Salesforce center remains empty
Stores closed or under construction in new transit hub
The Ferry Building abruptly closed and reopened this week after its classification changed from mall to transportation terminal. As a mall, it is not allowed to operate under the state’s coronavirus health orders, but as a transportation terminal it is.
In contrast, San Francisco’s major new Transbay transit hub, the $2.2 billion Salesforce Transit Center, has almost no shops operating despite being allowed to be open for food pickup. On Friday, stores were all shuttered or under construction.
The center’s lone open business is OnSite Dental on the second floor, which confirmed it has been operating again since June 16, after the city allowed den
The center was reliant on tens of thousands of office workers, but now that clientele is nearly nonexistent with offices empty.
tists to reopen. Fitness SF, a gym on the second floor, remains closed due to health orders, and the city has no timeline for when gyms will reopen.
The center’s food and drink tenants include Philz Coffee, Per Diem, Eddie Rickenbacker’s bar and restaurant, Venga Empanadas, Tycoon Thai and Charleys Philly Steaks. Some tenants may still be building out their spaces.
As the centerpiece of the city’s Transbay district, the transit center was one of the biggest transit projects in the country, spanning three city blocks between Second and Beale streets. It opened in 2018 but closed for nine months after workers discovered cracks in the steel beams before reopening last July. The transit center's 5.4acre rooftop Salesforce Park remains open, and Muni and AC Transit buses are still running, but on a reduced schedule.
As of last September, 70% of the center’s 100,000 square feet of retail space was leased, and some stores opened last fall only to close during the pandemic. With its focus on food and services, the center was reliant on tens of thousands of office workers who commuted to the area, but now that clientele is nearly nonexistent with offices empty.
Salesforce, the city’s biggest employer, occupies three towers next to the transit center and does not have a schedule for when it will return. Facebook’s Instagram division leases all the office space at 181 Fremont, which is connected to the transit center. Facebook had initially targeted a July return date for U.S. offices, but a spokeswoman confirmed Friday that the company no longer has a confirmed reopening date. Both Facebook and Salesforce are allowing employees to work from home for the rest of the year.
A spokeswoman for the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, the government entity that owns the center, couldn’t be reached for comment. Mark Zabaneh, executive director of the authority, is leaving the job in September.
The transit center’s future phases would include connections to Caltrain and highspeed rail, but funding for the infrastructure has not been secured — and now even Caltrain’s future is in doubt.