TRANSBAY BLOCK 6 OPEN FOR BUSINESS

One of the buildings on Transbay Block 6 opens for business this weekend, offering pre-leases for May move-in dates in a 32-story, 409-unit high-rise. It’s another baby step in the neighborhood’s gradual transformation from a nowheresville stretch of SoMa into a destination for San Franciscans with income to burn.

The building at 299 Fremont was designed by SCB and broke ground in late 2013, with an estimated budget of $140 million. The finished building, dubbed Solaire, is about a three minute walk from what will soon be Transbay Center, and will be offering cushy luxury apartments for rent starting in May.

The smallest, a 422 square foot studio, goes for $2,880 a month (which, to our relief, an astronaut can afford, although it will take up more than half his or her monthly income), while the largest, a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath unit with 1,385 square feet, rents for almost $8,000.

At the lowest end, you’re paying $6.82 per square foot, but only $5.77 at the highest, so it looks like that old lesson about buying in bulk still applies. A neighboring low-rise building will offer BMR units, but that project is not yet completed.

In the meantime, those who can afford to rent the lap of luxury—or maybe just one of luxury’s knees, for those in the smaller studios—Solaire offers 24-hour concierge service, a coffee bar, an office lounge for telecommuters, and even a self-serve dog wash and pet grooming station. (Yes, that’s our favorite part too.)

The units themselves feature gray plank flooring, white quartz counters, and floor to ceiling windows. The building’s ads make the lofty claim that it’s “surrounded by everything that matters.” People who don’t happen to live nearby might take this a little personally, although presumably it refers to the map of nearby, high-end restaurants and bars featured on the website.

This is one of the buildings that was briefly delayed by a chronic glass shortage last year, but now that the windows are all here they do provide killer SoMa skyline views.

Link: Transbay Block 6 Open For Business