August 18, 2023

KQED wrote a great article about climate change and how the State of California is working to improve school playgrounds as temperatures rise. Asphalt removal, shade trees, drought resistant plants, and natural play materials are some of the ways we can protect our kids while encouraging physical activity. Miller Company has a longstanding history of greening schoolyards and is extremely proud of our project featured in this article, the Oakland USD Cesar Chavez Campus for International Community School/Think College Now. In 2019, we partnered with Trust For Public Land to remove 90% of the asphalt over the 1+ acre campus, build a learning garden with ten raised beds, plant 64 new trees, and install a green lawn, wooden play structures, native plantings and a stormwater creek bed.

Last year, California earmarked $150 million for green schoolyards. One initiative pushing the work forward is called the “California Schoolyard Forest System,” a collaboration between the California Department of Education, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), nonprofits Green Schoolyards America and Ten Strands, school districts and county offices of education. “Our big, green audacious goal is to plant enough trees by 2035 so that when mature, they’ll provide 30% shade cover to child-accessible areas,” said Walter Passmore, a State Urban Forester with CAL FIRE. The program will prioritize schools in communities with high poverty levels, minimal tree cover and hot climates.

August 14, 2023

SF Chronicle wrote an article today about three of the best new homeless housing projects and how the designs are focused on improving the lives of the residents. Our project at 1064 Mission Street was featured along with HomeRise in Mission Bay and Maceo May on Treasure Island. Urban Design Critic John King wrote, "The largest and most ambitious of the three newcomers is at 1064 Mission...Not only is the 256-unit complex San Francisco’s largest supportive housing development, but the six stories also come with three communal spaces between Mission and Stevenson streets plus the office for the city’s Homeless Outreach Team and an urgent care and dental clinic for low-income city residents. Along Mission Street, there’s the glassed-in commercial kitchen where formerly homeless workers prepare meals for distribution to shelters and also offer food service training courses.” We are honored to work with Mercy Housing, Herman Coliver Locus Architecture, Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco, and so many more on this very important project!

July 27, 2023

Great news! This week, Mayor London Breed announced that $32 million has been earmarked for two affordable teacher housing sites, one of them being our project located at 2205 Mission St. The 63-unit development will offer for-sale condos to classroom teachers, paraeducators, and early education providers within the San Francisco Unified School District and the San Francisco Community College District. Prices will range from 80% to 130% of area median income. For a two-bedroom condo that would translate to $359,000 for a three-person family making about $99,000 a year, or $690,000 for a household making $162,000. Using 2019’s voter-approved funding, and a loan from NeighborWorks Capital for soft funding, Mission Economic Development Agency will begin construction on the 9-story building that is planned to be completed by 2025. The school district has set a goal of opening 550 educator units by 2030. Read more here.

June 7, 2023

What a great turnout at Tenderloin’s Sunday Streets this past weekend! We presented to the community our design for a new parklet at the corner of Golden Gate Ave. and Jones St. Lots of enthusiastic responses to the Golden Gate Greenway initiative!

June 6, 2023

1064 Mission won the CalGeo Outstanding Project Award in the Private-Medium category! This award goes to the best geotechnical projects in California and highlights the most exciting and innovative approaches to development. We are happy to be a part of such a significant project. Congrats to all of our partners: Episcopal Community Services (ECS), Mercy Housing, and Langan Engineering for creating 256 service-rich homes for formerly homeless individuals!

June 2, 2023

We are providing pro bono design services for one of the three parklets that are being planned for the Golden Gate Greenway initiative located in the Tenderloin. One of the most densely populated and diverse neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Tenderloin is home to approximately 30,000 residents and an estimated 3,500 children. Spearheaded by St. Anthony’s, the Golden Gate Greenway project brings together a coalition of 20 non-profit organizations, including eight other partners that operate on the same block along Golden Gate Avenue – Lutheran Social Services, De Marillac Academy, St. Boniface Catholic Church, Wu Yee Children’s Services, Mercy Housing, Boys & Girls Club, Larkin Street Youth Services, and 826 Valencia, as well as several others not located on the block including the Tenderloin Community Benefit District and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.

Phase 1 of the project incorporates three parklets along the north end of the block, closing off the street to regular vehicle traffic, but keeping the block safely open to pedestrians, bikes, deliveries to businesses along the block, and occasional activities and events. The new accessible public amenity will increase pedestrian use and provide permanent green space for the neighborhood. Our parklet is located adjacent to our project at 111 Jones Street, where we are working with Mercy Housing to redesign the courtyard of an affordable housing development.

The community is invited to an upcoming event on Sunday, June 4th between 10am and 2pm to see the plans for the three new spaces planned between Jones and Leavenworth Streets. Sunday Streets SF will host the Tenderloin Community Block Party from 12pm-5pm, creating 2 blocks of car-free fun and recreation in the Tenderloin for the whole family to enjoy. Activities include a dunk tank, a climbing wall, circus acts, live music, food, and giveaways. Come out and play!

May 11, 2023

Miller Company is pleased to be a part of the team selected to design a new public elementary school in Mission Bay, the first to be constructed in San Francisco in many years. The $95 million project features a 2.5 acre campus that is designed with three distinct uses: a Pre K-5 elementary school for 600 students, a STEM-focused linked learning hub, and district professional development space. We are collaborating with a design build team headed by McCarthy Building Companies, Inc and DLR Architects to create a campus that will serve the community with state-of-the-art facilities.

The sustainably designed environment features outdoor learning areas, nature exploration, accessible school gardens, a dedicated outdoor lunch area, and playgrounds filled with sport courts, fitness equipment, and climbing structures. The campus will be home for native and drought tolerant plants including 84 new trees.

May 3, 2023

Next Monday, May 8th, Jeffrey Miller will be joining Episcopal Community Services and HCL Architecture for a panel discussion called “Tackling Homelessness Through Innovative Modular Construction, Design, and Service Program Convergence in Permanent Supportive Housing Development” as part of Affordable Housing Month. This hour-long presentation will showcase how Federal, State and Municipal initiatives can be catalyzed through innovation and collaborative partnerships in development, design, construction, and supportive service programs.

Our project at 1064 Mission, a new 256-unit affordable housing development built on a 1.16 acre site that serves unhoused residents and seniors over 55 will be featured. The project includes a unique blend of many firsts: 1) is the largest factory-built modular PSH new construction in the Bay Area; 2) uses the Federal Title V program; and, 3) has the robust and unique blend of on-site supportive services programming that include on-site medical/dental health clinics, the City/County’s Homeless Outreach Team headquarters, and supportive services programs. It also features a new, 6,000 Sq.Ft. CHEFS (“Conquering Homelessness through Employment in Food Services”) commercial kitchen – an on-site, innovative, workforce development culinary training social enterprise program for the residents that was created and operated by ECS. We will discuss how we created service-enriched, welcoming homes for the residents throughout the design and development process and specific lessons learned. We will also discuss how the partnerships can serve as part of the housing delivery model in the affordable housing development industry.

Featured speakers:
Macy Leung (Moderator)
Senior Director of Housing Development at Episcopal Community Services
Beth Stokes
Executive Director at Episcopal Community Services
Lila Cohen, AIA
Senior Associate and Senior Project Manager at HCL Architecture
Jeffrey Miller
Principal and Landscape Architect at Miller Company Landscape Architects

This online event starts at noon on May 8, please sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tackling-homelessness-through-innovative-development-program-convergence-tickets-607676896957

If you can’t make live event, feel free to download the presentation here.

April 17, 2023

We’re excited to share the design plans for Children’s Day School, an independent school located in the Mission Dolores neighborhood. A new 8,500 SF one-story building is being built for the preschool by Jensen Architects, replacing three temporary portable rooms. Features include play structures, a sand play area, water pump, and green roof. A 30-foot stainless steel slide descends from the roof to the play yard below. The new play yard preserves an existing farm and garden with its resident sheep, chickens, and colony of honeybees. Existing ISO containers are relocated to create a dedicated facilities area. A swale and nature investigation area provides a buffer between these uses and a sequence of play areas featuring a new asphalt sport court and play structures. A 3,000 gallon cistern collects water from the facilities where it is released into the swale after storms. Native planting is used throughout the project.

March 20, 2023

Michael Ingram has been been promoted from Project Manager to Senior Associate! Michael has been with Miller Company Landscape Architects for over six years and is primarily focused on school and multi-family housing projects with on-structure landscapes. Most notably, he has led the landscape design for the new early education building and schoolyard at Children’s Day School in San Francisco. He has also become the point person leading Miller Company’s housing projects currently underway in Berkeley through entitlement and construction. Many of these sites are located near the UC Berkeley Campus, including 2590 Bancroft Way, 2023 Kala Bagai Way, 2000 University Avenue, and 2538 Durant Avenue. In his personal life, Michael is a dedicated parent, home cook and aikido practitioner. He is also an accomplished and enthusiastic creator of fermented beverages, producing a variety of beers, meads and kombucha in his home brewery.

Congratulations, Michael!

March 1, 2023

The Mission Bay School project was recognized at the CASH 44th Annual Conference’s Excellence in Design Awards Ceremony on Friday, February 24th. San Francisco Unified School District and McCarthy/DLR Group had the honor of receiving an Award of Excellence in the category submitted.

Since 1991, CASH/AIA CA have held this award to recognize excellence in school facilities design in California. Submitted in the “Project-in-Design” category, the Mission Bay School was judged on the following criteria that reflect the mission and values of CASH and AIA CA:

Planning Process: showing the process that was used to facilitate the planning of the facility.
Learning Environments: explaining how the project reflects the school/district education program.
Design: Expression of the underlying design concept.
Community Environment: showing how the planning and design response connects learning to the community, school, and district.
Physical Environment: showing the relationship between the physical environment and the learner/users, how the facility’s design relates to the surrounding context and how the project took into account security vulnerabilities.
High Performance: demonstrating the role of high-performance design and sustainability strategies in the planning and design of the project.

February 2, 2023

Miller Company was proud to be a part of ECS San Francisco's grand opening at 1064 Mission Street yesterday. The site is San Francisco’s largest and most comprehensive permanent supportive housing site, providing 256 homes to formerly homeless adults and seniors. A big shout out to all the folks who helped bring this project into fruition including Mercy Housing, San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, St. Anthony Foundation, Homebridge Inc., California Department of Housing & Community Development, National Equity Fund, Factory OS, Century Housing, HCL Architects, Lowney Architects, Cahill Contractors, artists Leah Rosenberg and Michael Arcega and so many more!

January 20, 2023

S.F. officials approve Congregation Emanu-El’s $91 million remodel and retrofit from the original budget of $72 million. Other than the iconic domed sanctuary itself, every part of the building will undergo visibly significant changes. The portico around the courtyard will be extended upward, creating new classrooms and social spaces; the long-disused main entrance will be reopened and made more accessible and secure; new offices will be added below street level; a new area on the roof will be a play area for children (and will afford visitors a sweeping view of the city); and, most importantly, the entire facility will receive a seismic retrofit. Read full article here.