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Downtown’s promised huge skyscraper is going nowhere fast, will be redesigned

A skyscraper is seen in a rendering.
Renderings show the planned 50 Main St. tower, which would be the second tallest in the city after Salesforce Tower if it ever gets built. | Source: Courtesy Hines, Pickard Chilton, Foster and Partners, PWP Landscape Architecture and Kendall/Heaton Associates

Plans to build hundreds of homes in what would be San Francisco’s tallest residential building have been put on hold, according to the developer and Planning Department.

The planned 992-foot-tall project at 50 Main St. in the city’s downtown would add 800 apartments and a public park on the ground level. The building would replace an existing two-story parking garage. The planning department has yet to approve the plans.

The massive tower would sit three blocks from San Francisco’s tallest building, the 1,070-foot Salesforce Tower, which topped out in 2018.

Texas-based developer Hines told planning officials that work had paused on the project in April last year because the company wanted to redesign it, an excerpt from an email seen by The Standard shows. No specifics on a new format or timeline were supplied.

“We’re continuing to work on our plans for executing the redevelopment of the project,” Hines spokesperson Marisa Monte-Santoro said in an emailed statement.

A skyscraper is seen in a rendering.
If built, the 50 Main St. tower, depicted in a rendering, would be the second tallest in the city after Salesforce Tower. | Source: Courtesy Hines, Pickard Chilton, Foster and Partners, PWP Landscape Architecture and Kendall/Heaton Associates

A September 2022 permit filed with the city’s Department of Building Inspection says the building’s construction will cost more than $180 million.

Hines has not notified the Planning Department when it will resume work on the project, Sider said.

The tower at 50 Main St. is part of a larger Hines development named City Grove.

The full development includes office and retail space at 215 Market St., 245 Market St. and 200 Mission St. Upon completion, it would have underground parking for up to 404 cars and a 1.25-acre public park, including an amphitheater.

This is not the first change that has been made to plans for 50 Main St.

In late 2022, Hines reduced the apartment tower’s height from 1,066 feet to 992 feet and reduced the number of apartments from 808 to 800.

Hines has faced controversy after its luxury apartment building at 33 Tehama St. flooded twice in June and August 2022, displacing all of the building’s tenants.

Garrett Leahy can be reached at garrett@sfstandard.com