500 Folsom

Transbay District Skyline
500 Folsom

Project Facts
  • Status Construction Complete
  • Completion Year 2020
  • Size Site Area: 31,560 Building Height: 419 feet Number of Stories: 42 Building Gross Area: 541,422 square feet
  • Rental Units 537
  • Awards
    2020, Annual Awards: Geotechnical Engineering, Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat 2022, Excellence in Structural Engineering, Structural Engineers Association of Northern California
  • Sustainability Certifications LEED Homes Gold, Homes, Gold
  • Collaborators
    Buro Happold Consulting Engineers Langan Engineering & Environmental Services, Inc. Structus Fougeron Architecture GLS Landscape / Architecture PritchardPeck Lighting Essex Property Trust, Inc. Balfour Beatty
Project Facts
  • Status Construction Complete
  • Completion Year 2020
  • Size Site Area: 31,560 Building Height: 419 feet Number of Stories: 42 Building Gross Area: 541,422 square feet
  • Rental Units 537
  • Awards
    2020, Annual Awards: Geotechnical Engineering, Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat 2022, Excellence in Structural Engineering, Structural Engineers Association of Northern California
  • Sustainability Certifications LEED Homes Gold, Homes, Gold
  • Collaborators
    Buro Happold Consulting Engineers Langan Engineering & Environmental Services, Inc. Structus Fougeron Architecture GLS Landscape / Architecture PritchardPeck Lighting Essex Property Trust, Inc. Balfour Beatty

San Francisco’s Transit Center District is one of the most important development opportunities in the city’s history, and its transformation presents a bold vision for the South of Market Street neighborhood. Once isolated by residual 20th-century freeway infrastructure, the redesigned district—now a vibrant, fully integrated, mixed-use neighborhood—is a model for high density redevelopment.

The centerpiece of the district is 500 Folsom, a 42-story residential tower strategically sited adjacent the Bay Bridge offramp where it welcomes visitors arriving from the East Bay. Rising in a series of stacking volumes and topped with a unique terracotta crown, the tower is an iconic and distinguishing presence in San Francisco’s multifaceted skyline. The building features 428 market-rate units, 109 below-market-rate units, residential amenities such as a spa and indoor-outdoor recreation areas, and 289 below-grade parking spaces.

The building’s stacked composition echoes the scale of the neighborhood, strengthened by a series of alternating vertical spaces punctuated by red terracotta and residential balconies. Two mid-rise podiums, designed by Fougeron Architecture, anchor the tower and form an outdoor paseo that creates a link from Folsom to Clementina Street and Oscar Park beyond.

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