The urban regeneration of San Francisco's Transbay district

San Francisco, CA

20 January 2025

The urban regeneration of San Francisco’s Transbay District, centered around the Salesforce Transit Center, exemplifies sustainable urban development. Reimagining a formerly isolated and underutilized part of downtown San Francisco, the Transbay District has transformed into a vibrant, mixed-use hub that reconnects the city with its waterfront and surrounding neighborhoods.

Pelli Clarke & Partners’ winning 2008 competition design addresses 5 key issues:

Promote sustainable growth and plan for the next 100 years of transportation needs through intermodal connectivity of bus, commuter rail, and high-speed rail.
Leverage the district’s development potential, centered on the Salesforce Transit Center, create a sense of place, community, and civic pride.
Foster a vibrant live, work, play environment.
Heal the urban fabric through connections to the neighboring Financial and Arts Districts, the Rincon Hill neighborhood, and the Bay.
Humanize this large-scale infrastructure project through an open and inviting design that enhances the public realm.

The economic impact of the Transbay development has reached the surrounding neighborhood by improving transit access, providing over 11 acres of parks and open space, and adding nearly 6 million SF of office and retail space.

In Jane Jacobs’ book, titled The Death and Life of American Cities, there are four components to urban vitality: 1) density, 2) mixed-use, 3) small blocks, and 4) a mix of old and new buildings. Many of these characteristics can be seen in the master plan of the Transbay District; empty blocks are infilled to increase urban density; mixed-use rezoning promotes diverse urban functions; new open green spaces are designed to uplift the community; and new buildings are interspersed within the older urban fabric to provide continuity with the rich history of the district while it looks to the future of a rejuvenated downtown. All of this was made possible by the elimination of the pre-existing bus ramps which opened this area to redevelopment.

The winding bay bridge cut off downtown San Francisco from the waterfront, and isolated an entire downtown district from surrounding neighborhoods. Credit: SF Gate

The bus ramps encircled this area with surface parking lots. Down at the street level, the low ramps created an uninviting environment with dark, unpleasant, and unsafe spaces along their entire length. Credit: San Francisco County Transportation Authority

Prior to the Loma Prieta earthquake on October 17, 1989, the multi-level Embarcadero Freeway cut-off downtown San Francisco from the waterfront. The winding Bay Bridge bus ramps and those of the former transit center isolated an entire downtown district from surrounding neighborhoods and created an area devoid of pedestrian-friendly streets, a sprawl of surface parking lots that lacked urban cohesion.

The transformation of the Transbay District started long before the Salesforce Transit Center addition. Future buildings promise to add to the growing mixed-use character of the district with hotels, apartments, condominiums, and retail space.

The regeneration efforts included the removal of the damaged Bay Bridge bus ramps and the outdated Transbay Bus Terminal. In turn, this created opportunities for new commercial and residential developments, including nearly 4,000 new housing units, 35% of which are designated as affordable housing. Additionally, the creation of 11 acres of parks and open space, along with over 6 million square feet of office and retail space, and improved transit access, has enhanced the area's appeal as a desirable urban community.

One example of the nation-wide construction process is the production and fabrication of the steel superstructure. The 304 large cast-node fittings, which form part of the ‘basket column’ structure, were cast at the Bradken Foundaries, in both Louisiana and Kansas. Weighing between 27,000 to 47,000 pounds each, the nodes were then shipped to Oregon for machining and dry-fit assembly.

125,000

jobs created by 2030

The project’s impact extends beyond local revitalization, generating substantial economic benefits, including $87 Billion in Gross Regional Product and creating 125,000 jobs by 2030. The Transbay District’s transformation has successfully reintegrated this once-isolated area into the fabric of San Francisco, setting a new standard for urban regeneration projects.

Salesforce Plaza opens up the previously derelict surface parking lots to a more brighter, pedestrian friendly experience.

Urban parks are the center of community activity, offering open, public places for relaxation, play, entertainment and social engagement. San Francisco’s tradition of developing neighborhoods around public parks was the inspiration for the rooftop park at Salesforce Transit Center around which the revitalized district has grown.

At the very heart of San Francisco’s Transbay district is a growing community that will continue to thrive. We anticipate further enrichment and diversity of the Transit Center programmatic uses once the connection to extend Caltrain service to downtown San Francisco and serve as the northern terminal for future California high-speed rail.