Hub of downtown S.F. shifting to Mission Street
John King, Chronicle Urban Design Writer
Monday, November 23, 2009
Forget the quest for skyscraping icons. Here's the real message in San Francisco's newly released plan for the blocks around the Transbay Terminal: Mission Street, not Market Street, is downtown's main drag from here on out.
If the plan's ambitious visions come true, the blocks along Mission will display the city's tallest towers and a string of cultural jewels. They're where different currents of the people will spill together - residents, commuters, students, sightseers - in ways that define the new city for better or worse.
Exactly how or when all this might come to pass is out of City Hall's control . . . .
That Balboa Park plan is a great find, BT. I love the idea to deck 280 for more usable space and to better connect the neighborhood. Getting a vastly improved BART station on top of it is icing on the cake.
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^I'd love to see the T extended to Balboa Park at the same time. That would do a lot to make the southern half of the T actually worthwhile for more riders (ridership for the southern half is absolutely abysmal now, as most from that area use the faster 9x bus for downtown trips), by linking it to BART, the other Metro lines, and City College (which is already a pretty big destination for Bayview/Viz Valley).
And the kicker: "In addition to the CityPlace lots, they're also contemplating building "housing, a theater or both" next to and behind the Warfield Theater. At the moment, they're talking to two other property owners on the block (ahem, David Addington?)."
Hello all! A newbie here but for the Bay! I would love to see City Place to be built. I do hope they picked a better name tho!
Happy Holidays and welcome to the forum! Yes, this would be a much needed and beneficial project to have completed downtown on that section of Market Street. I would also like to see Target go in there instead of into the Metreon.
another cityplace article in the chron today, more talk about the parking issue. but David Addington had a great quote about nimbyism in SF:
"This is San Francisco. You say mother and apple pie, and people call you a sexist sugar eater," Addington said. "There is nothing that people won't oppose."
I took this shot this morning from the top of Dolores Park just before sunrise (it appears to be a lot lighter in this shot than it actually was). Sorry about the poor quality. It's the best I could do with the low level of light and my point and click camera. But if you get past that, it gives a good overview of the current skyline.
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My other car is a Dakota Creek Advanced Multihull Design.
I took this shot this morning from the top of Dolores Park just before sunrise (it appears to be a lot lighter in this shot than it actually was). Sorry about the poor quality. It's the best I could do with the low level of light and my point and click camera. But if you get past that, it gives a good overview of the current skyline.
Maybe after all these years I'm becoming jaded due to recent travels, etc., but it's looks boring to me. A large number of ugly buildings mostly dominate the scene with a big section on the right having been given a flattop haircut. ORH looks out of place standing alone, the former AAA tower is hideous and the Pyramid should have been built to its originally designed height, among other things.
It looks better from some angles than others. My favorites are from Potrero and just east of Alcatraz. The view from Dolores looked a lot better with the naked eye than I could capture, but it's not as interesting as those other two IMO. I found all the buildings between me and the FiDi to be the most interesting part of this view.
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My other car is a Dakota Creek Advanced Multihull Design.
From any angle, a 1000+ footer at 1st and Mish will be a huge improvement--someday (maybe). But not that many places can match the combo of natural setting and developed skyline even now.
No way now--to me, one of the greatest glories of SF is its neighborhoods; these, along with the surrounding area (access to so many wine appellations, hiking and nature, etc.) make this a great place to live. Downtown does often seem more boring to me from some angles (such as from Dolores Park) but looks much more like a big city from others (for instance, in the Mount Davidson shot above as well as from Potrero Hill and the Bay Bridge). This in no way excuses the plethora of mediocre architecture and buildings that we have here. While some are great or good, I find others inexcusable for this city.
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I would love to see City Place to be built. I do hope they picked a better name tho! 
You've been looking at it too long. Time to move. 
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