Upgrade for the Needy

Nibbi Bros. tackles tight site for new St. Anthony Foundation facility

By Robert Carlsen

Facing a typically tight San Francisco construction site, Nibbi Bros.
spent five months demolishing a nearly 100-year-old building to prepare for a new, improved St. Anthony Foundation's free medical clinic, employment program office and Social Work Center at 150 Golden Gate Ave.

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"Because of the dense urban infill site, we did almost all of the demolition by hand," says Nibbi project manager Robert Newdoll. "We're talking about 2 in. of air between neighboring buildings."

Nibbi Bros. of San Francisco is the general contractor and provided preconstruction services to the St. Anthony Foundation for this $17 million project. The architect is Hardison Komatsu Ivelich & Tucker of Oakland.

The building, which was originally constructed as the city's headquarters for the Knights of Columbus in the early 1900s, was gutted, the roof removed and the walls taken down. Once the demolition crew reached the fourth floor, workers pulled down the remaining walls with a miniexcavator. From that point down, they demolished with a combination of hand and machine labor.

"We found a time capsule from 1910 in a hollowed-out granite brick in the original building," Newdoll says. "We presented it to the Knights, who now have it on display at their headquarters."

The new medical office building serving the St. Anthony Foundation will be a five-story, steel-frame administration building and health clinic with one level below ground.

There will be two floors of clinic facilities and outpatient services and two floors of offices to house administration for the entire foundation. The ground floor will serve as a temporary dining hall and kitchen while a new dining hall is constructed across the street at 121 Golden Gate. The basement level will have support services/social training space, food storage and a food preparation area.


Nibbi is using a steel torque pile foundation system, which is an ideal product for the sandy soil type on the site, Newdoll says. The basement will have shotcrete perimeter walls with a structural concrete deck.


The owners, architects and Nibbi are committed to sustainable building. 150 Golden Gate has been registered with the USGBC and the team is pursuing LEED silver certification.

Sustainable features include a mechanical system that utilizes indirect evaporative cooling for energy reduction.

Water conservation will be achieved by using ultra low-flow plumbing fixtures.

The building materials use low-emitting products for paint, finishes and carpeting. Wood products are urea-formaldehyde-free and the roof is an Energy Star high-reflective roof.

When completed next May, the new building at 150 Golden Gate Ave. will allow St. Anthony's to handle an additional 5,000 patient visits each year; help an additional 200 job seekers find employment; provide additional space for rental assistance workshops and parenting classes; and have an expanded emergency food pantry for individuals and families in crisis.

Founded in 1950 by Fr. Alfred Boeddeker, OFM, St. Anthony Foundation serves an average of 3,000 people each day through its 11 programs.

The Project Team

Owner:
St. Anthony Foundation, San Francisco

General Contractor:
Nibbi Bros., San Francisco

Architect:
HKIT, Oakland

Major Subcontractors:
Granite Excavation & Demolition, Pittsburg;
ACCO Engineering, San Carlos;
JW McClenahan, San Mateo;
Young Electric, San Francisco

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