San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Park’s closure hits residents hard
cracked steel beams that shut down the new Transbay Transit Center last week disrupted the commutes of downtown workers and snarled traffic across downtown San Francisco.
But for residents in burgeoning Rincon Hill and the Transbay disforce trict — an area the community benefits district has dubbed the East Cut — the abrupt closure and uncertain future of the transit center carried an added significance, leaving a hole in the heart of a neighborhood that is just starting to come to life.
In addition to the 90,000 employees of companies including SalesThe and Facebook swarming in during the day, the East Cut is home to about 11,000 residents. When completed, the neighborhood will be home to about 18,000 people, roughly 40 percent of whom will live in below-market-rate housing. Currently, 2,000 units are under construction.
There are homeowners in expensive condo towers like the Infinity, Lumina and the notoriously sinking Millennium Tower. There are renters in newer skyscrapers like 340 Fremont, 399 Fremont St., Solaire and Jasper. And there are hundreds of low-income families and single adults — some of them formerly homeless — who have moved into affordable complexes at 280 Beale St., Natalie Gubb Commons and the Rene Cazenave Apartments.
For those folks, the transit center’s rooftop park was just starting to become a gathering spot, as important as Golden Gate Park is to families living in the Inner Sunset or Washington Square is to people in North Beach.
“It’s been an amazing respite for people in the most densely populated part of the city,” said Andrew Robinson, executive director of the East Cut Community Benefits District, which is funded by property owners and pays for the maintenance of Salesforce Park atop the transit center.
The $2.2 billion transit center and park opened Aug. 11, a Saturday, with a party that attracted lines around the block. After the inaugural bash, the park settled into a groove — drawing 1,000 to 1,200 people at lunchtime and about half that number in the evening.
Framed by downtown’s glass towers, the park features rolling hillocks and a grassy meadow, 600 trees and 16,000 plants in 13 gardens. There is a great lawn, a half-mile jogging track, a restaurant space and an amphitheater. From the start the park bustled with a steady schedule of events — swing dancing, art classes, tai chi, yoga and Thursday night concerts.
Even cynics who think that the $2.2 billion transit center is the world’s most expensive bus station — and that the dream of high-speed rail will never come to fruition — “have been pleasantly surprised,” Robinson said.
“I was going every day,” said Nancy Ellen, a retired interior designer who lives at 400 Beale St. “It is so peaceful. An uplifting and necessary place for our city. It is my health club. I’d walk it twice. That’s a mile.”
Adrian Caratowsa, who lives at Natalie Gubb Commons, said he was at the park less than an hour before officials closed it down Tuesday. Caratowsa, who volunteers with the East Cut organization, said he had been going four to five times a week.
“I go up there and stare at rich people all day — it’s great,” he said.
He called the park “our baby” and the best escape for East Cut residents. Like many in the area, he patiently watched it take shape for years and couldn’t wait to start using it.
While residents in many of the upscale towers have all the services they need, those in the affordable buildings do not, Caratowsa said.
“If you live in one of the market-rate towers you have a pool, you have a garage, you have a gym, you have a dog run, you have everything you want,” he said. “But the lowincome people don’t have all that. For us the park was really important, because it provided so much.”
Barry White lives in the Rene Cazenave Apartments at Essex and Folsom streets. It was the first development in the transbay redevelopment district when it opened five years ago. He benefited from the opening of the transit center because it rerouted some bus traffic away from the Interstate 80 off-ramp that passes by his window. Now those buses are back, because they must use the Temporary Transbay Terminal.
White, a retired art gallery owner, ended up in the Transbay district after he found himself homeless and living on a friend’s couch in North Beach. He said the building has been a blessing, and he has enjoyed watching the neighborhood sprout up.
“It felt a little desolate at first — there was not much open on weekends and it didn’t have the quaint cafes like North Beach,” he said. “But as I’ve gotten to know it, I’ve been feeling more a part of the community. I love to be around nature when I’m drinking my morning coffee. The transit center park provides that kind of a refuge.”
Perhaps most directly affected by the closure are Salesforce Tower, 181 Fremont and Park Tower, all of which connect directly to the park. About 30 of the 55 condos at 181 Fremont are occupied. The commercial tenant is Facebook, which is gradually moving into the building’s 435,000 square feet of office space. “The park has been a huge hit — more than anyone expected,” said Matt Lituchy, chief investment officer for Jay Paul Co., which built 181 Fremont. “There are thousands of residents and workers in the neighborhood who use it every day. The fact that it is now off-limits is disappointing.”
He said he doesn’t expect the closure to impact condo sales, “but obviously it’s something we would love to put behind us.”
The uncertainty over the future of the transit center could also delay a decision on the interim use of the temporary terminal, a flat 3.3-acre block bounded by Beale, Howard, Folsom and Main streets that served as the regional transit hub during the eight years the transit center was under construction. The site will eventually become a 1.1acre park and about 750 units of mostly affordable housing on either side.
Ideas for the interim use of the temporary site have included a playground, a dog run or a food truck park with activities like miniature golf. Development on the site is not expected to start for at least two years.
“We are incredibly lucky to have the temporary terminal to fall back on,” Robinson said. “It’s been easy and seamless.”
Cabdriver Aladdin Salah moved into the Gubb building four months ago from Daly City. He has three kids — ages 5, 10, and 12 — who attend school in Chinatown and the Marina district. He said the combination of the transit center’s cracked beams and the sinking Millennium Tower has made it seem like the neighborhood is cursed.
“It’s been a little scary, man,” he said. “These big buildings are not supposed to act like that. Hopefully things are going to be OK, but I don’t know.”
He said his children had started using the park in recent weeks but that he has been working too hard to make it up there.
“We are grateful to be living here. It’s beautiful — tourists come from everywhere to come here,” he said. “But I worry we’re becoming too much like New York. I don’t know much about geology, but I don’t know if the soil can handle all the big buildings. God bless this beautiful place, man.”
Ellen, the interior decorator who lives on Beale Street, said she hopes the park will reopen in time for the winter holiday season.
“I’ve been very much looking forward to seeing it decorated for Christmas,” she said. “Unfortunately, right now it’s like a crime scene with the yellow tape. You can’t go near it.”
J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen