While San Francisco’s hotel occupancy rates recover, one developer has filed plans to extend the approval period of the 35-story hotel right across from the Transbay Transit Center. The 2015-filed project would replace three low-slung commercial buildings at 555 Howard Street in SoMa with four hundred hotel rooms and a rooftop POPOS. The application is a joint venture between Pacific Eagle and SKS Partners.
The developers had previously pursued a 36-story mixed-use tower with 69 condominiums, office space, and 255 hotel rooms. The city approved the mixed-use iteration in 2017, but it never materialized. In September 2020, the city approved revised plans for the 401-key hotel tower. The developer cited the city’s strong demand for hotel rooms, averaging above 80% occupancy in any quarter. While the market has been upended since 2020, with an all-time low of 14% occupancy in April 2020, it has stabilized at around 68% through 2023.
San Francisco hotel occupancy Rates shown between 2016 and 2023, including the 14% low-point in 2020, graph by SF Gov
555 Howard Street pedestrian view, rendering by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Mark Cavagnero
555 Howard Street hotel lobby entrance, rendering by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Mark Cavagnero
555 Howard Street rooftop POPOS deck, rendering by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Mark Cavagnero
Pacific Eagle is part of the Greater Eagle Holdings Group, a Hong Kong-based real estate company. The firm is operating through PEAK Project Management to push the application forward. On their website, Great Eagle shared that “due to uncertain market conditions and the severe escalation of construction costs in San Francisco, the project has been put on hold and various plans for alternative divestment strategies are being evaluated.” The developer has yet to reply to a request for comment.
The approval extension would give the development team more time to wait for more favorable market conditions for the 35-story hotel. The duration of the extension requested by the team is not specified in the public application.
555 Howard Street view from along Tehama Street, rendering by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Mark Cavagnero
555 Howard Street vertical facade elevations, rendering by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Mark Cavagnero Associates
The 403-foot tall proposal would yield roughly 371,460 square feet, including parking for one van and 20 bicycles. The site will include 6,700 square feet for a POPOS rooftop park and 3,770 square feet for an on-site restaurant and bar.
Renzo Piano Building Workshop is the design architecture, collaborating with the San Francisco-based Mark Cavagnero Associates. The most distinct design feature of the project is the double-skin glass facade. While not easy to see in the renderings, the second layer is a popular insulating design technique that will reduce air conditioning costs, mitigate sound and wind intrusions, and maintain sweeping views for hotel guests.
The modest-looking tower is a humble addition to the city’s skyline, contrasting with some of the more dramatic work in the famed starchitect’s portfolio, such as Piano’s collaboration with Roger Rogers on The Centre Pompidou, the Shard in London, and the New York Times skyscraper in Times Square. Piano has completed two projects in the Bay Area, the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park and the City Center Bishop Ranch shopping mall in San Ramon.
555 Howard Street lobby, rendering by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Mark Cavagnero
555 Howard Street, image by Google Street View
Demolition permits were filed for all three existing buildings in 2017, then canceled in November 2022. The narrow property is located next to the Transbay Transit Center bus overpass that connects riders with I-80. The site is directly across from Parcel F, where plans are languishing for an 806-foot mixed-use tower formerly led by Hines, and 530 Howard Street, where Bayhill Ventures is planning the tallest residential skyscraper in the city.
In recent applications, construction is estimated to cost around $166 million, a figure not including all development costs. Work on the building is expected to last around 37 months from groundbreaking to completion, though when construction will start has yet to be established.
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What’s a POPOS ?
Privately owned public open space!
Thank You
I really want to see more housing built, but these glass facades have become so redundant…
Maybe this extension will give Piano some time
to reconsider the design. We expect something more inventive & engaging from him, & for this site.
Another boring skyscraper that’s undistinguishable from all the recent cold sterile buildings.
Expected more from Renzo Piano
Is architect Roger Rogers any relation to Major Major Majors?
Another boxy skyscraper for SF, yay! Do we need more massive hotel towers in downtown SF? I think NOT. Renzo Piano does great work, but I googled the local Architect Cavagnero and seems like he is politically connected and dines/ wines with the right people.