Salesforce Tower, formerly known as Transbay Tower, is a 61-story supertall

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

at 415 Mission Street, between First and Fremont Street, in the South of Market district of downtown

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. Its main tenant is

Salesforce Salesforce, Inc. is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It provides applications focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, e-commerce, analytics, artificial intelligence, and ap ...

, a cloud-based software company. The building is tall, with a top roof height of . Designed by César Pelli and developed by Hines Interests Limited Partnership and Boston Properties, it was the last building designed by Pelli to be completed in his lifetime. As of 2024, Salesforce Tower is the tallest building in San Francisco and the second-tallest building both in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

after the Wilshire Grand Center in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Salesforce Tower is

obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...

-shaped, with a grid of metal fins running from the base of the building to the roof. The building sits on reclaimed land, and multiple load-bearing pillars reach below the foundation and into

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of bed ...

. The exterior of the building consists of a glass and steel curtain wall with a steel frame and a concrete core. Each floor of the building uses '' brises soleil'' to deflect sunlight. Salesforce Tower is designed to be a

green building Green building (also known as green construction, sustainable building, or eco-friendly building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's li ...

, with the building employing water conservation measures and air intake systems. A public art light sculpture at the top of the building, consisting of 11,000 LEDs, displays video animations every evening that can be seen from up to away. What is now the Salesforce Tower was planned as part of the San Francisco Transbay development, a redevelopment plan for the area surrounding the Salesforce Transit Center. The plan was adopted by the city in 2005. In 2011, the San Francisco Transbay Terminal was completely demolished, beginning the plan, and in 2013, construction on the building began. Salesforce Tower was completed in 2018 for over $1.1 billion. By 2019, Boston Properties had acquired a 100% stake in the property.

Site

Salesforce Tower is located at 415 Mission Street, at the intersection of First and Fremont Street, south of Market Street and within the Financial District of

. The building's

land lot In real estate, a land lot or plot of land is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner(s). A plot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property (meaning practically the sam ...

is rectangular and covers , while its frontage is . Salesforce Tower is adjacent to the Salesforce Transit Center, a transit station that replaced the San Francisco Transbay Terminal, which had been severely damaged as a result of the

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and served as the central focus of the San Francisco redevelopment plan. The building is located near Millennium Tower.

Architecture

Salesforce Tower was designed by Argentine-American architect César Pelli and developed by Hines Interests Limited Partnership and Boston Properties. In 2017, Pelli stated that the aim had been something "very tall, very big, but still polite and appropriate." It was one of Pelli's last finished works before his death in 2019. The Salesforce Tower consists of a glass and steel curtain wall, surrounding a structural steel frame, which surrounds a reinforced concrete core. The building is enclosed in a lattice consisting of white aluminum fins and perforated sunshades, which reach out as much as two feet beyond the glass skin. The tower's silhouette is smoothly tapering off toward the top. Salesforce Tower is 61 stories tall, and covers of floorspace. The building's top above the 61st floor have been described as "largely ornamental". The 61st floor is known as the Ohana Floor and serves as an observation deck and lounge for Salesforce employees and guests. It is made available for use by nonprofits on evenings and weekends. In 2019, the company opened public tours of the Ohana Floor once every month. Companies involved with the project include glass manufacturer Guardian Industries, plumbing manufacturer Kohler Co., elevator manufacturer Schindler Group, engineering consultant Morrison Hershfield, and structural engineering firm Magnusson Klemencic Associates. The footprint of Salesforce Tower rests on land fill near San Francisco's original waterfront, an area prone to

soil liquefaction Soil liquefaction occurs when a cohesionless saturated or partially saturated soil substantially loses Shear strength (soil), strength and stiffness in response to an applied Shear stress, stress such as shaking during an earthquake or other s ...

during

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

s. To account for this seismic risk, the tower uses a design that is modeled to withstand the strongest earthquakes expected in the region. Its foundation includes 42 piles driven down nearly to

and a thick foundation mat. The Salesforce Transit Center is located directly adjacent to the building, and is connected to the park level by a bridge on the 5th floor.

"Day for Night" light sculpture

The crown of the tower features a nine-story electronic light sculpture, "Day for Night", by artist Jim Campbell. At its activation on May 21, 2018, it was considered the tallest public art piece in the world, visible from up to 30 miles away. At the time, its daily schedule began at dusk with a display of the sunset's colors, followed by low resolution videos derived from footage filmed during the day by 12 cameras in various San Francisco locations (including the Ferry Building and the Cliff House), and concluded with displaying a star constellation from midnight to sunrise. The installation went toward fulfilling the requirement of San Francisco's "Downtown Plan" that one percent of construction costs have to be set aside for public art. The animations are generated by 11,000 inward-facing LED lights on the top six floors (which are unoccupied), supported by color lighting on the three floors below them (which house building infrastructure). By 2022, "Day for Night" was also featuring monthly "Midnight Artist Series" by other artists, and sometimes themed content for occasions such as Lunar New Year or

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. For Halloween 2018, in response to a petition that gathered 11,000 signatures, the light installation was made to look like the Eye of Sauron. As of 2021, this has happened on every subsequent Halloween, too.

History

Developer Hines Interests Limited Partnership, with a proposal by architect César Pelli of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, was selected as the winner of a global competition in 2007 to entitle and purchase the site. A seven-member jury of development experts assembled by the Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) selected Hines over proposals from Forest City Enterprises and architect Richard Rogers; and from Rockefeller Development Group Corp. and

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill SOM, an initialism of its original name Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by engineer ...

. In 2012, Boston Properties acquired a 50% stake in the project and in 2013 acquired most of Hines' remaining interest to become 95% owners of the project. The site of the tower was in a dilapidated area, formerly used as a ground-level entrance to the San Francisco Transbay Terminal, which was demolished in 2011. The TJPA sold the parcel to Boston Properties and Hines for US$192 million, and ceremonial groundbreaking for the new tower occurred on March 27, 2013, with below-grade construction work starting in late 2013. The project is a joint venture between general contractors Clark Construction and Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction. The development was originally contracted on spec, as Hines did not have a major tenant lease secured beforehand. On April 11, 2014, Salesforce.com announced that it signed a lease for to become the building's anchor tenant. Previously known as the Transbay Tower, the building was renamed Salesforce Tower. The lease was valued at US$560 million over years starting in 2017. The tower opened in 2018 and has 61 floors, with a decorative crown reaching . The original proposal called for a tower, but the height was later reduced. The building's first tenants began moving in on January 8, 2018. Upon opening, the building was 97% leased to tenants including Salesforce, Covington & Burling,

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, Bain & Company,

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, McDermott Will & Emery and

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. In May 2019, Boston Properties bought out Hines' remaining 5% stake in the building to become the sole owner and operator.

Critical reception

At the time of the building's opening in January 2018, the San Francisco Chronicle's architecture critic John King characterized it as "Immense but understated. Overwhelming yet refined. A study in thick-walled minimalism that seems to hover more than soar. All of which makes for a nuanced tower, conscientious and self-assured even as it reorients the skyline and redefines San Francisco’s visual image." King also reported that " chitecture buffs already dismiss Salesforce Tower as old hat, another Clarke Pelli shaft with a tapered silhouette — just like the International Finance Centre in Hong Kong or Torre Costanera in Santiago, Chile" (the tallest building in South America). However, he defended it against such criticism, pointing out differences like the Salesforce Tower's "smooth ascent". The

Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is an international body in the field of tall buildings, including skyscrapers, and Sustainable design, sustainable urban design. A non-profit organization based at the Monroe Building in ...

(CTBUH) named Salesforce Tower the "Best Tall Building Worldwide" for 2019.

Gallery

File:Salesforce Tower April 2017.jpg, Salesforce Tower in April 2017, the day before its topping-out ceremony with 181 Fremont under construction on the right File:SFO skyline 09 2017 6224 cropped.jpg, The Salesforce Tower (center-left) and the Transamerica Pyramid (center-right) with Coit Tower (left) and the Pier 43 Ferry Arch (foreground) File:Salesforce Tower Completed 2018.jpg, A ground-level view in late 2018 after construction was completed File:Salesforce Tower Street Level.png, Salesforce Tower Street Level View from August 2019 File:Salesforce Tower At Night Hdr (249442863).jpeg, Night-time view from Salesforce Park File:Salesforce Tower Roof.jpg, The roof of Salesforce Tower

References

External links

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Transbay Demolition and Construction Blog

Salesforce Tower construction webcam

Transbay Transit Center proposal from Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salesforce Tower 2018 establishments in California César Pelli buildings Economy of San Francisco Hines Interests Limited Partnership Information technology company headquarters in the United States Office buildings completed in 2018 Salesforce Skyscraper office buildings in San Francisco South of Market, San Francisco