New Flower Mart seeks tech tenants
Construction due in 2021 for offices, retail
In an old brick building on South of Market’s Third Street, the future of San Francisco is being sold.
Kilroy Realty Corp., one of the city’s largest developers, opened a marketing center with a giant television screen and shoulderheight models of its Flower Mart project, which is a few blocks to the west.
After more than five years of planning, the project could receive final approval in the next month. With 2.3 million square feet of space — mostly offices, with some retail and other uses — it would be the secondbiggest commercial project in city history, behind Embarcadero Center’s four towers. It has more than 50% more square feet than Salesforce Tower.
The marketing center was “really was designed to appeal to a technology mindset,” said Rob Paratte, Kilroy executive vice president of leasing and business development. “The days are long gone when we had cardboard brochures and things to hand out, thankfully.”
The largescale models show details of the future buildings, down to individual trees and windows. One model has moving electronic blips, representing car traffic. There were also bundles of fresh flowers, a nod to the site’s historic use.
Appealing to tech tenants is a key strategy for filling the new Flower Mart, which will feature rooftop decks, sky bridges, and gleaming glass and metal facades. Kilroy has previously completed major deals with tech companies like Dropbox and Cruise. Con
struction could start in 2021 and the project could open in 2024.
The project includes 100,000 square feet of retail space, which will help enliven the streets and entertain thousands of new office workers, said Brian Lewis, Kilroy senior vice president of retail development. Kilroy is seeking restaurants, boutique fitness operators and other service tenants.
The current San Francisco Flower Mart, which opened at 640 Brannan St. in 1956, will be demolished. As part of the development agreement, the flower vendors will have a temporary home at 2000 Marin St. in the Bayview while construction finishes. Kilroy will fund the estimated $50 million relocation. The vendors will have the option to return to a new flower mart or relocate elsewhere in the city. Some vendors are concerned the new Flower Mart project and nearby traffic will be incompatible with the industrial flower business, which requires heavy trucks.
The project was possible after the city increased building heights up to 400 feet in the Central SoMa Plan area. Four different opponents sued the city, but recently settled the lawsuits, clearing the way for projects to move forward.
Kilroy declined to disclose the project’s office asking rents, but said they would be in line with the market. New towers have signed leases for upward of $100 per square foot annually — among the highest rents in the country along with Manhattan and Silicon Valley.
“We’re very optimistic,” said Paratte. “It’s a unique time right now in San Francisco.”