4th and Folsom Street Site

The former gas station at Folsom and Fourth is long-gone and construction is well underway for the Yerba Buena/Moscone Station of San Francisco’s future Central Subway.  But that’s not all that could rise on the centrally located site, a site which is currently zoned for development up to 130-feet in height and could be increased to 180-feet in height as part of the City’s proposed Central SoMa plan.

While it’s likely too late to incorporate the planned above-ground portion of the subway station into a larger development across the entire site, the development of a tower on the southern half of the parcel – the air rights for which are owned by the SFMTA – have been identified as one of the publicly-owned sites to be prioritized for possible development as part of the City’s Public Sites Portfolio project.

And following a bit of additional analysis, bids for developing a tower on the Folsom and Fourth Street site could be issued next summer and a development partner selected by the end of next year (2015).

Fourth and Folsom Central Subway Station Tower Massing

6 thoughts on “Central SoMa Subway Site Could Sprout A Tower Too”
  1. Does anyone know if there is a pedestrian underpass planned as part of this station, or a direct connection to Moscone?

    1. If we want to have a truly walkable city (and I think everyone agrees that we do), then we need to think seriously about pedestrian connectivity, especially at major intersections like this.

      Traffic “calming” and bulb-outs can only do so much. For major pedestrian corridors like subway station -> convention center, hotel -> convention center, or shopping mall -> parking lot, at some point you’ll need to have a grade-separated walkway for people to use.

      It gets pretty ridiculous at where you have hundreds of people at each light trying to cross downtown intersections like this one, while at the same time our “planners” say overpasses are somehow undesirable.

      Just look at how many people already use the connections from Powell Station to Westfield, Montgomery Station to the 44 building, or the Embarcadero Center bridges.

      These sorts of connections are both very necessary and very common in the densely populated areas of Asian metropolises and elsewhere. We are a major city now, and we can’t keep pretending that congestion problems simply don’t apply to us.

      1. Agreed. The Embarcadero Center pedestrian bridges offer some of the most pleasant space away from cars in the Financial District. There’s an underappreciated beauty to parts of the Embarcadero Center, and for anyone who has worked there, the outdoor spaces are some of the best kept landscaping, fountains and public art in the city.

  2. there is no underpass or other direct connection to Moscone Center. I’ve heard the reason is because the powers that be that operate Moscone were concerned about “security.” You know, all that riff-raff riding subways looking to break into boring tech conferences.

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