[BTinSF]

The Chron picks up the riff from the BizTimes:

International competition staged in S.F. to build new downtown transit terminal
- Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
Monday, December 18, 2006


Quite a procession of big-name architects, engineers and developers turned up in San Francisco over the past couple of weeks to size up what's being hailed as the city's biggest development sweepstakes ever -- a new downtown transit terminal, coupled with an 80-story skyscraper.

If built, the high-rise would eclipse by least 150 feet the 853-foot-tall Transamerica Pyramid and could become the dominant feature of San Francisco's skyline.

"The current skyline is very flat, and needs some peaks to create a more distinctive look,'' city Planning Director Dean Macris said. (Ed. note: Huh?? I thought he resigned. Unlike Matier & Ross to make this kind of mistake)

Such is the prize sought by the more than 200 participants, representing 120 firms worldwide, who attended a pair of prebid conferences at the Herbst Theater over the past two weeks.

Among those showing interest was renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, whose plan for a slender, twisting, 160-story tower in Chicago on the shores of Lake Michigan is undergoing final review.

The big question here is whether San Francisco can create enough demand to fill an 80-story high-rise -- one that would have a hotel, condos and offices to help cover the costs of the adjoining $1 billion transit terminal, serving Muni, AC Transit and the like.

Macris is hopeful, noting that commercial rents are rebounding strongly -- one big reason so many potential bidders showed up.

"They still see San Francisco growth opportunities,'' he said.

Then again, the last time the city had a major international competition -- back in 1988 for a planned Market Street tower that was supposed to spur the Yerba Buena Center development -- the project never took off.

One unknown this time: Another $1 billion would be needed to bring high-speed rail service to the terminal, and funding for that isn't likely anytime soon, if ever.

Finalists will be picked by a Transbay Joint Powers Authority panel Feb. 15, with designs due Aug. 10 and the selection of a winner just 15 days later.



Source: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...type=printable