SAN FRANCISCO | Parcel F (Transbay) | 800 FT | 64 Floors

[iamfishhead]

Originally Posted by slock

timbad is right. Almost all of those buildings will be demolished. You'd have to dig through the TJPA website and the EIR documents for the particulars, but it's because the track throat will be constructed via cut and cover.

It's sad to lose them.

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

[gillynova]

Parcel F's area:

[timbad]

this was from the transit center thread in Summer 2018:

Originally Posted by timbad

I think right now I am most intrigued by the possibilities of the approach from the SW (especially since the plaza next to SF Tower turned into such a dud), where there is open space connected to the future retail (and Parcel F seemed to want to contribute to it).



I was having fantasies of turning the alley here into something livelier as well

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





... and sort of matching the second:



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

[timbad]

Originally Posted by timbad

... and sort of matching the second:

... and in 2019:

[Pedestrian]

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

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by gillynova

Parcel F's area:

Note the empty ramp . . . as we discussed.

[timbad]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

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

[viewguysf]

Originally Posted by timbad

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.

[fimiak]

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.

[gillynova]

Originally Posted by fimiak

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.

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.

[Pedestrian]

With developer saying a lease is "no longer in hand," it looks like Salesforce has pulled out of a new tower project
By Laura Waxmann – Staff Reporter, San Francisco Business Times
Mar 8, 2021 Updated 4 hours ago

Salesforce has apparently withdrawn from plans to lease a major block of space at a new San Francisco office tower, according to comments made by one of the developers in a public hearing on Monday.

At Monday's Board of Supervisors committee hearing — during which a development agreement for the 61-story skyscraper was advanced amid scrutiny by some city leaders — Hines Chief Operating Officer Cameron Falconer said that an “initial lease commitment” that the developer had for the unbuilt Parcel F Transbay Tower “is no longer in hand."

While Falconer did not disclose the identity of that tenant at the meeting, it was widely reported in 2018 that Salesforce had leased the office component of the project at 550 Howard St. . . . .

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranc...r-in-hand.html

[viewguysf]

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

[Zapatan]

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

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

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.

[Zerton]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

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

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.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Zerton

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.

[theskysthelimit]

San Francisco supervisors approved on Tuesday an 806-foot tower that will be the city’s fourth-tallest building, the culmination of a four-year process that included a fight over shadows and an office lease that was canceled by Salesforce after the pandemic popularized remote work.

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.

[Zerton]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

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.

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.

[gillynova]

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.

[Pedestrian]

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?

Board Of Supervisors Expected To Approve 550 Howard Street Today
SoMa, San Francisco
BY: ANDREW NELSON 5:30 AM ON MARCH 23, 2021

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is expected to give their second and final approval for the 61-story mixed-use proposal for 550 Howard Street in SoMa, San Francisco. The highly-anticipated approval comes after the supervisors voted 10 to 1 to allow construction. The project is located on Parcel F of the Transbay district development plan and represents the last major project from the plan sixteen years since it was adopted.

Hines is the project developer in partnership with Goldman Sachs and Urban Pacific Development. In last week’s meeting, the firm expressed that it will raise an estimated billion dollars for construction from JP Morgan Chase and the Singapore-based UOB bank. Hines has agreed to allow hotel workers to be unionized. The firm has also pledged $45-47 million to produce 192 low-income housing in Transbay Block 4, $15 million over the base fee.

The 61-story building rises 750 feet from street level to rooftop, with its parapet extending 800 feet high. The building will yield roughly 957,000 square feet, with 325,000 square feet of office space, 165 apartments, and 189 hotel guest rooms. Approximately 9,000 square feet of retail will be fitted in the podium, alongside parking for 212 bicycles and 183 vehicles . . . .

Pelli Clarke Pelli, the same firm behind the Salesforce Tower, is responsible for 550 Howard Street’s design. The tower is wrapped with floor-to-ceiling windows framed by vertical piers of warm white mat-finished panels and gray metal trim with a satin metallic finish.

This approval will be one of the last major hurdles for the developers to reach groundbreaking. Construction is expected to last four to five years, with as many as 5,000 construction jobs involved . . . .

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