RON HENGGELER

Dawn with summer’s fog, and the dome of San Francisco’s City Hall
From my window July 29, 2013

The BART Station at Grove, Hyde, and Market
Across from San Francisco’s Main Library

Under the Freeway at 13th and Mission near Folsom

The left side of a fading mural on Harrison Street
South of Market in San Francisco

The right side of a fading mural on Harrison Street
South of Market in San Francisco

A late-afternoon line-up of men waiting for night’s bed on 5th Street
South of Market in San Francisco

The Transbay Tower, also known as the Transbay Transit Tower, is a 1,070 ft (326 m) tall skyscraper now being built in the South of Market district of downtown San Francisco. http://transbaycenter.org/

Located at the corner of First Street and Mission Street, the tower is the centerpiece of the San Francisco Transbay development.

Left center. . .a homeless man living next to the construction site of the Transbay Transit Tower

Home Sweet Home. . . location, location, location

Life in the construction zone
Mission Street near 2nd
Wow, how cool. These folks get to watch the new tower being built.

Transbay Tower, a 1.3 million-square-foot, 61-story icon, will be built adjacent to the Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco.
The tower will become a landmark addition to the San Francisco skyline and is slated to become the tallest building on the West Coast, with its crown soaring to a height of 1,070 feet.

Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, Transbay Tower will include state-of-the-art security, safety and many sustainability features. The tower will be the focal point of a massive 145-acre development complete with residential housing, hotels, retail space and a transit (note: not transient) center serving as the northern terminal of the state's high-speed rail project.

Seemingly, many San Franciscans are already lining up to take advantage of the Transbay Tower’s three block long “public” park that will be elevated seven stories above street level.

But. . .A dispute is brewing over who will pay to maintain Rooftop Park, the $28 million, 4.5-acre public green space that will be built atop the $1.9 billion Transbay Transit Center. Hines and Boston Properties, the developers of the 1,070-foot Transbay Tower at 101 Mission St., have told city officials that they should not have to pay for the maintenance of the park, which will be directly connected to their tower. City officials strongly disagree, arguing that the park — with its curving paths, vegetated hills, and fountains — will boost the value of the Transbay Tower, luring tenants to the highrise and allowing Hines and Boston Properties to charge higher rents.

“The park is going to primarily be a benefit to the property owners who are adjacent to it. That is who is going to use the park. Every new park in San Francisco operates on the (CBD) model. All the parks in Mission Bay and Transbay are maintained by the adjacent property owners.

“The Transbay site will be transformative to the City of San Francisco and will positively impact the residential, commercial and restaurant/retail communities,” said Michael Covarrubias, chairman and CEO, TMG Partners. “It’s very exciting for our team to be a part of what will be the last mixed-use development of this scale in this area of downtown.”

The property was rezoned in 2012 under the Transbay Plan, which was put in place to encourage density around the Transbay Terminal. With frontage on First and Mission Streets, the property was rezoned for a mixed-use development project comprised of an 850-foot commercial tower and a 605-foot residential tower.

Concerns about the financial bottom line have led to a revised proposal for the new Transbay Transit Center that calls for a perforated aluminum skin instead of the undulating glass that has been a signature of Pelli Clarke Pelli's design since it debuted in 2007. Though only skin deep, the redesign has big implications for the public face of the huge project bounded by Mission, Howard, 2nd and Beale streets. The glass was intended to create transparent and welcoming street-level experience and entry to center's shops and restaurants. Revised renderings show the perforated metal having a similar effect created by large openings and the artful lighting.

Left center. . .piling from the old Gold Rush era waterfront

19th century waterfront piling at First Street. . .(the first street at the old shoreline)

With progress and construction on the new Transbay Tower. . .Gold Rush-era relics are being uncovered. . .and then discarded

An integral part of the Transbay Project includes the creation of a new neighborhood surrounding the Transit Center.
The Transbay Redevelopment Plan will transform vacant state-owned abandoned freeway property in downtown San Francisco into a thriving transit-oriented neighborhood.

The Transbay Transit Center Project is a visionary transportation and housing project that transforms downtown San Francisco and the San Francisco Bay Area’s regional transportation system by creating a “Grand Central Station of the West” in the heart of a new transit-friendly neighborhood.

Adopted by the City of San Francisco in June 2005, the Redevelopment Plan will facilitate the development of nearly 2,600 new homes (35 percent of which will be affordable. . .(promise?), 3 million square feet of new office and commercial space and 100,000 square feet of retail.

The buildings will include townhouses, low- and mid-rise buildings and slender high-rise towers spaced apart to provide sunlight to proposed new plazas, parks and widened sidewalks. (Don’t bet the farm on the proposed provided sunlight)

The Project Area is about 40 acres and is bounded by Mission Street in the north, Main Street in the east, Folsom Street in the south and Second Street in the west.

Folsom Street will be the centerpiece of this new neighborhood and will feature widened sidewalks with cafes, markets and views of the San Francisco Bay. For more information on the Transbay Tower, check out this gallery of dazzling slick videos. http://transbaycenter.org/media-gallery/video-gallery
Happy Trails!