San Francisco Transbay Terminal Air Rights Study, 1988
Designed as KMD Architects
John Ellis Urban Designer with David Hobstetter
Prior to the 1989 Earthquake there were studies initiated by the Planning Department to determine the potential development opportunities around the Transbay Terminal if and when a rail extension for the Caltrain line were built. The intent was to create sites for new highrise office towers and a number of residential towers.
Alternatives explored retaining the existing 1939 Bus Terminal with a new underground Caltrain Station adjacent, and a new combined terminal with buses above the underground railroad station.
These studies became the basis for a big rethink for the area following the 1989 Earthquake that damaged the Embarcadero Freeway. The voter approval of funding for a future California Hign Speed Rail line from San Francisco to Los Angeles made the reconstruction of the Terminal essential, leading to the current Salesforce Terminal, Tower and Park.
The study explored the potential for air rights development above a rebuilt Transbay Terminal bus and Caltrain Station. 1988. This was before the 1989 Earthquake and the plan for the California High Speed Rail from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
Axonometric view of the potential air rights development above the new bus and train station terminal. This option proposed to realign the bus terminal along Howard Street above an underground train station for the Caltrain extension.
An alternative study that retained the existing Transbay Terminal and proposed a new underground Caltrain station on Howard Street.