http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/Transbay_Terminal_Tower_I.jpg

http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2012/03/12/ba-transbaytower_SFC0107545714.jpg

oBcL7KWa4wI

YFD8cXwpQUQ

awesome project!

Have they started building the tower yet?

Have they started building the tower yet?

No. They are in the process of approving it. First the new zoning with higher height limits has to be approved (it will be). Then the project redesign in accordance with the new limits (some modifications probably--people are already complaining about some "value-engineering" Hines wants to justify the height reduction from 1200'). Then the building permits. Then it can begin.

They just completed renegotiating the price for the land ($185 million). It is hoped construction will begin in 2013.

Meanwhile, the transit terminal is proceeding apace however the $185 million for the tower land is needed for the terminal project lending some urgency in getting everything settled. One bit of good news: There has been an agreement to use HSR money to electrify Caltrain so that the HSR trains can use the same right of way (and possibly tracks) between SF and San Jose. As part of this, the MTA agreed to help pay for phase 2 of the terminal project--the tunnel from 4th & Townsend to the new terminal--with regional transit funds pretty much putting the financing for that in place I believe.

Awesome looking tower, reminds me a little of the IFC Building in Hong Kong. :okay:

wonderful builidng :)

Awesome looking tower, reminds me a little of the IFC Building in Hong Kong. :okay:

That's because it's the same architect. It seems that pelli's goal is to put one of his giant dildos in every major city. New York is getting one too, and it's going to block views of the empire state building:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/24/nyregion/24empire.html

Oops double post.

I had heard rumors about a 2015 completion. Well, it looks like it might be a reality!


Hines leaps ahead on Transbay tower
Tenant demand could push up start of 61-story highrise

Hines could start construction on San Franisco’s tallest office tower as early as next summer, if final city approvals go smoothly and the office leasing market continues to be strong.
Under the best-case schedule, which is six months more aggressive than projections Hines made in March, Transbay Tower and the adjacent 5.4-acre City Park would be completed in late 2015, according to Hines Executive Vice President Paul Paradis.
“We have started talking to tenants. We have sent out a proposal to one tenant who requested it. We have had a few other tenants ask us to do the presentation,” said Paradis. “I think the larger tenants in San Francisco or coming into San Francisco have a planning horizon that is starting to match with the potential delivery of the tower.”
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/print-edition/2012/06/15/hines-leaps-ahead-on-transbay-tower.html

Great news! Let's hope it won't get delayed.

On a related note, will CHSR have stops at SFO and Palo Alto in addition to the Transbay Terminal? I remember reading about such plans a long time ago, but I can't find any details now.

MetLife was Hines financial partner for the tower. And yes, that’s in the past tense as they are no more. Neither Hines nor the Transbay Joint Power Authority are commenting nor has a new financial partner been announced.

No word on whether or not anybody has contacted the Chinese.
http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2012/08/san_franciscos_transbay_tower_partner_has_pulled_out.html

Tweaked S.F. tower plans up for approval
John King
Updated 10:16 a.m., Monday, September 24, 2012

The tower that would be San Francisco's tallest structure is scheduled to go to the Planning Commission for its final approvals next month . . . .

The obelisk-like building that would rise at First and Mission streets also has been tweaked in two key ways since an updated design was introduced in March after several years in limbo because of the economy.

This month's revision of the revision adds highly visible connections to the rooftop park planned for the new Transbay Terminal being built next door. In addition, the crown of the 1,070-foot-tall tower has been altered to give it a more distinctive look . . . .

For their part, the developers and architects describe the changes as part of the natural fine-tuning of a building intended from the start to have a major civic presence.

This is especially true of the tower's crown, which is designed to extend 150 feet beyond the highest occupied floor. It also will top off the skyline; the Transamerica Pyramid, downtown's tallest building since it opened in 1972, is 853 feet high.

The latest design
Prior versions of the tower treated the crown as an open-air extension of the outer walls of the 60 floors below, with horizontal bands of glass and steel continuing upward even as they thinned out to allow light to pass through. The newest design adds a deep vertical slit that runs up each side of the crown, backed by perforated metal that will be lit at night for a sculptural effect.

http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/15/25/50/3496507/3/628x471.jpg

"We wanted something visible at urban scale but almost Zen-like in its simplicity," said architect Fred Clarke of Pelli Clarke Pelli, who called the redone top a "transformative refinement ... the idea is to further lengthen and slim the profile and also create something more distinctly emblematic of the city."

The changes in the sky are aesthetic. The ones on the ground respond to concerns that the tower would close off the public even though it will be built on what now is publicly owned land.

Also a half-acre plaza
In addition to the tower, the project includes a half-acre plaza to the east that will be built and maintained by the developer, Hines. To the south is the main entrance to the new transit center, which when it opens in 2017 will rise 80 feet and be topped by a 5.4-acre park.

Hines' and Pelli Clarke Pelli's winning entry in the competition for the Transbay site included not only the tower and the park-topped transit system, but a diagonal elevator ascending from the plaza to link the two spaces.

That connection was missing in the plans presented to the city in March, as was any public access to the tower beyond ground-floor retail space. Now, though, a funicular elevator will glide upward to the park through a landscape of 20 redwood trees spaced 30 feet apart, part of the plaza design by PWP Landscape Architecture.

http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/15/25/50/3496504/5/628x471.jpg

Another path to the rooftop park will be through a seating-filled public lobby added to a corner of the tower facing the plaza. In that lobby will be an express elevator to the fifth floor, where the tower and the park will be connected by a 128-foot-wide deck lined on the tower side with shops.

City planning hearing
The Planning Commission hearing is scheduled for Oct. 18, 11 weeks after Mayor Ed Lee signed into law a plan for what now is called the Transit Center District. That plan raises heights on several sites to allow extra-tall towers . . . .

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/place/article/Tweaked-S-F-tower-plans-up-for-approval-3888331.php#photo-3496504

Looks like a giant camel toe, but I actually like it. It breaks up the over simplistic design, and the night shot looks stunning :)

Mayor Ed Lee signed into law a plan for what now is called the Transit Center District. That plan raises heights on several sites to allow extra-tall towers that would generate money for the rebuilt transit terminal through fees and land-sale proceeds . . . .


http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/place/article/Tweaked-S-F-tower-plans-up-for-approval-3888331.php#photo-3499897

And in case you are eager to see what that means for San Francisco, LWR over at SSP has photoshopped together some material from Socketsite to give us an idea (note, the greenish-hued buildings are mostly just massing studies, not actual designs, hence the squarish shapes):

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~genealogylinks/gfx/San%20Francisco.jpg
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=24868&page=203

Awesome, no?

Some more info and new renderings of the tweaked design:

While the design for San Francisco’s Transbay Tower to rise on the south side of Mission Street between 1st and Fremont Streets has shrunken from 1,200 to 1,070 feet, the proposed 61-story tower will still cast new shadows across San Francisco, shadows which can be problematic and fodder for litigation.

The proposed tower will yield 1.37 million square feet of office space; 10,600 square feet of retail; 39,370 square feet of off-street subterranean parking; and over 28,300 square feet of public open space, including a 24,000 square foot plaza at the corner of 1st and Fremont Streets featuring a funicular connecting the plaza with the 5.4 acre City Park above the Transit Center.

http://www.socketsite.com/101%201st%20Street%20Rendering%20-%20Tower%20Crown.jpg
www.socketsite.com
http://www.socketsite.com/101%201st%20Street%20Rendering.jpg
www.socketsite.com
http://www.socketsite.com/101%201st%20Street%20Rendering%20-%20Corner%20Closeup.jpg
www.socketsite.com

More info (http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2012/10/planning_to_raise_the_shadow_limits_for_the_transbay_di.html#more).

Source: www.sfexaminer.com

Cloud clears in Transbay Transit Center shadow spat
By: Mike Billings | 10/12/12 4:00 AM
Assistant Managing Editor | Follow On Twitter @Mbillings

Buildings planned in the area around the future Transbay Transit Center in South of Market will be able to cast shadows that will sweep across several open spaces.

If a development would cast a shadow over parks or open space in The City, it has to receive approval from the Planning and Recreation and Park commissions under a voter-approved proposition from the 1980s and subsequent planning codes.

At and around the transit center, some of the tallest buildings in San Francisco are proposed to be built in the next two decades. The first major building could be the Transit Center Tower, a 1,070-foot skyscraper at First and Mission streets whose shadows could reach parks as far away as Union Square and Chinatown.

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2012/10/cloud-clears-transbay-transit-center-shadow-spat#ixzz29Wplt7PF

More info and renderings:

http://commissions.sfplanning.org/cpcpackets/2008.0789K%20&%202012.0257EBX.pdf

the Transbay Tower was finally approved last night:

http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2012/10/proposed_1070foot_transbay_tower_approved_to_rise_by_pl.html#comments

That's because it's the same architect. It seems that pelli's goal is to put one of his giant dildos in every major city. New York is getting one too, and it's going to block views of the empire state building:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/24/nyregion/24empire.html

Also check out his (Pelli's) 60+ story Mitikah Tower in Mexico City. It's part of a project which also involves a collaborative effort with Richard Meier, among others. Similar dildo effect but with interesting colored shards among the windows. Not as tall as Transbay (268 meters, vs. 326) but there are rumors that eventually it could be higher than was originally announced. Fortunately it's in a part of town where there are no other major skyscrapers so there won't be issues about blocking existing views. A major difference is that Mitikah will primarily be residential, with some floors used for hotel and businesses. Renderings can be seen in the Mitikah thread within SSC Mexico City.

great news :)

Beautiful building! Glad it's approved!!

Boston Properties partners with Hines on Transbay Tower

Boston Properties is joining Hines as the partner in the development of the Transbay Tower, a 1.4 million-square-foot, 61-story tower to be built next to the Transbay Transit Center.
In a statement Hines said it had finalized the formation of a joint venture with Boston Properties to acquire the project land from the Transbay Joint Powers Authority. The approximately $190 million acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2013. Hines and Boston Properties each have a 50 percent interest in the venture.
In addition, on Oct. 18, the San Francisco Planning Commission granted final planning approval for the tower to proceed. Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, the building is slated to be the tallest on the West Coast, with its crown soaring to a height of 1,070 feet.

Source and article: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2012/10/boston-properties-partners-with-hines.html?page=all

Boston Properties Chairman weighs in on Transbay Tower
San Francisco Business Times by J.K. Dineen, Reporter
Date: Friday, October 26, 2012, 3:57pm PDT - Last Modified: Monday, October 29, 2012, 12:26pm PDT
J.K. Dineen
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

Boston Properties executives say the groundbreaking for the 1,000-foot Transbay Tower in San Francisco will likely take place in 2014, but that it’s too early to tell if it will be built on a speculative basis.

The comments came during an earnings call on the day the real estate investment trust announced that it had formed a 50/50 joint venture with Hines to build the 1.4 million square foot tower at 101 First St. The partnership expects to close on the $190 million land acquisition in the first quarter of 2013.

Company President Douglas T. Linde said the tower would likely be delivered in 2017 . . . .

Both Linde and Chairman Mortimer Zuckerman made it clear that they regard San Francisco as among the strongest commercial leasing market in the United States, if not the strongest. In addition to the Transbay deal, Boston Properties recently bought 680 Folsom St., which is being renovated at the future home of Macys.com and Riverbed Technology.

“San Francisco is about as strong as any market that we are in. And we are very comfortable and confident about the strength of that market. And this is going to be the iconic building in the city. And so we think there’s a very good chance that we will do very well with it,” said Zuckerman. “We cannot really predict the exact rent, but I can only tell you though on the basis of our preliminary numbers, we’re very excited about the prospect of being involved in this building, we’re involved with an outstanding partner who shares our view. So I think we are very much looking forward to it. San Francisco has been just a fabulous market for office space for the last number of years, and we’ve seen it and experience it with Embarcadero Center, and we just couldn’t be happier with the way that’s going. So we’re really very comfortable about taking on this particular project” . . . .
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2012/10/boston-properties-chairman-weighs-in.html?ed=2012-10-29&s=article_du&page=all

By the way, if you don't know, that's the same Mortimer Zuckerman who owns (and publishes) the New York Daily News, US News & World Report Magazine and can frequently be seen as a panel guest on the PBS show, the McLaughlin Group.

Boston Props has, for a long time, owned the Embarcadero Center among other San Francisco buildings.

this building looks a lot like "costanera center", the highest latin american building (300 m), still under construction in Chile (it was also designed by cesar Pelli):

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/1008/comparacion.png

^^Pelli seems to have used this basic design all over the world. It's one reason I preferred the Rogers design:

http://www.rsh-p.com/Asp/uploadedFiles/image/2815_transbay/tower_mission%20street%20view.jpg
http://www.rsh-p.com/render.aspx?siteID=1&navIDs=1,4,23,1394&showImages=detail&imageID=2510

But that's all history now.

The Transbay Joint Powers Authority finished a deal last week to sell the vacant downtown city block at First and Mission streets to Hines Corp. for $190 million, paving the way for construction of the city's tallest high-rise.

At 1,070 feet, the tower will eclipse the Transamerica Pyramid - now the city's tallest building - by 217 feet.

Hines and its partners will pay a record $3,761 a square foot for the land - and the Transbay authority will need every cent to help pay for its new $4.2 billion transit center next door.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/5-pay-cut-for-officials-from-Brown-down-4063971.php

Pelli is tiring me.

But what about that tower featured in that u tube video ? it was much more sexy !!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGqqGelN2sg

But what about that tower featured in that u tube video ? it was much more sexy !!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGqqGelN2sg

You're a little late, that design was rejected around 5 years ago.

Ok thanx for the answer...yeah i m probably late...i just recently got to know about the whole project

why sexy towers never got built !!!

Ok thanx for the answer...yeah i m probably late...i just recently got to know about the whole project

why sexy towers never got built !!!

San Francisco's interest (the city government's, that is) is in building the transit terminal. This project started as a central station for the CalTrain commuter rail line and a replacement for the grungy 1930s bus station. So in order to raise funds for the terminal, they auctioned off the land next to it (all of which had been part of the former bus station) for the tower.

The design competition for the tower involved a package deal--both the design and the development plan including a bid for the land. Hines/Pelli simply offered a lot more money for the land which put the city way ahead in raising funds for the terminal. It allowed them to push part of the terminal that they had intended to build in a second phase into the first phase (the so-called "train box"--the bare walls of the space where the train platforms will be once they tunnel from 4th & Townsend Sts where the current station is to 1st & Mission Sts where the new station will be).

It is worth noting that the pelli design was the only design with a rooftop park on the terminal. And that park is destined to be an amazing place, so despite the fact that the more innovative SOM design wasn't chosen, to the disappointment of many, i think we're still getting a better deal (the extra money was nice too). Personally I liked the Pelli tower better anyway (simple and elegant in my opinion, though it is a little boring in comparison to the SOM proposal), partly because of the park, but also because I felt the SOM tower would have looked more outdated and tacky in a few decades, due to the massive curvy arches everywhere.

It is worth noting that the pelli design was the only design with a rooftop park on the terminal. And that park is destined to be an amazing place

I have my doubts about how many people will use it. As long as the funicular stays in the design allowing people to easily get up there directly from the sidewalk without entering the terminal, maybe it will get well used. Briefly, though,Hines tried to "value engineer" the funicular out of the design and without it, I don't think that many people would bother going up there. Also, look at the two tall buildings they are allowing just to the south of the park which will shade at least 1/3 of it. They long ago encouraged the developer of Foundry Square to keep his project short so as NOT to shade the terminal and this was fortunate, but apparently they don't think the whole thing needs to get full sun and I can't see many people going up there to sit in the shade and wind.

ok thanx guys, it's about time the Bay area get innovative new buildings, since the Frisco Skyline (as do many skylines in Downtown USA) look quite old now...especially if compared with towers in cities like Dubai, or Shanghai or even some european cities...

ok thanx guys, it's about time the Bay area get innovative new buildings, since the Frisco Skyline (as do many skylines in Downtown USA) look quite old now...especially if compared with towers in cities like Dubai, or Shanghai or even some european cities...

No American skylines are ever likely to compete with places like Dubai. In Dubai, things get built because the royal family or its friends in construction and development decide to build something, often for prestige.

In San Francisco, nearly everything mitigates against building new highrises. For one thing, buildings only get built in full-on capitalist societies when there is a demand and much of the market for new commercial space in San Francisco doesn't really want to be in a highrise--the tech industry prefers funky rehabbed warehouses and that sort of space. And the politics are bad--there remain substantial anti-development forces ready and able to drag out every project approval. And San Francisco is a cool, damp city such that sunlight is highly valued making tall buildings that cast shadows unpopular--and leading to very restrictive height limits on them.

As things are, there is more demand for highrise residential space right now than commercial. Even that is rather new (the preferred residence used to be a restored Victorian house but some of those able to spend a million or several on a home now do want to live in a highrise). But as a result, there are probably more residential buildings in the 35 floor and over category about to begin construction in San Francisco than commercial buildings of similar size. Counting the 2 currently under construction, I count about 7 residential to 2 or 3 commercial (but hey, 10 buildings of that height in a city of only 800,000 people is more than we've seen in a long time).

PS: It hurts my eyes to read the letters F-r-i-s-c-o. Locals say it all--San Francisco--but they manage to scrunch it all together almost as if it were one syllable in order to get it out of their mouth that much more quickly.

Yeah i see but the new millenium age requires some new landmark for the Bay..be it an iconic tower or a new bridge (isn't it what San francisco is famous for ? bridges )...the rebuilt Oakland and BayBridge wasn't really revolutionnary in term of design, it was more technical (i left the bay area when it was still under contruction)...

so i do think something is needed to revamp that classical image of SF Skyline


of course the age of new skyscrapers is more in asia and middle east now, not any more in the US (look at the Freedom tower disaster), but still i'm somehow tired of seeing the Transamerica Pyramid still dominating the skyline (and the BOA tower isn't iconic enough to overshadow it)...


anyway it's cool if new residential highrises are coming through, they can be quite iconic too anyway...and that proposed Transbay tower is not that bad...just a bit simple...but i guess it will really change the whole skyline...when is it supposed to finish construction so i plan my next visit accordingly ;)

For the Nimbys state of mind or people not willing to work in highrise any more, i see similar trend in Paris... interesting to know San francisco also has its share of this crowd !!

PS : when leaving in the Bay i heard people saying Frisco so i thought it was common to use that

As I've been saying since they came up with this plan:

The delicate balance between meeting tenant need and overbuilding could be challenged when Hines and Boston Properties start construction on the 1.6 million-square-foot Transbay Tower at First and Mission streets. Fasulo of Real Capital Analytics thinks it’s unlikely that the Transbay Tower will go forward without a major commitment.

“There are few projects of that size in the world that go forward on spec without full government backing. It would take massive commitment to get that moving,” said Fasulo. “I’m not sure the market is deep enough right now.”
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/print-edition/2013/02/22/speculative-development-roars-back-in.html?page=all

great proposed, looks like costanera center in santiago de chile.

Mar 20, 2013, 2:52pm PDT
Boston Properties takes control of Transbay Tower, S.F.'s tallest building

J.K. Dineen
Reporter-
San Francisco Business Times

Boston Properties has replaced Hines as the lead developer of the Transbay Tower, which will be San Francisco’s tallest building.

Hines, which for six years has been the public face of the proposed 61-story tower, has sold 90 percent of its remaining interest in the 1.4 million square foot Transbay Tower development to Boston Properties. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Boston Properties stated that Hines has elected to reduce its ownership interest in the joint venture from 50 percent to 5 percent, leaving Boston Properties as the 95 percent owner of the site.

The agreement comes as the Transbay Joint Powers Authority is preparing to sell the property for $190 million to the developers. The money will be used to help pay for the $4 billion Transbay terminal project in the south financial district. The land transfer is scheduled to close March 26st, with a March 27th public ceremony celebrating the transaction.

In October Boston Properties announced that it had bought a 50 percent stake in the tower, essentially replacing MetLife as equity partner. Boston Properties is currently working on two other San Francisco developments: a renovation of 680 Folsom St., which has been preleased to Riverbed Technology and Macys.com; and 535 Mission St., a speculative tower that Swinerton Builders is started construction on this month . . . .

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/03/change-at-transbay-tower-boston.html?ana=e_bay_real&s=newsletter&ed=2013-03-21&u=kgyD14TZJI3FvbdA37c/luRxObP

Since 2008 I have been saying I doubted Hines would ever build this tower and would ultimately sell its interest. It's nice to be right, especially because I think Boston Properties wouldn't be buying it if they weren't serious. As a publicly owned REIT (unlike private Hines), Boston Properties has the SEC and stockholders to account to. They are in the business of building and owning commercial property, not land speculation and related activities. And they have a track record as relatively straight shooters. At least for now I think they intent to move forward and I look forward to hearing their plans (is the building to be all office still or some mixture?).

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/03/change-at-transbay-tower-boston.html?ana=e_bay_real&s=newsletter&ed=2013-03-21&u=kgyD14TZJI3FvbdA37c/luRxObP

Since 2008 I have been saying I doubted Hines would ever build this tower and would ultimately sell its interest. It's nice to be right, especially because I think Boston Properties wouldn't be buying it if they weren't serious. As a publicly owned REIT (unlike private Hines), Boston Properties has the SEC and stockholders to account to. They are in the business of building and owning commercial property, not land speculation and related activities. And they have a track record as relatively straight shooters. At least for now I think they intent to move forward and I look forward to hearing their plans (is the building to be all office still or some mixture?).

Good call. I was a little curious as to why this project wasn't going to begin until 2014, and now it seems the answer is clear. Hopefully Boston Prop. can get this thing finally pinned down.

Good call. I was a little curious as to why this project wasn't going to begin until 2014, and now it seems the answer is clear. Hopefully Boston Prop. can get this thing finally pinned down.

Maybe sooner???

Once the transaction is complete, the developers are expected to break ground on the 1,070-foot metal-and-glass-facade Transit Tower. A start date is pending. Plans for the structure, which was designed by architects Pelli Clarke Pelli, call for a 61-floor building that will have 1.4 million square feet of floor space. More than 10,000 square feet of retail space and 1.37 million square feet of office space also are planned.

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/development/2013/03/transbay-transit-center-land-sale-expected-be-completed-soon#ixzz2OOCbSRo3

What an elegant building! Hopefully it can get started before 2014.

Good call. I was a little curious as to why this project wasn't going to begin until 2014, and now it seems the answer is clear. Hopefully Boston Prop. can get this thing finally pinned down.

I doubt there is firm date to get going with it. This building is HUGE for San Francisco. It's just so much space for the market to absorb at one time that they really need at least an anchor tenant before they could afford to build it. In fact, I also doubt they'll find one big enough so I suspect before it's built (if it ever is) they'll come up with a new scheme to make some of it office and some of it a hotel or condos.

350 Mission lucked out snagging Salesforce.com so it's hard to think of anyone else looking for so much space. The ideal would be someone like Wells Fargo looking to put their name on a marquee building (does anyone even know where the Wells HQ is?). But, in fact, putting so much cash into ego is a mistake for most companies and Wells is probably too well-managed to go for something like that.

Hines is about to start Tower Verre in NYC. Getting cash for that project had to be a consideration.

Race to the Top
The race is on for the distinction of tallest tower on the West Coast, which hasn't seen any buildings taller than 700 feet completed in two decades.

On Wednesday, developers Boston Properties Inc. and Hines are scheduled to break ground on work for their planned 1,070-foot Transbay Tower office building in San Francisco.

Should it be completed, it would be 52 feet taller than the US Bank Tower in Los Angeles, the tallest building west of the Mississippi River. That is, unless a planned 1,100-foot tower in Los Angeles on the site of the Wilshire Grand hotel is completed first.

Last month, the developers of the Los Angeles building, Korean Air Lines Co., 003490.SE -0.86% and their architects at AC Martin Partners released plans for the 73-story skyscraper that would have a 900-room hotel and office and retail space. Demolition of the former hotel is under way.

For now, the developers of both projects plan to be completed by 2017.

But Boston Properties and Hines haven't said whether they will proceed past early stages if they don't have a tenant. Korean Air hasn't released details on its financing.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323466204578384581211134680.html?KEYWORDS=Transbay+tower

I think what is about to happen is that nominal construction is about to begin because the tower and terminal were designed as one project and I'm sure that certain underground work on the tower needs to coordinate with the terminal which is proceeding. But I am certain the tower will not rise above ground without an anchor tenant.

Mar 27, 2013, 3:45pm PDT
Hines, Boston Properties sling ceremonial dirt in Transbay ground-breaking
J.K. Dineen
Reporter-
San Francisco Business Times

Boston Properties and Hines are the official owners of 101 First St., a 50,000 square foot parcel next to the Transbay Terminal that will some day be home to the west coast’s tallest tower.

The sale of the property was celebrated today when Boston Properties and Hines today passed a overblown check over to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority Executive Director Maria Ayardi-Kaplan.

The check weighed in at $191,816,196.57. The money will help pay for the Transbay Terminal at First and Mission streets, a $4 billion transit hub that is under construction . . . .

The land deal, which marks the transference of 50,000 square feet at First and Mission from the TJPA to the developers, was also marked with a ceremonial ground-breaking — which if you have not been to one is a ground-breaking where no ground is actually broken. Instead at ceremonial ground-breakings, developers, architects and elected officials make speeches and then use ceremonial gold-plated shovels to toss around a bunch of ceremonial dirt that is sitting in a box.

Still, the reception drew globe-trotting architect Cesar Pelli and two international real estate superstars rarely seen in San Francisco — Hines Chairman Gerald Hines and Boston Properties Chairman and CEO Mortimer Zuckerman. Zuckerman, whose company will have 2 million square feet of construction underway by the end of the year, joked that he was “looking forward to expanding the company name to Boston San Francisco Properties when this building is finished” . . . .

Later on in the ceremony Zuckerman seized on the slip and told the mayor that “actually Mark Zuckerberg will be paying the rent on the building,” suggesting that Facebook could become the Transbay Tower’s anchor tenant . . . .
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/03/hines-boston-properties-sling.html?ana=e_bay_real&s=newsletter&ed=2013-03-28&u=kgyD14TZJI3FvbdA37c%2FluRxObP&page=all

Facebook, of course, is building its own HQ in the South Bay but the little reparte' does suggest that the need for an anchor tenant is at the top of Zuckerman's mind.

Only 60 fl for a building over 1,000 ft?

Only 60 fl for a building over 1,000 ft?

The occupied portion is only 920 ft (with a 150 ft crown screening wind turbines and other green "stuff"), 15 ft per floor which I don't think is too unusual for a building that's 100% office. Each floor will have all sorts of networking gear and other stuff in the dropped ceilings.

San Francisco, Los Angeles Vie For Tallest Skyscraper (http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county-times/ci_22912466/san-francisco-los-angeles-vie-tallest-skyscraper)


SAN FRANCISCO -- Starry-eyed city leaders boast that the $4.2 billion Transbay Transit Center planned for South of Market will include the tallest building on the West Coast, but they've left out one crucial detail: a tower in Los Angeles that is poised to stretch 30 feet higher.

Mayor Ed Lee and other city officials this week celebrated the $192 million acquisition of a property at the corner of First and Mission streets where two developers will erect the 1,070-foot-tall Transbay Transit Tower by 2017. The office tower will become the tallest building in San Francisco, eclipsing the iconic Transamerica Pyramid, built in 1972.

But the elegantly tapered skyscraper's western dominion will be short-lived, if it ever comes to pass. Korean Air is planning an ambitious hotel and office tower in downtown Los Angeles that will rise 1,100 feet, including a 100-foot stainless steel spire. The new Wilshire Grand is also slated to open in 2017.

Nonetheless, Lee joined the Transbay Joint Power Authority on Tuesday in touting the supremacy of the Transbay tower, which will soar above a new transportation hub supporting 11 transit systems and a micro-neighborhood with 2,600 residential units.

"Soon to be the West Coast's tallest building," Lee crowed in a statement, "the Transbay tower benefits not only a world-class transit facility but also represents the strength of our city's recovery."

Asked about the Wilshire Grand, the communications team for the Transbay Joint Powers Authority at first stuck to its position that the Transbay tower will be taller. Spokesman Adam Alberti even claimed San Francisco's new skyscraper will be significantly higher than 1,070 feet. He later acknowledged this was incorrect.

Alberti said the authority is not concerned with bragging rights, just a well-conceived project: "If that ends up with us having the second-tallest tower in the west by some standards, I don't think anyone will lose sleep over it."

The mayor's office did not respond Friday to a request for comment.

[...]

^^Let's not forget the Transbay was originally planned to be 200 ft taller but the city cut it down, obviously not concerned about any "tallest" contests.

And that's a good thing because, as I keep saying, I wonder when there'll ever be enough demand for office space to make this thing, even at 1000 ft, economically feasible. While it languishes, there are at least 4 or 5 smaller projects in the pipeline that can absorb demand as it comes along, pushing off the day when the Transbay will be needed.

Apparently Korean Air thinks there's a need for another downtown LA hotel and more office space so they can proceed, shouldering the vacant space until it can be filled. But the number of Asian real estate buyers and developers who have lost their kimonos (or whatever works for a "shirt" in Korea) in the US market is legion.

Cesar Pelli’s Transbay Transit Tower, soon to be the tallest building west of the Mississippi, will reshape San Francisco’s skyline (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/cesar-pelli-transbay-transit-tower-soar-61-stories-san-francisco-article-1.1308926)

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1308103.1365112242!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/article-transbay-tower-0404.jpg


The city by the bay will have a new heart in its skyline, once the tower’s 61 stories soar to 1070 feet.


By David Knowles / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Saturday, April 6, 2013, 12:01 AM
Updated: Saturday, April 6, 2013, 12:01 AM

[img]http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1308834.1365186274!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/article-transbay4-0405.jpg
Architect Cesar Pelli says he hopes his creation will add some spark to what has become a "rather boring skyline" in San Francisco.


SAN FRANCISCO--A tower rises in the west.

Designed by renowned architect Cesar Pelli, construction of San Francisco’s Transbay Transit Tower is now officially underway.

A mixed use skyscraper that will reside atop the Transbay Terminal — a future rail hub that developers are billing as the west coast equivalent to Grand Central Station — Pelli’s sleek tower will reach 61 stories, 1070 feet into the sky, making it the tallest building west of the Mississippi River. “The numbers don’t interest me,” Pelli told the Daily News. “What is important is that the building be visible above others.”

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1308825.1365186079!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/article-transbay2-0405.jpg
The Transbay Transit Tower will be more than 200 feet taller than the Transamerica Pyramid.


More than 200 feet taller than the iconic Transamerica Pyramid, the city’s highest man made peak since it was completed in 1972, Pelli’s design will go up just south of Market St., a part of town ripe for the addition of a bold architectural landmark. “I have known San Francisco for over 50 years,” Pelli said, “and it used to have a much more cheery silhouette than it does today. I’m sad to say it has become a rather boring skyline because of building codes.”

As with every building project in San Francisco, earthquake safety is a priority, but even though the tower is going up in a part of the city where landfill was used to cover over the Bay, Pelli says there’s no need to worry. “Towers are inherently safer in earthquakes than low buildings,” Pelli said. “If you know an earthquake is coming run to the tallest building you can find.”

The developers for the project — Boston Properties, Inc., which is owned by Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman, and Hines — estimate that building the tower will cost upwards of $1 billion.

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1308821.1365185989!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/article-transbay1-0405.jpg
Part of the new Transbay Terminal, a high speed rail and transportation hub, the Transbay Transit Tower will feature approximately 1.3 million square feet of rental space.


With luck, by the time the tower is finished in 2016, the adjacent rail terminal will be have progressed beyond the planning stage. Then again, since California voters approved a high speed rail line connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles five years ago, the estimated cost of the project has doubled to a jaw dropping $69 billion.

Still, with or without the high speed train, the Transbay Transit Tower will be completed and offer 1,300,000 square feet of rental space. “It will be a shame if California doesn’t build high speed rail,” Pelli said. “When I go to Japan I never fly while I’m there. I take the Shinkansen everywhere.”

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1308836.1365186681!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/high-speed-rail.jpg
Set at the corner of First and Mission Streets, the Transbay Transit Tower will cost an estimated $1 billion to build.


With anticipation running high in San Francisco to see how the Transbay Transit Tower will reshape the city, Pelli is already on to new projects. When asked if there’s anywhere in the world he’d especially like to leave his architectural mark, he laughs and says he leaves that up to his clients. “I’m like a kid on Christmas, waiting to see what I’m going to be given,” he explained.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/cesar-pelli-transbay-transit-tower-soar-61-stories-san-francisco-article-1.1308926#ixzz2PfQXjXNm