S.F. approves $1 billion Transbay tower
San Francisco supervisors approved on Tuesday an 806foot tower that will be the city’s fourthtallest building, the culmination of a fouryear process that included a fight over shadows and an office lease that was canceled by Salesforce after the pandemic popularized remote work.
Supervisors voted 101 to confirm the Parcel F project at 542550 Howard St. next to the Transbay transit center. A routine second vote affirming the decision is scheduled next week.
The board rejected a proposal from Supervisor Aaron Peskin to delay the vote for a week and require developer Hines to obtain building permits within three years. Under Peskin’s rejected proposal, which he said would lock in community benefits, the approval would expire if the developer didn’t meet the deadline.
Cameron Falconer, a Hines executive, said during the Tuesday hearing that the developer wouldn’t agree to such terms, but it will seek to raise $1 billion this year from lenders United Overseas Bank and JPMorgan Chase, with a goal of starting construction this year. It’s one of the biggest real estate bets on San Francisco’s economic recovery from the pandemic.
“We are focused. We are committed,” Falconer said. “It will be a wonderful addition to the city.”
The project is moving forward despite Salesforce’s decision to scrap its lease for all the office space as it shifts to more remote work. An anchor tenant is typically a crucial requirement for starting construction and getting investors, but nearby Transbay towers moved forward without such commitments and later found tenants such as Facebook. But those deals occurred during a real estate boom, and Hines will seek to build after the office vacancy rate has roughly tripled to over 18% during the pandemic, according to real estate brokers.
The project includes 325,000 square feet of office space, 165 condos and 189 hotel rooms, and Hines said it has a commitment from an unnamed hotel operator. It has strong support from the politically powerful hotel and construction unions, who said it would be an economic windfall in a time of mass unemployment.
Rudy Gonzalez, secretary treasurer of Building Trades Council, a construction union group, said over 1,000 of its members are unemployed and the project would provide muchneeded activity.
Unite Here Local 2, the local hotel union, said on Tuesday that Hines had agreed to allow hotel workers at the project to consider unionizing and supported the project.
The project will also pay $47 million in affordable housing fees to help build 192 affordable homes at a separate site on Howard Street that was part of the temporary Transbay Terminal.
Hines was a developer of what is now Salesforce Tower, winning the competition to design the city’s tallest building in 2007. Now 14 years later, it will have the opportunity to build on the Transbay district’s last major tower site.
Five people who live in their RVs have joined the ACLU of Northern California in a lawsuit against the city of Pacifica and its ban against parking an RV within the city.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in San Francisco, alleges that the city’s ban is a “cruel, unconstitutional and discriminatory attempt” to make Pacifica RV dwellers move. The suit seeks to end the parking ban by asking a judge for an injunction that would block its enforcement.
The five residents say they have received a combined 39 citations from Pacifica police since the city ban took effect in 2019. Under the law, an RV can be towed and impounded after five unpaid citations. Its owner can be imprisoned for six months.
“The city’s disdain for its vehicularlyhoused residents has recently worsened,” the RV dwellers claimed in their lawsuit.
Homelessness in Pacifica rose by 4% between 2017 and 2019, according to the pointintime surveys of unhoused people, tracking with a broader rise in homelessness reported in Bay Area suburbs.
Pacifica officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
One plaintiff, 44yearold Jared Carr, said he had been ticketed 27 times.
“I do not have money for a security deposit for an apartment,” he said. “If my RV got towed, I would likely be forced into a tent or sleeping bag on the street.”
Thomas Zito, an attorney with Disability Rights Advocates of Berkeley, which
joined the ACLU in the suit, said Pacifica police were “ticketing pretty aggressively,” although no RVs have been impounded.
“This is an unacceptable way to deal with the homeless crisis,” he said. “It’s the responsibility of government
to make housing more affordable. Criminalizing people for being down on their luck is not the solution.”
Tiger Woods is back at home in Florida to resume his recovery from careerthreatening leg injuries he suffered when his SUV ran off a road and down a hill in the Los Angeles suburbs last month.
“Happy to report that I am back home and continuing my recovery,” Woods said in a tweet posted Tuesday night. “I am so grateful for the outpouring of support and encouragement that I have received over the past few weeks.”
Woods was injured Feb. 23, two days after the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in Los Anegles. He was on his way to a television shoot for GolfTV a little after 7 a.m. when his SUV crashed into a median, rolled over and ended up on its side near a steep road known for wrecks, authorities aid. He had to be pulled out through the windshield.
He had a lengthy surgery that day at HarborUCLA Medical Center for shattered tibia and fibula bones of his lower right leg in multiple locations. Those were stabilized with a rod in his tibia. Additional injuries to the bones in his foot and ankle required screws and pins.
He was transferred to CedarsSinai Medical Center for followup procedures.
In his statement, Woods
thanked the medical staff at both hospitals.
ELSEWHERE New Zealand wins America’s Cup
Team New Zealand retained the America’s Cup, beating Italian challenger Luna Rossa 73 in the 36th match for sailing’s oldest trophy in Auckland.
The defender came into the sixth day of racing Wednesday at match point, with a 63 lead in the bestof13 race series. Team New Zealand won the 10th race by 46 seconds in a shifty northeasterly breeze to complete its defense of the famous Auld Mug.
College basketball: USF received an invitation to participate in the Women’s NIT, the Dons’ first postseason appearance since 2016.
There is no formal seeding in the 32team tournament. USF (1510) will travel to Fort Worth, Texas — one of the tournament’s four host sites — to play Houston (167) at 3 p.m. Friday.
The Dons, 58 on Jan. 16, enter the tournament having won 10 of their past 12.
Soccer: Real Madrid took advantage of visiting Atalanta’s costly goalkeeping change to make it back to the Champions League quarterfinals.
Madrid defeated Atalanta 31 to advance 41 on aggregate. Karim Benzema became the fifth player to score 70 Champions League goals after a firsthalf blunder by Atalanta goalkeeper Marco Sportiello, who was among the changes made by coach Gian Piero Gasperini from the 10 firstleg loss.
Tennis: Rafael Nadal pulled out of his second straight tournament, this time ahead of the Miami Open because of the back that bothered him during the Australian Open, in which he lost in the quarterfinals.
Hockey: Dynamo St. Petersburg junior defenseman Timur Faizutdinov, a 19yearold Russian, died Tuesday, four days after being hit in the head by the puck during a game.