SAN FRANCISCO—The developers of the Transbay towers have chosen Foster + Partners and Heller Manus Architects as architects for the approximately two million square foot mixed-use development.

In a joint venture, TMG Partners, one of the San Francisco Bay Area's largest mixed-use property developers, and Northwood Investors LLC, a leading real estate investment firm are leading the project at First and Mission.

This is the first residential and mixed-use project in San Francisco for world-renowned Foster + Partners, the architects responsible for the Apple Campus II in Cupertino and the Apple store on Union Square, as well as notable projects in London and New York.

The First and Mission project comprises two towers with 1.35 million square feet of office/commercial space and 650,000 square feet of residential units, and is situated in the Transbay Area.

“The collaboration of Foster + Partners and Heller Manus Architects puts San Francisco squarely in league with the world's greatest cities, including London, Shanghai, New York, Kuwait and Paris,” said TMG Partners president and CEO Michael Covarrubias. “The Transbay site will be transformative and will be the last mixed-use development of this scale in this area of downtown.”

Norman Foster, founder and chairman of Foster + Partners remarked, “The First and Mission towers are incredibly exciting in urban and environmental terms – bringing together places to live and work with the city's most important transport hub, the project further evolves a sustainable model of high density, mixed-use development that we have always promoted. The 605-foot residential tower reflects the scale of San Francisco's existing tall buildings, while the 850-foot hotel, residential and office tower rises above it as a symbol of this new vertical city quarter.”

He added that the super-sized office floor plates will give tenants a high degree of flexibility, and their open layout is supported by an innovative orthogonal structural system developed for seismic stability. “At ground level, the buildings are open, accessible and transparent – their base provides a new 'urban room' for the region, and the new pedestrian routes through the site will knit the new scheme with the urban grain of the city,” Foster said.

Under the Transbay Plan, a rezoning that was put in place to encourage density around the Transbay Terminal, the seven parcels at First and Mission are now zoned for an 850-foot tower and a 605-foot tower. The project will include a large floor plate office tower with frontage on First Street and a world- class condominium portion that will be taller than any residential project on the West Coast.

TMG Partners, founded in 1984 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a full-service real estate development and management company. Northwood Investors is a leading privately-held global real estate investment firm with assets under management of $3.9 billion. It was founded in 2006 by John Kukral. Foster + Partners is one of the most innovative architectural practices in the world today. Led by founder and chairman Norman Foster, it is based in London with project offices worldwide.

Founded 30 years ago, Heller Manus Architects is an internationally recognized, San Francisco- based architecture and urban design firm, with offices in San Francisco and Shanghai.

Instant Insights /

High Profile Architects to Collaborate on First and Mission Towers

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