Here's the new rendering, folks, and today the architects at Pelli Clarke Pelli present their final designs for the terminal portion of the Transbay project to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority. The 1,000-foot tower remains up in the air, so to speak, but the terminal is moving forward with a projected opening date of 2017. more ›

Oh, god. Deputy State's Attorney General Christine Sproul has ruled that the proposed high-speed rail terminus must be at the Transbay Terminal, as was stipulated by the voters when they approved the bond measure. But in true lawyerly fashion, she adds that the measure still allows for some variation because it "does not define the Transbay Terminal." This means that the new Transbay Terminal as we know it, designed to be at the foot of the 1,200 ft. Cesar-Pelli-designed dildo tower, may need to be expanded to include that Beale Street wing that South Beach residents vehemently do not want, or the train traffic may have to be split between the Transbay and the existing CalTrain station on King Street. Buckle your seat belts for a whole lot more argument over this, but they'd better goddamn hurry up or else risk losing $400M in stimulus funds. [Chron, Curbed] more ›

The Planning Department just released their 25-year plan for the Transbay Terminal-adjacent "Transit Center District." Above is a rendering of what the San Francisco skyline might look like, 20 or 25 years hence, if six new proposed skyscrapers actually get approved and built, including the central 950-foot Transbay Tower, which would be 100 feet taller than the TransAmerica Pyramid. This is just a plan of course, not a design, and the image above is meant only to illustrate relative heights. But wouldn't that be pretty? The view from Dolores Park? (Cue the anti-shadow, anti-tall-stuff whiners.) more ›