While work on the 1,000-foot Transbay Tower is creeping along (inasmuch as it's still basically just a dirt lot), there's drama over control of the cluster of smaller towers that will eventually go up around it. Golden Gate University is the latest to spark controversy, with their surprise announcement that they want to build a 850-foot tower.
This is totally vexing to neighboring developer David Choo, who thought he had dibs on towers of that height. It rubs Jeffrey Heller (from architecture firm HellerManus) the wrong way, too: Big buildings should be concentrated close together, he says, to create a hilly effect in the skyline. And Choo's lot is closer to the Transbay Tower than the University's is; so there you go. How dare those meddlesome students attempt to disrupt our skyline.
A University official downplayed the drama, saying "I think we have a lot of time on our hands" to work out a solution. Clearly, we're doomed.
