UC Law SF is barreling ahead with a $288 million redo of a historic tower
UC Law San Francisco’s $288 million renovation of a nearly 100-year-old tower at the edge of the Civic Center and Tenderloin neighborhoods crossed a major milestone in recent days with the completion of major structural work on the building’s gutted core. “We got the building topped off before the rains come,” said a clearly pleased David Seward, UC Law’s chief financial officer. Seward is helping lead the transformation of the 28-story tower — once the West Coast’s tallest hotel skyscraper — into a modern hub of student housing, classrooms, athletics and more. Construction crews had removed the entire top floor, which left the hollowed core exposed to allow for construction work. Now, the hole has been covered, and the crane that has loomed over the site can come down. Upon completion — which is projected for next winter — the reincarnated art deco and Gothic revival structure at 100 McAllister St. will be a crown jewel in UC Law’s expanding “Academic Village,” which includes several buildings on two blocks in which the school will have invested about $750 million since 2016, Seward said. The tower at the northwest corner of McAllister and Leavenworth streets, which UC Law acquired for student
