Familiar faces for transit center
Philz, Fitness SF and Onsite Dental ready to get in on ground floor as tenants at S.F. Transbay complex
San Francisco’s new $2.4 billion transit center is close to landing some familiar shops.
Local coffeemaker Philz is in talks to lease two groundfloor locations on the east and west ends of what’s officially known as the Salesforce Transit Center, the transportation facility spanning four blocks in the Transbay district. A group of San Francisco restaurant owners is also in lease negotiations. On the second floor, Fitness SF wants to open a 34,000-square-foot gym and Onsite Dental is planning a clinic.
The pending leases are up for approval this week by landlord Transbay Joint Powers Authority. The leases could be signed within 30 days, with the tenants opening for business by January, said Mark Zabaneh, executive director of the authority.
Asking rents range from $50 per square foot for Fitness SF, to $81 per square foot for the planned restaurant from the owners of nearby restaurant-bar Eddie Rickenbacker’s, and $86 per square foot for Philz and Onsite Dental, according to Zabaneh. The leases run 10 to 15 years.
Philz, Onsite Dental and the restaurant group confirmed they are negotiating leases. Fitness SF didn’t respond to requests for comment.
“We are excited to be part of a new era in San Francisco prosperity,” said Noelle Calixto, a co-owner of Eddie Rickenbacker’s. “This terminal represents the cutting edge of architectural design and infrastructure.”
The prospective leases total 43,000 square feet and would fill a large chunk of the center’s 100,000 square feet of retail. If signed, rental payments would bring in millions of dollars in
revenue a year, a critical money source to offset an estimated $20 million a year in operating costs for the center.
“This is a very big piece for us. It does fund operating costs,” Zabaneh said. “It’s a sign of confidence that this is a very good location.”
After enduring delays and cost overruns, the transit center will open in August, almost eight years to the day that construction started. (The project was named the Transbay Transit Center until local software company Salesforce bought the naming rights.) In addition to shops, the center will have bus service, a rooftop park and, if funding is secured, a station for Caltrain and high-speed rail.
The deals would be a sign of strength in a tumultuous time for retailers. There are long-empty storefronts throughout the city.
The Transbay district’s influx of new housing, with 4,400 new homes anticipated along with new office towers, will help drive demand for services like gyms, said Jeff Badstubner, a retail broker at JLL. Google, Facebook, Salesforce and other big office tenants are adding tens of thousands of jobs nearby.
“This location is ideally situated for us to serve our employer clients as well as other new patients,” Ern Blackwelder, CEO of Onsite Dental, said in a statement.
Before the permanent shops open, around 40 pop-up retailers will operate in temporary spaces when the center opens next month. The merchants will be a mix of food vendors, clothing stores and service providers, said Deborah Kravitz, president of PRI, who is handling leasing with those retailers.
There’s already strong appetite for food in the area, said Kazuko Morgan, a broker with CBRE who is representing other prospective tenants.
“There’s lines out the door everywhere. There’s huge pent-up demand,” she said. “This is really the last piece to activate the entire area.”