Earlier this year, the TJPA board approved a $105-million contract with Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects for the transit terminal, which will centralize the region's transportation network by accommodating nine transportation systems under one roof: AC Transit, Caltrain, MUNI, Golden Gate Transit, SamTrans, Greyhound, BART, WestCAT and future California High-Speed Rail. The area surrounding the Transit Center will be redeveloped to include the office tower and 3,500 new housing units along with associated retail.

Pelli-Hines' design and development proposal calls for a 1.8-million-sf, 1,300-foot LEED-Gold tower alongside a new transit terminal topped by a public park. Two defining components of the Pelli-Hines proposal were the price it offered to pay for the Tower property and the elevated 5.4-acre park it designed atop the transit center.

In its proposal, Hines envisioned the tower containing exclusively office space–and annual gross office rents of $83 per sf–while the two other tower proposals had significant residential and hospitality components. The Pelli design also includes "Mission Square," a grand public plaza covered by a billowing glass-and-steel canopy, and public art space.

PCPA's "City Park" design was scored a 90 by the jury, a panel of design, planning, engineering, transit and real estate development professionals. The jury said it was superior in all respects -- aesthetically, functionally and financially -- to the two other proposals, neither of which scored higher than 72.

Groundbreaking on the Temporary Terminal will begin in November 2008. Construction of the new transit center will begin in 2010 and be completed in 2014. The timing for construction of the office tower is unknown. It could begin as soon as 2010 but the necessary preleasing is expected to take much longer, possibly until 2015.

Instant Insights /

Hines to Pay $235M, Earlier, for Tower Site

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