The Ferry Building, at the foot of Market Street, handled 20 million passengers a year in its day in the 1920s and ’30s. Its 245-foot-tall tower served as a beacon for decades, drawing people to San Francisco’s Embarcadero. Then the automobile took its toll. With the Golden Gate and Bay bridges, ferry ridership declined. In 1957, the newly built Embarcadero Freeway, like some grand concrete strangler fig, choked the site to near death. Then, in 1989, from tragedy sprang hope as the Loma Prieta earthquake spelled the end of the freeway, which was deemed unsafe and pulled down. Now at the center of San Francisco’s revived waterfront—including a new Muni streetcar line and public plaza—the former transit center on the Bay has itself attracted $100 million in investments for restoration and expansion.

The renovation began during the building’s centennial year, 1998, and is now complete, featuring 175,000 square feet of office space (already 70-percent filled, despite a soft market), the hugely popular Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market, a European-style food hall, and a return to the facility’s original use as a ferry-line hub. Restoration of such renowned features as the 660-foot-long second-level central nave, grand staircase, and clock tower was the responsibility of Page & Turnbull. SMWM, also of San Francisco, was the lead architect on the project, and BCV provided the retail architectural services. The project was just named the San Francisco Business Times Deal of the Year, Best Rehab/Renovation of the Year, and Community Impact/San Francisco project for 2003.

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