The "Grand Central Station of the West" has broken ground in downtown San Francisco, a $4 billion project that will create a regional transit hub in the heart of a new transit-based neighborhood with homes, offices, parks and retail.
Designed by renowned architecture firm Pelli Clarke Pelli, the 1.5 million square foot development will connect eight Bay Area counties and the state through 11 transit systems, including BART, Caltrain, Golden Gate Transit, Greyhound and Amtrak. The future high speed rail that links San Francisco with Los Angeles will also connect there.
And downtown San Francisco will have a new 5.4-acre park in the form of a green roof that tops the five-story Transit Center, designed by PWP Landscape Architecture.
Planned for the green roof are native plantings, bicycle and walking paths, a playground, café, a cultural center and a 1000-person amphitheater.
Once constructed, the new Transit Center will accommodate more than 100,000 passengers each weekday and more than 45 million people a year.
Part of the funding for the project will come from an adjacent 60-story office building, also being designed by Pelli.