Wilson/Equity Office Gains Approval for Fourth Downtown Building

SAN FRANCISCO-Wilson/Equity Office is ready to build its fourth Downtown building here. Planning commissioners on Friday approved plans for a 10-story building on the northeast corner of First and Howard streets, part of a 1.1 million-sf development covering all four corners of the intersection. Technology giant Sun Microsystems is leasing 535,000-sf, and the rest is currently being marketed.”It’s a fairly significant event for the city of San Francisco to have this kind of commitment from a Silicon Valley company,” says Tom Sullivan, president of developer Wilson/Equity Office.

The commission approved the entire project last year, but due to the city’s office development cap it could only give the company permission to build on three of the street corners. Sun Microsystems is leasing two of the buildings, including the 10-story, 330,000-sf structure just approved, which should be ready for occupancy late next year. Construction has already started at the southeast corner of the intersection, Sullivan says. Studios Architecture and Jennings Architecture designed the buildings. Plans call for all four facilities to be comprised of brick, stone and glass and be set back from the intersection to make room for a public plaza.