Transit Center Ticks All Boxes for a Public Space

The Grand Hall’s light column is its centerpiece to support the building and bring daylight in (credit: Pelli Clarke Pelli).

SAN FRANCISCO—Unless one has been living under a rock, most everyone knows the new Salesforce Transit Center opened this past weekend. The 1.2-million-square foot transit center stretches four blocks along Mission Street, one block south of the city’s Financial District. The long-awaited facility will link to 11 transit systems and eventually high-speed rail sometime in the future.

By the numbers, it is a pretty impressive facility. The cost to build the transit center was $2.159 billion, including $400 million for a large underground train box for when/if such a concept comes to fruition. The first-year budget for maintenance, security and management of the transit center is $27 million.