This residential tower has changed San Francisco’s skyline forever
The 800-foot high building is the tallest residential tower west of the Mississippi River and houses Facebook and multimillion-dollar condos
The newest member of San Francisco’s iconic skyline is officially open for use.
The new tower opened in May and is notable because it houses one commercial tenant, Facebook, and 55 multimillion-dollar residences, including a five-bedroom US$42 million penthouse that is still under construction. The 802-foot (244-metre) skyscraper rises 70 storeys over the city’s financial centre.
Developers held high expectations for how fast the condos would sell – expectations that would seem to have borne out, since the first condo just sold for US$15 million. The sale of the 3,326-square-foot, three-bedroom unit breaks the city’s record for highest price-per-square-foot sale for a condo, as reported by the San Francisco Business Times.
Construction on the mixed-use tower at 181 Fremont began in 2013. It can be spotted in the skyline by its striking spire and encasement of beams criss-crossing along the exterior, designed to act as shock absorbers in the event of an earthquake.
The developers and designers behind the high-rise set out to make the establishment the embodiment of state-of-the-art luxury living and world-class engineering.
Business Insider toured two of its model residences designed by renowned designers Orlando Diaz-Azcuy and Charles De Lisle and the Sky Lounge exclusive to residents, as well as captured the panoramic views of the sprawling city of San Francisco offered to the building’s occupants. Take a look at what it is like inside.
Say hello to the tallest residential tower west of the Mississippi River.
Those zigzagged beams you see comprise an aluminium exoskeleton that serves as the building’s foundation, acting as giant shock absorbers essentially, improving its survival odds in the case of an earthquake. The lifts are actually designed as an emergency evacuation route.
