Beauty abundant at Transbay park
Rooftop oasis still closed, but could reopen while steel beams repaired
Even in the smoky haze that still blanketed San Francisco on Tuesday, the rooftop park atop the Transbay Transit Center stood out as a verdant oasis among the concrete, glass and steel of South of Market.
A hummingbird hovered, a robin landed on a steel railing and the chirps of other birds mingled with the electronic beeping of nearby construction equipment and delivery trucks. A patio full of red, yellow, blue and gray chairs and tables beckoned, as did a yellow structure of cables and poles for kids to climb.
Yet no one — save for a handful of maintenance workers — was around to enjoy the peaceful rooftop plaza.
After being open for just a month and a half, the Transbay park has been closed for the past eight weeks after the discovery of a pair of cracked steel support beams on the below bus deck. There’s still no timeline for the park’s reopening, though Transbay officials say they’re eager to welcome back the public.
“We would like to open the park as soon as possible,” said Christine Falvey, a spokeswoman for the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, which built and manages the $2.2 billion transit center and park. “We just have to find out what the repairs entail.”
From the moment it opened on Aug. 11, the Transbay Transit Center’s rooftop park drew rave reviews and more attention than the rest of the pricey station it sits atop. The three-block-long park quickly became the kind of place San Francisco residents and workers bragged about and tourists added to their must-see lists.
Then, on Sept. 25, construction workers spotted a crack in a giant support beam. A second fractured girder was later discovered. Park-
“Maintenance has never stopped since the grand opening.” Brian Thompson, project manager for builder of Transbay center park
goers, commuters and buses were immediately shooed from the center over concerns it could collapse, and the building — and its popular park — has been closed ever since.
The transit center has been bolstered with temporary supports as engineers search for the cause of the cracked girders and devise ways to fix the broken structure. A metallurgical lab in New York is analyzing samples from the cracked beams, and it’s expected to identify a cause for the failure, perhaps as soon as next week.
Fixing the transit center could take months, depending on the cause and the extent of repairs, but Transbay officials have said the rooftop park could reopen much sooner. They should have a better idea by mid-December when the Transbay JPA board meets.
“We’re not going to wait to open the whole thing at once,” Falvey said. “We will open it in phases as soon as they’re ready.”
The 5.4-acre park looked ready — and inviting — during a Tuesday noontime stroll.
Damage to the half-milelong path that encircles the park has been patched, though Transbay officials say they’ll monitor its condition and see if more work is needed. The walkway, made of decomposed granite instead of asphalt, developed the pedestrian equivalent of potholes after just two weeks.
While the public has been banished from the transit center and park, maintenance and construction crews have remained on duty, and the park’s 13 gardens seemed welltended. The birds of paradise poked their beaks toward the path, the leaves of some of the Japanese maples were turning yellow and the lawn near the amphitheater was surprisingly lush and green.
“Maintenance has never stopped since the grand opening,” said Brian Thompson, project manager for McGuire Hester, which built the park and is responsible for maintaining it for two years.
“The only thing that’s happened since the beam cracked is that it’s allowed us to get the lawn back in shape quicker after all the initial use,” he said. “It’s been a blessing in disguise.”
Irrigation systems automatically water the plants, and gardening crews tend to the gardens every couple of weeks. Both the contractor and the Transbay JPA have arborists who make regular visits as well.
Since the weather and seasons have changed since the park was last open to the public, plants have blossomed, changed colors or lost their leaves.
“Things are constantly changing up here,” Falvey said. “So, when the public comes back, it will look different.”