The seventh tallest tower in the Bay Area built or planned is 345 California Street, a mixed-use skyscraper in the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District. The building opened in 1986, adding office space to the commercial market, and the Mandarin Oriental hotel once occupied the top eleven floors. When completed, it was the third tallest in the Bay Area with a rooftop height of 725 feet.
Today’s story is part of a weekly series on SFYIMBY to count down the 52 tallest towers in the Bay Area built or planned as of January 2021.
345 California Center next to 100 Pine Center, image by Andrew Campbell Nelson
345 California Center entrance along Battery Street, image by Andrew Campbell Nelson
345 California Street was designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill. The postmodernist building is clad with five types of granite and large square windows, with stacked curtain wall glass-enclosed sky bridges near the top. For the crown, 345 California Street dramatically tapers with a series of setbacks that culminate with two flag poles flying the flag of the United States of America and the Rainbow pride flag. The angular design highlights its narrow hexagonal floor plates, a consequence of being the tallest mid-block tower in San Francisco.
345 California Center from Sansome Street where the tower looks like 432 Park Avenue, image by Andrew Campbell Nelson
Seen viewed from either Battery or Sansome Street, the tower’s repetitive beam-and-column grid design bears a strong resemblance with New York’s 432 Park Avenue.
345 California Street hypothetical office floor plan, image via Cushman and Wakefield
Construction cost $83 million, with Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Company responsible for the heavy lifting and Norland Properties as the developer. The offices are also now LEED Platinum certified. The 48-story tower was completed in 1986 to yield 600,000 square feet with office space, retail, and a 155-room hotel. Each office floor plate offers around 17,000 square feet.
345 California Center seen next to One Front Street, image by Andrew Campbell Nelson
The building uses are divided by floor, with two basement floors as parking, a ground-level lobby entrance, retail plus restaurants on floors two and three, offices between floors four and 36, and the hotel between floors 38 and 48.
345 California Center crown
The hotel, with the entrance at 222 Sansome Street, was first occupied by Mandarin Oriental. Loews Hotels would later occupy it from 2015 to 2019 when the real estate investment company Westbrook Partners purchased the hotel for $117.7 million. The hotel is now the Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco at Embarcadero.
Westbrook also owns the Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco at 757 Market Street and is developing the Four Seasons Private Residences in 706 Mission Street.
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I stayed at the hotel 15 years ago when it was the Mandarin Oriental. The views of the Golden Gare were spectacular – until the fog rolled in. The city views from those glass sky bridges are also fantastic. It’s an excellent building from that period.
This hotel has the best views in the world… the views are of the Golden Gate, Bay Bridge, the bay framed by mountains and down to the south bay. It shows the best of the most beautiful city in the Americas.