A spokeswoman for developer Wilson-Meany says the farmer's market that once assembled in the shadow of the historic terminal will be housed inside the 660-foot-high structure at the foot of Market Street. Gradually, other retail outlets are set to be added to the large causeway area on the ground floor.

Another sign of the building's new life: hands begin turning again on the terminal's highly visible clock tower.

City supervisors recently approved a plan for the Port of San Francisco to sublease a large hearing room in the building overlooking the Bay for its twice monthly meetings, despite some objections to a plan for the city to pick up a nearly $1-million tab to improve the room.

But Supervisor Aaron Peskin countered that port would then hold the space rent-free for 65 years, and eventually obtained a 7-3 vote in favor of the sublease agreement.

Built in 1885, the Ferry Building over the decades has been a portal for millions of commuters between the East Bay and San Francisco. It became a forlorn castaway when ferries were outlawed because they were thought to compete with new bridges. Most recently the building's space had been divided in hodgepodge fashion between the World Trade Center and Port of San Francisco.

The team selected by the Port for the $75-million restoration of the Ferry Building includes Equity Office Properties, a real estate investment trust that is the controlling entity in the project, and three minority partners: Wilson Equity Office; Wilson Meany headed by Chris Meany, and Primus Infrastructure.

Early last year, demolition workers gutted most of the interior under a public-private partnership to refurbish the building, which has become a national landmark. Once it opens again, Ferry Terminal plans call for 170,000-sf of office space on the upper two floors and roughly 60,000-sf of public space on the ground floor.

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