TMG Partners and Northwood Investors Announce Foster + Partners with Heller Manus Collaborating Architects to Design First and Mission Towers

SAN FRANCISCO, March 26, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- In a joint venture, TMG Partners, one of the San Francisco Bay Area's largest mixed-use property developers, and Northwood Investors LLC, a leading privately-held global real estate investment firm, announced today the selection of Foster + Partners and Heller Manus Architects as architects for the approximately two million square foot mixed-use development in San Francisco. 

This is the first residential and mixed-use project in San Francisco for Foster + Partners, the architects responsible for the Apple Campus II in Cupertino and the Apple store on Union Square.

The First and Mission project comprises two towers with 1.35 million square feet of office/commercial space and 650,000 square feet of residential units, and is situated in the Transbay Area.

"The collaboration of Foster + Partners and Heller Manus Architects puts San Francisco squarely in league with the world's greatest cities, including London, Shanghai, New York, Kuwait and Paris," said TMG Partners president and CEO Michael Covarrubias. "The Transbay site will be transformative and will be the last mixed-use development of this scale in this area of downtown."

Lord Foster, Founder and Chairman of Foster + Partners remarked, "The First and Mission towers are incredibly exciting in urban and environmental terms – bringing together places to live and work with the city's most important transport hub, the project further evolves a sustainable model of high density, mixed-use development that we have always promoted. The 605-foot residential tower reflects the scale of San Francisco's existing tall buildings, while the 850-foot hotel, residential and office tower rises above it as a symbol of this new vertical city quarter. The super-sized office floor plates will give tenants a high degree of flexibility, and their open layout is supported by an innovative orthogonal structural system developed for seismic stability. The point where the towers touch the ground is as important as their presence on the skyline. At ground level, the buildings are open, accessible and transparent – their base provides a new 'urban room' for the region, and the new pedestrian routes through the site will knit the new scheme with the urban grain of the city."

Under the Transbay Plan, a rezoning that was put in place to encourage density around the Transbay Terminal, the seven parcels at First and Mission are now zoned for an 850-foot tower and a 605-foot tower. The project will include a large floor plate office tower with frontage on First Street and a world class condominium portion that will be taller than any residential project on the West Coast.

About TMG Partners
TMG Partners, founded in 1984 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a full-service real estate development and management company. TMG has developed more than 20 million square feet of property throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including Emeryville, Marin City, Novato, Palo Alto, San Bruno, San Jose and San Francisco.  One of the most active developers in this area in the last decade, the company has developed a variety of office, retail, residential and industrial properties, ranging from office campus and multi-story properties in urban, infill locations to mixed-use retail and single-story suburban buildings. For detailed information, visit: www.tmgpartners.com

About Northwood Investors
Northwood Investors is a leading privately-held global real estate investment firm with assets under management of $3.9 billion. Founded in 2006 by John Z. Kukral, Northwood employs a fundamental, value-driven investment strategy with a longer-term outlook. Northwood has extensive experience investing in a wide range of real estate assets worldwide, including office buildings, shopping centers, hotels and residential investments, over multiple cycles and property types and geographies, providing the firm with a deep knowledge base, strong relationships, and tremendous access to global real estate resources. For further information on Northwood Investors, please visit our website: www.northwoodinvestors.com

About Foster + Partners  
Foster + Partners is one of the most innovative architectural practices in the world today. Led by Founder and Chairman Norman Foster, it is based in London with project offices worldwide. Over the past four decades the practice has pioneered a sustainable approach to architecture and ecology through a strikingly wide range of work, from urban masterplans, public infrastructure, airports, civic and cultural buildings, offices and workplaces to private houses and product design. In a completely integrated approach, structural and environmental engineers work alongside the architects from the beginning of the design process, supported by many other specialist disciplines. In doing so, they combine their knowledge to devise fully integrated design solutions and contribute to the practice's extensive research base. The studio has established an international reputation with buildings such as the world's largest airport terminal at Beijing, Swiss Re's London Headquarters, Hearst Headquarters in New York, Millau Viaduct in France, the German Parliament in the Reichstag, Berlin, The Great Court at London's British Museum, Headquarters' for HSBC in Hong Kong and London, and Commerzbank Headquarters in Frankfurt. There is also a strong interest in city planning and infrastructure. The practice has received over 650 awards for excellence and won over 100 national and international competitions since its inception in 1967.

About Heller Manus Architects
Founded 30 years ago, Heller Manus Architects is an internationally recognized, San Francisco- based architecture and urban design firm, with offices in San Francisco and Shanghai. Their depth of experience encompasses a wide range of major new construction and historical renovation projects including transportation, mixed-use, commercial, residential, civic, rehabilitation and adaptive re-use, performance facilities, sustainability, retail and hotel, master planning and urban design. The firm designed 181 Fremont, now under construction, and was the lead architects for the renovation of San Francisco City Hall.  With their unique experience in difficult approvals situations, Heller Manus provides a tailored personal approach to the design and planning situation of each project. Always looking to expand the concept of building usage, Heller Manus has positively improved and engaged each building's particular environment. Since 2005, the firm's practice area has grown to include several major projects throughout China including Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Inner Mongolia, and the greater Beijing area. Visit www.hellermanus.com.

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SOURCE TMG Partners