Organized Labor

• Expansion Receives Initial Approval, Final Consideration at April 26 Planning Commission

By Paul Burton, Contributing Writer and Photographer

California Pacific Medical Center’s plan to expand its hospitals won approval from the SF Planning Commission April 5. CPMC and Mayor Ed Lee announced a development agreement in March to allow CPMC to build two new hospitals in the city – an 80-bed facility to replace the existing 200-plus-bed St. Luke’s Hospital and a 555-bed hospital on Cathedral Hill.

• $87 Million Redevelopment is Largest Speculative Office Project in SF Since Before ‘Great Recession’

Construction crews are completing the interior and exterior demolition work at the office tower renovation project at 680 Folsom Street. Built in the 1960s for Pacific Bell, 680 Folsom is being redesigned as a Class A office for high-tech tenants and undergoing a seismic retrofit. Plant Construction is the general contractor for the $87 million, all-union project.

The San Francisco Planning Commission voted to certify the Environmental Impact Report for the 8 Washington project March 22 at a joint meeting of the Planning Commission and Recreation and Parks Commission. The SFBCTC has strongly supported the project, which has been developed and refined over six years with input from the community.

• Respected Head of Building Trades Was Labor Champion

By Mike Messina, Contributing Writer

Mark Ayers, President of the national Building and Construction Trades Department, passed away unexpectedly on April 8, Easter Sunday. He was 63 years old.