By Amy Campbell, Holly Arnold, Doug Zucker : gensler – excerpt

This is the second in a blog series to explore ways to reimagine the future of downtown San Francisco. Read Part 1 here and Part 3 here.

Perhaps no other U.S. city’s downtown core is grappling with post-pandemic disruption more than downtown San Francisco, which The New York Times podcast “The Daily” recently called “The Most Empty Downtown in America.” San Francisco Mayor London Breed recognized these challenges during a client panel event on Feb. 15 in Gensler’s San Francisco office where she shared her vision for downtown San Francisco’s future. “We’re not going to be what we were before the pandemic, but I truly believe we can become something better,” Mayor Breed said. “My hope is that we start thinking differently and more creatively about all kinds of spaces that exists across the city and transform those spaces to become great places to eat and gather.”

In Part 1 of this blog series, we investigated the lack of vibrancy and diversity present in most downtown financial districts and how small adjustments to them are not going to create the change necessary to make them vibrant 24/7 neighborhoods. Although they are, for the most part, the most transit connected areas of a city or region, they lack adequate diversity of use. One of the easiest ways to create diversity in an area that is primarily office use is to look at converting some of the office buildings to other uses. Residential is an obvious choice.

Gensler is leading the conversation on office-to-residential conversions. We are actively overseeing research and conversion of underperforming assets across North America and have successfully completed conversion projects in both New York and Philadelphia. We’re also partnering with municipal agencies, such as Calgary’s Economic Development group and San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR), to consult on ways downtown vacancy rates could be turned into a catalyst of positive change…(more)