Transit center park looking to models in S.F., New York

When the rooftop park opens next spring at San Francisco’s new transit center, the rules will be based on the ones at Yerba Buena Gardens. The programming model is something more distant: New York City’s Bryant Park.

Both topics were on the agenda at Thursday’s board meeting of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority — evidence that as the transit center’s opening draws near, the focus is shifting from the nuts and bolts of construction to making the bus terminal and its public spaces function as smoothly and enticingly as possible.

Late March is the target date to begin bus service at the facility, which will have its main entrance at Mission and Fremont streets. That’s also when the 5.4-acre rooftop park will pre-

miere.

The rooftop park will be considered public even though it will be owned by the Transbay authority, rather than San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Department. This is the same arrangement as used three blocks away at Yerba Buena Gardens, where a private firm handles maintenance and security.

With the Yerba Buena precedent in mind, the Transbay board voted to adopt the city park code, along with alterations that been introduced at Yerba Buena.

The rooftop will be managed by Biederman Redevelopment Ventures, which started out in the 1990s as part of the team that revived Bryant Park, the popular destination in Midtown Manhattan.

“We emphasize daily activities . ... Everything here except buying a meal will be free,” said Dan Biederman. He suggested that by next summer there will be everything from community festivals to facepainting booths, free knitting classes and nooks where you can borrow a board game or a book.

At the same time, he complimented the park’s design by PWP Landscape Architecture. It includes 12 distinct gardens and more than 400 trees amid plazas and meadows.

“A lot of the attraction will be the horticulture,” Biederman said, praising the size of some of the more exotic trees now being installed on the roof. “You’ve really spent well on things that people love in parks.”

When it does open don’t look for the word “Transbay,” even though it has been associated with the site since the original terminal opened in 1939. The new structure will be named Salesforce Transit Center, after the local tech firm that will pay $110 million in sponsorship fees over a 25-year period. Salesforce will also be the lead tenant next door at, yes, Salesforce Tower.