Transbay Center Links 11 Transit Systems

SAN FRANCISCO—The new neighborhood forming around the $4.5 billion Transbay transit center promises to alleviate some of the city's most pressing issues, such as providing more office space for its ever-expanding technology sector and housing for workers at all income levels, said those working on the project at last week's ULI Fall Meeting.  In its place, energy, identity and people are expected to congregate around this former eyesore with its one-of-a-kind rooftop park and retail center.

At this time, 19 projects are under development around the transit center, which is set to open in 2017. They include office buildings, residential towers which include an affordable component and midrise multifamily buildings dedicated entirely to affordable housing. In addition to the retail space woven throughout the area, the center itself will offer 160,000 square feet of retail space, more than that in the Ferry Building or Grand Central Station.

"The companies that are growing the fastest—that are expanding the fastest—are looking for this kind of neighborhood," said Mike Grisso, senior vice president of development and land planning at Kilroy Realty Company, which has invested in several office properties in the Transbay development.

John Eudy, executive vice president at Essex Realty Trust, an investor in multi-family properties, concurred.

"Over the long term, this was a no-brainer, and transit-oriented development was a primary attraction. There was no question in our mind that being TOD-centric was the way to go. The market is going urban and it's going to get more urban."

Converging at the center are 11 transit systems, including high-speed rail, Caltrain, BART, and several bus lines that service the East Bay and North Bay. A northern terminus for Caltrain, which provides service to Silicon Valley, is being built underground to link the center to the current Caltrain station several blocks away.

When the transit development is completed, the city will have achieved its goal of creating a dense, vertical, TOD-centric and sustainable neighborhood to absorb the growth the city is currently having difficulty managing.

"This creates the highest-density district in California and the West Coast," said panelist John Rahaim, the city's planning director. The most prominent example is the Salesforce Tower, a 1,000-foot building that will be the tallest on the city's skyline. Several 700- and 800-foot buildings will be located in there as well. In fact, building height was one of the trade-offs developers received in exchange for paying into special taxing districts that are funding the infrastructure and maintenance of the transit center.