The ground at 542 Howard Street
Parcel F carries an entitlement for a 61-storey tower at 542 Howard Street in the Transbay district. Markets of Tomorrow’s project record, verified on 20 September 2026, lists 180 hotel keys, 165 residences and 61 floors. The record marks the site as undisturbed and listed for sale, and the tower as pre-construction.
The Transbay Joint Powers Authority sold Parcel F for $160 million. Its closing release carries a 22 June 2016 date. The parcel was zoned for 750 feet, and it was the last site the authority sold that can connect to the rooftop park by pedestrian sky bridge.
The development agreement set delivery by the end of 2023 and a $70 million penalty for a missed date. Hines, Goldman Sachs and Urban Pacific Development carried the project as F4 Transbay Partners. SFist reported those terms on 7 May 2024.
A deadline that moved once
The partnership and the authority later agreed to a $40 million penalty paid in installments. The first installment carried a 30 April 2024 due date and a $5 million value. F4 Transbay Partners missed it, and the obligation reverted to $70 million. SFist carries that record too.
Salesforce cancelled its office pre-lease in the autumn of 2020. The 2016 plan put 250,000 to 425,000 square feet of office at the base, 200 to 300 hotel rooms above it, and 200 residences above those. The parcel has stood on the market since July 2023, and an $80 million acquisition loan against it matured in October 2023.
The site covers 0.75 acres beside a transit centre the authority owns and operates. Salesforce Park covers 5.4 acres on the roof, seventy feet above the Grand Hall, along the centre’s nearly four-block stretch. The park holds 600 trees and 16,000 plants. The tower’s value draws on that structure, and the tower does not stand on it.
The position this page takes
An entitlement over a public transit parcel should carry a schedule, posted with the right and enforced after it. The announcement date stands five years back. This parcel carries no construction start, no delivery date and no posted security.
Four steps follow from the record. Security posted before the development right is exercised, sized against the remaining penalty. Installments that accrue on published dates. An authority notice right that starts after a set number of missed dates. A re-marketing step that returns the parcel to the market with the entitlement attached once the partnership misses the schedule by a set margin.
The programme the file leaves open
The record’s timeline chip reads “Announced 2024 est.” Its status note records an approval of a redesigned plan by the Planning Commission in June 2026. The programme that redesign carries appears on no page read for this piece. An agency that approves a redesigned plan should publish the key count, the residence count, the floor area and a delivery date.
The tracker’s San Francisco page counts a four-project pipeline of 7,565 residences and keys, with a peak in late 2028, against a supply reading of 18 on a balanced market.
The room count moves with the vintage. The entitlement reads 180 keys, and the 2016 plan read 200 to 300 hotel rooms. A lender reading the two vintages reads a programme that shrank before it broke ground.
The remedy a lender can price
Security posted at the exercise of the entitlement converts an open-ended liability into a fixed number. Published installments give a lender a payment schedule to underwrite. A notice right gives the authority a documented route to act. The re-marketing step gives the parcel a second buyer pool while the entitlement still holds.
Each instrument costs the authority nothing at signature. Each one closes the gap between the date on the agreement and the date on the ground.