All signs are pointing to a major Transbay District development known as Parcel F, or 542-550 Howard Street, which was set to become the city's fifth-tallest building, being hopelessly stalled, and perhaps doomed, after the developer just missed another key deadline.

The development partners Hines, Goldman Sachs, and San Francisco-based Urban Pacific Development LLC are on the hook for a $70 million penalty to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA), which owns the land on Howard Street — the last of the parcels zoned for a "super-tall" tower in the Transbay redevelopment district. That penalty was agreed upon in a 2016 development agreement between the developer and TJPA, in the developer failed to deliver the project by the end of 2023. As construction stalled, the two parties later agreed to a $40 million penalty to be paid in installments, the first of which was due by April 30, 2024.

As the SF Business Times reports, the development partners, known collectively as F4 Transbay Partners LLC, blew that deadline, and that means that they revert to the original $70 million penalty number unless they can hash out some other agreement.

A spokesperson for Hines did not respond to questions about the missed $5 million payment, but told the Business Times they are working with their lender "to address the complex situation and financial commitments" associated with the Parcel F development. "Our concerted efforts are focused on steering the project toward a successful path forward," the spokesperson said.

The project as originally envisioned in 2016 called for a 61-story tower designed by the same architecture firm as Salesforce Tower, Pelli Clarke Pelli. It was to include 250,000-425,000 square feet of office space (at its base), with 200-300 hotel rooms above that, and 200 condo units above those.

The tanking of the office and hotel markets in SF has certainly been a consideration for the developers since this project got its approvals in January 2020. And another major downtown development, the 910-foot Oceanwide Center, which would have been the city's second-tallest tower after Salesforce, is not likely to built as designed — and the development was in foreclosure as of early 2024.

A key setback for Parcel F and developer F4 came in the fall of 2020, when Salesforce pulled out of its commitment to lease the entire office component in the building — something the company had committed to before the project was approved, and long before Salesforce began subleasing a bunch of its unused office space in the pandemic.

And, as the Business Times reported last year, the 0.75-acre Parcel F property and its entitlements have been on the market since last July — with F4 saying that it was open to still being involved in the development. An $80 million loan for the purchase of the parcel matured in October 2023, and the developer has said it was negotiating with its lender over that.

Suffice it to say, SF's planned second-tallest and fifth-tallest towers are not looking likely to rise anytime soon.

Previously: 61-Story Tower Designed By Salesforce Tower Architects Will Be SF's 5th Tallest