not too big? And popular and generally lefty and on the ocean? Where a lot of young people live and tech is a big, big deal also? So we took to Google and typed in "Millennium Tower." Yup. San Francisco.
The Millennium Tower on Mission Street there was finished in the spring of 2009, and stands 60 stories and 645 feet, very similar to how the Millennium Tower on Washington Street will stand here. Funnily enough, too, the Millennium San Francisco is also that city's fourth-tallest building, which the Millennium Boston will be when it's done. And! While naturally it was developed by Millennium Partners, it was also designed by Handel Architects, which is also designing Millennium Boston. Thus, the sort of similar triangular-shaped, narrow, glass facade (the San Francisco Chronicle described it as a "crystalline presence.")
Never mind the architecture, though. What about the sales three years in? Meh. There was a lot of hype surrounding the suitably luxurious building when it opened and it supposedly offers the best in-building amenities in San Fran, but our cousin across the continent, Curbed San Francisco, says that sales are slow and don't even think about reselling: that can mean six-figure losses. A 2-BR, 2-BA in the middle of the tower closed in July of 2009 for $1,381,250 in July of 2009. Resold last December for $1,264, 200.
· Ladies and Gentlemen, the Millennium Tower [Curbed Boston]
· Millennium SF: Not Even a Good Burgundy Will Help [Curbed Boston]
· Millennium Tower San Francisco [Official Site]
[Millennium San Francisco via wikipedia.org]