Organized Labor

The SFJAZZ Center is scheduled to break ground in May and open in August 2012.

Hayes Valley Will Host Music Organization’s First Permanent Home

By Paul Burton, Contributing Writer

The San Francisco-based union contractor Hathaway Dinwiddie has been chosen as the general contractor for the $50 million SFJAZZ Center, the first permanent home for the 28-year-old San Francisco institution. The selection of Hathaway Dinwiddie followed an extensive bidding process conducted by SFJAZZ. The SF Planning Commission approved the project last July.

The SFJAZZ Center will be located at 205 Franklin Street in the Hayes Valley neighborhood. The 35,000 square foot, 3-story facility will house a 700-seat theater, rehearsal spaces, an 80-seat multi-use room, class and lecture spaces, an entrance lobby with ground floor retail, and a café. The exterior of the building will be a cast-in-place concrete frame with a translucent skin. The structure was designed by award-winning San Francisco architect Mark Cavagnero, of Mark Cavagnero Associates.

“We’re pleased to partner with Hathaway Dinwiddie aboard to help build our new home,” said Felice Swapp, SFJAZZ Executive Operating Director, as she announced the selection. “With its extensive roots in the local community and its outstanding track record of building facilities with specific requirements like those of the SFJAZZ Center, we’re certain we have the ideal general contractor for our project.”

The auditorium will be flexible and able to seat between 350 and 700 jazz fans.

Part of that complexity is constructing the state-of-the-art auditorium with flexible seating for 350 to 700 people, along with building in sustainable elements to attain LEED Silver certification. Delaney said the design features numerous sustainable attributes including an all-natural ventilation system, some natural lighting and use of recyclable materials. She said the floor plan includes an acoustically treated plenum within the foundation.

Other features include using advanced technology for recording performances and digitally broadcasting them to a global audience; an 80-seat multi-purpose ensemble room; three rehearsal spaces and a digital learning lab.

Jewel Box of a Building

“This is a jewel box of a building,” said Ed Conlon, Hathaway Dinwiddie vice president. “We are genuinely jazzed to build it. There are numerous technical aspects of the building that make this project as challenging as it is exciting. Hathaway Dinwiddie has helped build several of San Francisco’s landmark buildings, and we’re proud to be involved with what is undoubtedly another in the SFJAZZ Center.”

The company’s experience includes building the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall 1980 and conducting the Hall’s acoustical redesign and renovation in 1992. The contractor also built the Russ Building and the Transamerica Pyramid in 1972, and is currently directing the renovation of the historic former Federal Building at 50 UN Plaza for the U.S. General Services Administration.

“The technology in this building is very impressive,” Conlon said. “It’s truly state-of-the-art and will require us to think innovatively about how to build it. Every aspect of it will present specific challenges, from a design specific to its planned use, to the tight corner we have to build it in while minimizing impact to the surrounding neighborhood. There’s a great team in place, and we’re excited to start the project.”

That team includes “top-tier specialists working together to unite the various technical and mechanical components of the structure,” according to SFJAZZ. Cavagnero’s overall design is augmented in specific areas by the work of leading-edge consultants who include theatre designer Len Auerbach of Auerbach Pollock Friedlander, Performing Arts/Media Facilities Planning and Design, and the renowned acoustician, Sam Berkow of SIA Acoustics.

$20 Million Gift Inspired Plan

The nonprofit is one of the world’s leading presenters of jazz music, including the San Francisco Jazz Festival, the SFJAZZ Spring Season and numerous community outreach and education programs. For the past 10 years, SFJAZZ has been presenting year-round programming with as many as 100 concerts annually serving an audience of up to 100,000 throughout the Bay Area.

The idea of creating the SFJAZZ Center was inspired by an anonymous gift of $20 million to the organization, the largest gift ever given to a jazz organization. More than $32 million in private funding has been raised for the Center so far toward a goal of $60 million.

Hathaway Dinwiddie is a signatory to master agreements with the Carpenters and strives to use union labor and union subcontractors on its projects. Project Manager Delaney said that demolition of the existing building at the site, now housing an auto body shop and offices, will take place in May. She said the contractor would release drawings at that time and begin choosing the subcontractors. Pre-qualification forms for subs can be found on the contractor’s website at www.hathawaydinwiddie.com .