If the SF Bay Area economy keeps on its current trend-line between now and 2016, this thing is getting built and won't have any trouble finding tenants. Google, Facebook, Salesforce, and some service industry companies (law, consulting, finance) can fill the 60 floors in a hurry. By 2017 -- when this thing is scheduled to be completed -- some of the companies currently in SOMA warehouses might mature and be rich/big enough to move into this sorta space

I'm not concerned, either. My pointing out that office space UC now is mostly unspoken for is not to be confused with any worries on my part that this thing won't be built. The way Zuckerman was speaking actually gave me a lot of confidence. He's a New York man and seems quite thrilled with the economy in San Francisco, almost as if he is just in shock at what's happening out here. He's exactly the kind of guy that "knows more" than any of us could, but he can't publicly commit certain milestones ahead until he gets to those milestones. His company is NYSE publicly traded (very different from all the other supertall equity backers in the US right now).

Also to WonderlandPark in particular, or to anyone in LA who may be secretly hoping this thing isn't getting built ;) your economy is no match for ours! :D If a supertall is getting built in DTLA, one of the most difficult submarkets in America to justify something so grand, then you can rest assured that TT is getting built in DT San Francisco, arguably the strongest submarket in America to justify something so grand.

I was impressed that they were more excited by Q1'14 data than Q4'13. Momentum is definitely moving in the right direction! ;-)

Well it looks like the rumor mill is starting to churn beyond Google...:wiseman:

Mar 3, 2014, 3:46pm PST
Salesforce in talks to take chunk of Transbay Tower

Speculation is picking up that Salesforce is in deep negotiations to take about 300,000 square feet in the Transbay Tower at 415 Mission St...

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...-chunk-of.html

I was just reading that article. What would that be, about 12 floors or so? Seems like signing a lease for ~20% of the building would be enough for Boston/Hines to officially commit to bringing it out of the ground. Plus, if others have been eyeing this, seeing a chunk go might encourage them to sign sooner than later.

300K ft^2 seems about perfect for 181 Fremont. Unless Salesforce doesn't like the smaller floorplates. :shrug:

well, plus the tb tower is across the street from their new hq, in addition to being the new most prestigious building in the city - if salesforce thinks they've under-estimated their space needs, tbt is best possible option for them, assuming they get in there early and at a reasonable ppsq.

keeping the caltrain electrification/tunnel scheme in the news won't hurt that either.

Google making a 1,000,000+ sq. ft. move to SF will create a ripple effect in the demand for SF space and other tech tenants wanting to be near, even if they choose Mission Bay over Soma. Please let it happen and asking the Skyscraper Gods to add a few floors to rise above the Wilshire Pencil!

This thing seems to be taking forever to get going.

20 years of planning ain't so bad.
We just replaced the Bay Bridge, which was damaged in the 1989 eathquake.

/s

Why would Google make a suburban style campus far from restaurants/bars/shops---its kinda like Google Mountain View? Guess it is closer for some workers...that is about it. Mission Bay has no real amenities like locating in TB or close in SOMA.

Yea I think it's all one big joke, SF will never actually build a 1000+footer ;)

Get going? They are working on this every day over two shifts. You have to build down before you build up! And in this case with bedrock over 275ft down it is going to take a while!:superwhip

Takes a lot longer for foundation work of a building this magnitude in seismic areas.

And the city's run by communists. (Couldn't help myself :D)

Doesn't anyone else think that a tall narrow skyscraper isn't suitable for Google? Typically a building of this grandeur contains suit-wearing businesses like Finance or Law. The purpose of a campus is to keep the business/engineers close together at all times, where as a tower like this divides the workforce a dozen+ ways and doesn't allow for private gatherings or cafeterias, etc.. Mission Bay seems far more Googly to me. They could even park their barge out front. Google already has some offices up against the waterfront a few blocks north.

Despite this, I still have complete faith that this tower will be built during this wave of construction. It might not begin until 2015 if the market doesn't bite, which would be a bummer, but better than never.

Comcast would completely disagree with the Google comparison. I think the skyscraper actually may bring people closer together, certainly in a more confined space. And it gives companies a different work environment which isn't a bad thing. There's little reason a skyscraper couldn't be as attractive as a large corporate campus. Google may want some of both. They are different for sure, but Google wouldn't be stepping out of their innovative boundaries.

Doesn't Google have their own finance and law divisions?

the thing with google is that the sheer volume of space they'd require would be tough to find in the mission bay area, at least until the babeball team stuff is built out. even salesforce (whose supremo made a play in mission bay) decided to go with fidi-south prestige and walkscore. what makes google and tbt such a great fit is the x-factor of caltrain electrification. if it could get done to coincide with a 2017-2018 the delivery dates on a lot of these towers, it'd shift the dynamic significantly away from the soma/mission bay where peninsular access is lighting fires.

I believe the thought is Google would purchase the land Salesforce once proposed for their headquarters. They would then build their own campus.

on the timing: Caltrain electrification is currently scheduled to be completed in 2019, tho they say that schedule is tight. but when done, it will be going to MB/SOMA (the current terminus at 4th and King), not TBT. the downtown extension (DTX, as they call it) is a separate project. here is link describing trying to make that happen by 2022.