Under The Dome
Westfield San Francisco Centre will be one of the largest projects to open this year in the United States. A collaboration between Westfield and Forest City, the new center is one of the most forward-thinking in America.
Randall Shearin

A view from the Mission Street side of Westfield San Francisco Centre. The new addition includes the second-largest Bloomingdale’s in the U.S.

Shopping Center Business recently traveled to San Francisco to get a preview of the project. SCB met with Peter Lowy, CEO of Westfield and Ken Wong, president of Westfield, and spoke with Brian Jones, CEO of Forest City Commercial Development, Western Region, to discuss the center, its implications for the future of urban shopping centers, and how the two companies worked together to create this exciting new destination.

A view of Westfield San Francisco Centre from Market Street. The view shows the use of the historic façade of the former Emporium department store (at left).

In the 1990s, Forest City began to explore redeveloping the former Emporium department store building, located next to San Francisco Shopping Centre. When Westfield took over the Centre, the two companies began working jointly to redevelop The Emporium building. After purchasing several other adjacent buildings, plans were developed to create an integrated, unified project. The former Emporium building retains its historic Market Street façade and dome, which were meticulously restored. The inside of that building and others were transformed to create new spaces for retail, restaurant, theater and office uses. The new section of Westfield San Francisco Centre joins the existing center on five levels. On the fourth level, there is even a store-to-store cross-over from Bloomingdale’s to Nordstrom.

“There were less than 100 shops in the existing San Francisco Centre,” says Peter Lowy. “We had no property to expand and we knew that everyone would grow around us. It would devalue what we had. Our whole philosophy is to increase the value and upgrade everything we have. After acquiring San Francisco Centre, we immediately met with Forest City to see if we could be involved in their project.”

The new Westfield San Francisco Centre will be the home of the West Coast flagship for Bloomingdale’s. The 338,000-square-foot store will be the brand’s second-largest next to its store on 60th and Lexington in New York City. The second-largest Nordstrom has anchored San Francisco Centre since its original opening.

“We have the best anchors of any urban center in America,” says Ken Wong, president of Westfield. “We have the largest Nordstrom outside of Seattle and the biggest Bloomingdale’s outside of New York. These are two powerhouses that will be working together to provide a powerful draw.”

The Dome as it was inside The Emporium department store, circa 1910.

For inspiration in how to reuse the historic Emporium building, Brian Jones traveled to Europe where using historic storefronts in urban development has been common practice for years.

“The wonderful thing about the new venue is the integration that the designers have been able to achieve,” Jones says. “At every turn, you see something old and something new. There is a juxtaposition between the old elements and the new, and yet it totally integrates. It is so unlike a normal shopping center. We put in hallways in the retail areas where the consumer will feel like they are walking along bridges rather than concourses, for instance.”

Since Forest City had been involved in the project since the late 1990s, most of the plans were in place before the partnership with Westfield was created. At Westfield’s urging, Forest City officials visited Westfield’s Bondi Junction in Sydney, Australia, to view the food pavilion there. Westfield had a vision that the food area at the new San Francisco Centre could be similar. Forest City agreed and that was one area where plans were revamped after the collaboration.

“Forest City had done a lot of work in the years before we joined the project,” says Lowy. “Within 6 months of our joining, the expansion was ready to start. With Forest City’s designs and our additions, you are going to see a fantastic retailing concept.  The exterior is magnificent, the dome is spectacular, and the stores will be seamless.”

The interior of the dome while it was under construction. The developers raised the 102-foot wide dome four stories and built a new building around it.

Westfield’s agreement with Forest City is a 50-50 split. Forest City purchased half of the existing San Francisco Centre and Westfield gained half of the new development. Under the agreement, Westfield also handled the development and leasing of the entire project. Westfield will also manage the center when it opens on September 28. Forest City will continue as a partner and co-owner in the center. Because Westfield is the largest shopping center owner in California, the management role made sense.

“We had a very good melding of the teams,” says Lowy. “We don’t take credit for any part of the project and Forest City doesn’t either. It is really a joint effort with two rational, very good companies seeing logic in front of them. Very rarely in the development business do you get a meeting of the minds on such a large scale.”

The centerpiece of the project is a 102-foot wide steel and glass dome of the former Emporium. The restored dome and façade are what made The Emporium famous and are the signature elements of Westfield San Francisco Centre. During construction, Forest City and Westfield raised the dome 58 feet (four stories), and built the new building around it. The 500,000-pound dome is so large that it is visible from nearly every point in the new portion of the center, on every level.  Thanks to the center’s forward, multi-level design, each level of the new addition is different, and each floorplate is differently sized.

The lower level of the center will house the Food Emporium. Similar to the dining terrace at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles, this new take on the food court has upscale local operators with express concepts. The Food Emporium uses dishes and cutlery (a central scullery washes them) and seating is more upscale than the typical mall food court. This level will also house Northern California’s first Bristol Farms gourmet grocery store. The chain, popular in Southern California, will feature an upscale bakery, wine market and grocery selection.

Level 4 of the new addition will also house a restaurant collection with several leading local restaurateurs in a 26,000-square-foot area. Charles Phan, of The Slanted Door, will be opening Out The Door. Lark Creek Group’s Michael Dellar and Bradley Ogden are opening Lark Creek Steak, while Tom Colicchio of New York’s ‘wichcraft will be introducing the concept to San Francisco at the center as well. Other restaurants at the center will include GoGlobal, Zazil and Straits. The existing food area on the ground level of the center will also continue operations.

On Level 5, Century Theatres is creating a 53,000-square-foot showplace theater that will house nine screens. The theaters have stadium seating, digital stereo surround sound and THX certification. Burke Williams, a 16,000-square-foot day spa, will open on Level 5 with its second unit in the Bay Area. It will be the city’s largest day spa. Retail tenants for the new portion of the center include The Art of Shaving, Furla, Blue by Antik Denim, Hollister, Bebe Sport, Neda by Bebe, Clarks, Abercrombie Kids, Tourneau, Borders Books, Palm and John Atencio.

Some retailers are moving to the new area of the center, while others are locating in the existing portion. This will create a lot of cross-traffic between the two parts of the center. Changes to the existing center are expected sustain consumer interest with, new flooring and finishes to complement the new venue. The same marble, for instance, is being added to the floors so that the transition between the two will be seamless.

“The key is not to have an ‘old and new’ part,” says Lowy. “It will take time for them to integrate, but the customer will solve that.”

Because Westfield and Forest City both have a lot of urban retail development experience, Westfield San Francisco Centre will have a good pedigree coming out of the box. The center will be one of the largest projects to open in the U.S. this year.