Shvo sheds light on second phase of Transamerica Center makeover

Developer plans $150-million addition to add six stories to office at 545 Sansome St.

Schvo's Michael Shvo with rendering of Three Transamerica (Schvo, Foster + Partners)
Shvo's Michael Shvo with rendering of Three Transamerica (Shvo, Foster + Partners)

The owner of the Transamerica Center is moving ahead with a $400-million renovation of the storied complex within the Financial District.

The New York-based developer Shvo, which paid $650 million for the Transamerica Pyramid and two adjacent office buildings in 2020, has filed plans for a second-phase addition, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

The firm proposes a $150-million upgrade to the 9-story office building at 545 Sansome St., which would double its size while adding a park and open space for outdoor restaurant seating.

Plans call for adding six stories to the building and pushing its footprint north to the property line on Washington Street – adding a total of 55,600 square feet. Of those, 50,000 square feet would go to office space, and 5,600 square feet of ground-floor shops and restaurants.

The project would raze a single-story retail building at 501-505 Washington St., which includes a Vietnamese restaurant that the developer will help relocate.

The building’s historic facade on Sansome Street would be retained, while the addition would incorporate compatible building materials with a “contemporary design and larger windows.”

Shvo has applied to add a 1,250-square-foot privately owned public park next to Transamerica Redwood Park, while adding another 1,800 square feet of open space to accommodate outdoor seating for new restaurant tenants.

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Construction is expected to take 18 months.

The two-phase upgrade of the Transamerica Center would bring it “into the next century,” Michael Shvo, chairman and CEO, told the San Francisco Business Times.

The 853-foot Transamerica Pyramid, designed by architect William Pereira, has been a San Francisco icon since it was built in 1972. Its smaller siblings at 505 and 545 Sansome Street have been dubbed 2 and 3 Transamerica.

Last month, Shvo began the first phase of the center makeover – a $250 million renovation of the 523,000-square-foot Transamerica Pyramid at 600 Montgomery St., and the 191,000-square-foot office building at 501 Sansome St.

The Pyramid will get a top-floor tenant lounge, fitness and wellness spaces. The offices at 505 Sansome will get a new lobby, a new storefront and a restored entrance facing the redwood park. London’s Foster + Partners has designed the renovations.

Shvo says its $1 billion investment in the Transamerica Center has begun to pay off, with 150,000 square feet of new leases at rents of more than $100 per square foot annually.

[San Francisco Business Times] – Dana Bartholomew

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