A rendering of the planned Parcel F tower, which San Francisco approved on Tuesday.
Steelblue /San Francisco supervisors approved on Tuesday an 806-foot tower that will be the city’s fourth-tallest building, the culmination of a four-year process that included afight over shadowsand an office leasethat was canceled bySalesforce after the pandemic popularized remote work.
Supervisors voted 10-1 to confirm the Parcel F project at 542-550 Howard St. next to the Transbay transit center. A routine second vote affirming the decision is scheduled next week.
从主管Aaro董事会拒绝了提议n Peskin to delay the vote for a week and require developer Hines to obtain building permits within three years. Under Peskin’s rejected proposal, which he said would lock in community benefits, the approval would expire if the developer didn’t meet the deadline.
Cameron Falconer, a Hines executive, said during the Tuesday hearing that the developer wouldn’t agree to such terms, but it will seek to raise $1 billion this year from lenders United Overseas Bank and JPMorgan Chase, with a goal of starting construction this year. It’s one of the biggest real estate bets on San Francisco’s economic recovery from the pandemic.
“We are focused. We are committed,” Falconer said. “It will be a wonderful addition to the city.”
The project is moving forward despite Salesforce’s decision to scrap its lease for all the office space as it shifts to more remote work. An anchor tenant is typically a crucial requirement for starting construction and getting investors, but nearby Transbay towers moved forward without such commitments and later found tenants such as Facebook. But those deals occurred during a real estate boom, and Hines will seek to build after the office vacancy rate has roughly tripled to over 18% during the pandemic, according to real estate brokers.
The project includes 325,000 square feet of office space, 165 condos and 189 hotel rooms, and Hines said it has a commitment from an unnamed hotel operator. It has strong support from the politically powerful hotel and construction unions, who said it would be an economic windfall in a time of mass unemployment.
Rudy Gonzalez, secretary treasurer of Building Trades Council, a construction union group, said over 1,000 of its members are unemployed and the project would provide much-needed activity.
Unite Here Local 2, the local hotel union, said on Tuesday that Hines had agreed to allow hotel workers at the project to consider unionizing and supported the project.
The project will also pay $47 million in affordable housing fees to help build 192 affordable homes at a separate site on Howard Street that was part of the temporary Transbay Terminal.
Hines was a developer of what is nowSalesforce Tower,winning the competition to design thecity’s tallest building in 2007.Now 14 years later, it will have the opportunity to build on the Transbay district’s last major tower site.
Roland Li is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email:roland.li@sfchronicle.comTwitter:@rolandlisf
