SAN FRANCISCO—The planned rooftop park atop the new Transbay Center, designed by PWP Landscape Architecture, will feature 13 different gardens, a spacious lawn with trees, movable chairs and tables, an 800-seat amphitheater for concerts and performances, a half-mile jogging track and a restaurant. Park programming being considered includes yoga, exercise classes, farmers markets, nighttime movies, ping pong, chess, reading rooms, art shows, children's programming and concerts.
Dan Biederman, who transformed New York City's Bryant Park, and his consulting firm Biederman Redevelopment Ventures, which specializes in developing and operating public spaces, will manage and operate the park. Biederman Redevelopment is part of a management team led by commercial real estate developer Lincoln Property Company, hired by the Transbay Joint Powers Authority.
“There is nothing like this in San Francisco,” Ashley Langworthy, director of the Biederman San Francisco office, tells GlobeSt.com. “Union Square, the Ferry Building and Yerba Buena Gardens are the only other similar projects but the center of gravity is shifting. This will be more like a botanical garden with abundant trees and flowers.”
Biederman, an urban management and redevelopment consultant, and the president of Biederman Redevelopment Ventures, says his team will be responsible for the overall management, operations, programming and events, marketing, general administration, and revenue development of the new rooftop park.
“Our vision of the rooftop park at the Transbay Transit Center is an elevated urban oasis that offers the visitor experiences unlike any other public space in San Francisco,” says Biederman. “We aim to make the park an asset for the entire downtown and South of Market community, as well as a destination for people throughout the Bay Area.”
The Transit Center is part of the larger Transbay Transit Center Program, an approximately $6 billion program to replace the former Transbay Terminal at First and Mission streets with a regional transit station that will connect eight Bay Area counties and California through 11 transit systems. The program is being developed in two phases.
Phase one currently underway includes design and construction of the above-grade portion of the Transit Center, including the approximately 5.4-acre park, retail areas and a public art program. A rail tunnel extending commuter rail to the Transit Center and the build out of the below-grade train station at the Transit Center will follow as phase two of the program. Phase one is expected to be completed with the opening of the Transit Center in spring 2018.
“We are programing a project off the street level, where it is harder to get people to engage,” Biederman tells GlobeSt.com. “This park is 5-1/2 acres, the size of Bryant Park, and four floors up; away from cars but connected to neighborhood. To me, the appeal is the Bay Area has so much going on.”
In addition to Biederman Redevelopment, the Lincoln group includes Colliers International, which will manage the retail leasing, and Pearl Media, an experiential marketing agency, which will lead the media and promotional efforts for the venue.
“The Transit Center rooftop park is an important amenity for the Transit Center as well as the new downtown neighborhood. We're looking forward to working with Biederman Redevelopment Ventures to making the park a beautiful and dynamic urban space for the community,” said Transbay Joint Powers Authority executive director Mark Zabaneh.
Biederman gained national prominence in 1991 for his revitalization of Bryant Park, transforming it from a crime-ridden midtown Manhattan public space into one of America's great urban parks. And, Biederman Redevelopment has considerable experience with aerial park development. It was a lead consultant in the planning, development and operation of Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, built atop a downtown freeway, uniting the city that had previously been divided by the roadway.
In fact, Biederman has consulted on urban redevelopment and management projects in 26 states and has experience in developing and managing public spaces. Parks around the country developed and managed by Biederman are recognized for programming and events.
Biederman was a co-founder of four New York-based urban redevelopment corporations, including the Grand Central Partnership in New York City, one of the largest business improvement districts in the world, and has consulted on urban redevelopment and management projects in major cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Miami and Pittsburgh. He has worked on public spaces with some of the leading mixed-use developers in the United States, including the Related Companies, the Howard Hughes Corporation, Blackstone and Jamestown Properties.
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Lisa Brown
Lisa Brown is an editor for the south and west regions of GlobeSt.com. She has 25-plus years of real estate experience, with a regional PR role at Grubb & Ellis and a national communications position at MMI. Brown also spent 10 years as executive director at NAIOP San Francisco Bay Area chapter, where she led the organization to achieving its first national award honors and recognition on Capitol Hill. She has written extensively on commercial real estate topics and edited numerous pieces on the subject.
