Most of the rest of the buildings around there are protected historically. If I recall, those are some of the few that aren't.

Parcel F's area:

https://i.imgur.com/U3j5r86h.jpg

this was from the transit center thread in Summer 2018:

since we have been talking about the transformation of the NE corner of 2nd and Howard in this thread, I thought I would also mention that some of the buildings along the alley (Natoma), 'behind' the ones already noted that have been demolished, have also been removed - this is what Natoma looked like in Feb 2011, from roughly a similar angle to the first pic above

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...2e232f7f_b.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...92cdf412_b.jpg

... and sort of matching the second:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...f4912e39_b.jpg

here a more full-on view of the buildings that are gone, looking south across where the western end of the transit center is now

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...def9d1a4_b.jpg

... and in 2019:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b2f7a8b7_b.jpg

^^Nicer but I wouldn't say "livelier". But maybe we can blame COVID for that. Who saw that coming in 2018?

Note the empty ramp . . . as we discussed.

yes, but this is the one that one would expect to be empty - the one that was curious is not in this pic

Right Tim, it’s not the Fremont exit that engendered the original discussion.

There were a dozen food trucks and maybe 100-200 people on that plaza in its peak 2018-2019. They will be back..although the transit center did a terrible job letting the public know there were food trucks hidden back there.

https://i.imgur.com/SFJgOeOh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/17QRrLah.jpg

But yeah, this was the time when I worked at Salesforce and my coworkers and I randomly found the food trucks next to Parcel F's site.

I was wondering when that shoe would drop—sadly, it’s not at all surprising.

First Oceanwide and now this, you'd think a city like SF would do way better.

Why? The leading industries in SF are health care, tourism/hospitality and tech. Tourism is in the toilet. Tech is the leading example of working from home and among the most likely to continue some form of that permanently. That very likely means SF is overbuilt with office space for now (with 2 new towers going up totally on spec--5M and 88 Bluxome*)). I don't think that's true permanently and I'm more of a skeptic about the WFH phenomenon than most, but right now none of the tech companies are absorbing more space while many are trying to unload some of what they have. What I do expect is that will last until the next InfoTech boom cycle.

Parcel F will likely have to wait a few years for the office demand to come back enough to get it leased. Oceanwide needs a buyer and I suspect some REIT like Boston Properties will eventually grab it. But right now, again, office REITs are struggling and unloading more space than they are buying because it's a big questionmark nationwide about how much WFH will be permanent.

*88 Bluxome may be an example of something we will see more of: Tech and miscellaneous office space morphing into biotech space. Its developer, Alexandria Properties (a REIT) focuses on life sciences space and "Alexandria co-CEO Stephen Richardson described the project as a “lab-ready shell” and indicated that few changes would have to be made to build out the site for life science users." So even thought it's a tower project in the southern Fi-Di, it may not be comparable to a project like Parcel F or Oceanwide.

The new Salesforce/Transbay Transit Center seems like it ignores the street level at the expense of it's rooftop park.
While I think the rooftop park is a great idea, the structure does act as a long barren wall from street level.
The overhanging facade makes it feel darker underneath; it's not psychologically inviting at ground level.
Although I don't dislike it as a whole.

Have you actually been there? It’s more open at ground level than it may look from photos and the plan was for the alley-streets on both sides to be pedesrian-friendly spaces with tables, food sellers and so on that basically form an indoor-outdoor space.

Again, for now the pandemic has pretty much emptied out downtown. I haven’t even gone down there myself (and I used to go almost daily) because I don’t want to ride transit and from everything I’ve heard it’s a wasteland with most people working at home. But when SF opens up again, the ground floor of the Transit Center and the alleys flanking it could eventually blossom.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/...r-16031209.php


I’m glad Peskin did not hold this up and strong arm the developer. Let’s see if this gets the funding and breaks ground by the end of the year.

I have been but right after it opened so not much at the street level was open. You're right, maybe when there is more street level retail it will activate the space.

I've personally walked around the ground level of Transbay Transit Center recently and it's definitely more inviting than when it first opened up. There are some storefronts out there right now and it's an easy and safe access for me to go around the different blocks compared to pre-Transbay Transit Center.

This article is from yesterday. Presumably the hearing was held and the approval given. But under the present circumstances, will they build it any time soon?

https://sfyimby.com/2021/03/board-of...francisco.html