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'Starchitect' Dreams Up Tallest Buildings in West

SAN FRANCISCO-On behalf of a development group led by Orinda-based Solit Interests Group, Renzo Piano conceives for a Downtown development site here a cluster of very skinny, very tall skyscrapers.

By Brian K. Miller | Updated on December 25, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO-Plans for the tallest buildings this side of Chicago were filed late last week with this city’s planning department. Working on behalf of a group that includes California Mortgage & Realty president David Choo and Orinda, CA-based Solit Interests Group, “starchitect” Renzo Piano has envisioned for a Downtown site at First and Mission streets a cluster of five skinny skyscrapers, two of which would rise 1,200 feet into the sky.

The only taller buildings in the US would be the Sears Tower (1,451 feet) in Chicago and New York City’s Empire State Building (1,250 feet). They would eclipse the tallest existing building in the West, Transamerica Pyramid (853 feet), by more than 30 stories.

The filing with the planning commission was an application to start the required environmental review process as opposed to a formal design proposal, where the size and shape of the towers could be altered. The submitted documents included a map of the site and a description of the buildings but no architectural renderings. Mark Solit, a member of the development team, could not be reached over the weekend for comment.

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