45-469: Hallidie Plaza is a public square located at the entrance to Powell Street Station (the third-busiest BART station as of 2015) on Market Street in the Union Square area of downtown San Francisco, California , United States. Hallidie Plaza was designed jointly by Lawrence Halprin , John Carl Warnecke , and Mario Ciampi and opened in 1973. In 1997, a perforated stainless steel-screened elevator
90-496: A cluster of places but a cluster of kinetic, human-scale experiences which make it architecture. — William Marlin, The Architectural Forum (April 1973) As built, the plaza sits 20 feet (6.1 m) below street level, built with granite walls, terraced concrete planters and brick paving laid in a herringbone pattern , extending into a walkway underneath Cyril Magnin Street. Mezzanine levels are provided on both
135-434: A new mid-station elevator ($ 6.1 million), platform screen doors ($ 6 million), additional platform stairs ($ 5.6 million), and numerous other projects. Bathrooms in underground BART stations were closed due to security concerns after the 9/11 attacks. In 2019, BART indicated plans to open a new bathroom with an attendant at Powell in 2021. In November 2019, the board issued an $ 11 million contract for improvements at Powell, with
180-530: Is a combined BART and Muni Metro rapid transit station in the Market Street subway in downtown San Francisco . Located under Market Street between 4th Street and 5th Street, it serves the Financial District neighborhood and surrounding areas. The three-level station has a large fare mezzanine level, with separate platform levels for Muni Metro and BART below. The station is served by
225-410: Is little to look at beyond a large expanse of brick paving, glaring granite walls (on a hot day it is like an oven), small trees that offer no shade, and colorless planters. ... It is little wonder that the seats at the intermediate and upper levels, where passersby and traffic on Market Street create some interest, are always more heavily used than are those in the sunken plaza areas." Hank Donat called
270-721: The F Market & Wharves line. The Powell and Market turntable of the San Francisco cable car system , terminus of the Powell/Hyde and Powell/Mason lines, is located adjacent to the station next to Haladie Plaza. The station is also served by a number of Muni bus and trolleybus routes: AC Transit serves Powell Street station with the 800 All Nighter route during hours that BART is not operating. Additional Muni ( 14 , 14R , 14X , 714 ), Golden Gate Transit (30, 70, 101, 101X), and SamTrans (FCX, 292, 397 , 398) bus routes run on Mission Street, one block away. Under
315-753: The Muni Metro , which connects to Caltrain . The center is also two blocks away from the Powell Street station , which is served by both BART and the Metro. Labor organizations supported the construction of the center, and were granted full labor jurisdiction. All labor in the Convention Center is performed by I.A.T.S.E. Local 16 Stagehands, Sign and Display Workers Local #510, Brotherhood of Teamsters local #65, IBEW Local #6, Security I.A.T.S.E. Local #B-18, Communications Workers of America, and
360-486: The San Francisco Ferry Building . Hallidie Plaza opened in 1973, as a central element of a remodeling of Market Street spurred by BART reconstruction after the double-deck Market Street subway was built using cut-and-cover construction. It was named after Andrew Smith Hallidie , who developed the world's first cable car system in 1873. Mr. Halprin has created, along Market Street, not only
405-615: The South of Market neighborhood. The convention center originally opened in 1981. It is named after former San Francisco mayor George Moscone , who was assassinated in November 1978. The South of Market Area where Moscone Center was built was claimed by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency , and a protracted battle was fought by the displaced low-income residents during the 1960s and 1970s. Although
450-682: The BART Red , Yellow , Green , and Blue lines, and the Muni Metro J Church , K Ingleside , L Taraval , M Ocean View , N Judah , and S Shuttle lines. The fare mezzanine also connects to the Union Square/Market Street station . The Powell-Mason and Powell-Hyde cable car lines turn around at Powell and Market adjacent to the station and Hallidie Plaza . BART service at the station began on November 5, 1973, followed by Muni Metro service on February 18, 1980. Like
495-688: The BART platform at Powell was installed in April 2023. Installation of second-generation BART faregates took place in November 2024. Pigeons living in the station are a nuisance, which has prompted BART to take countermeasures such as installing nets and metal screens to block their nesting spots. The pigeons are attracted by passengers littering and by nearby street food vendors. Two Muni heritage streetcar stops are located above Powell Street station: Market and 4th Street (inbound) / Market and Stockton (outbound), and Market and 5th Street . Both are served by
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#1732797331314540-501: The Hotel & Restaurant Workers Local #2. IUOE Local #39 provides Engineering Services. Projection Presentation Technology is the on-site rental service. Moscone Center hosts many large events each year. During the 2016–17 season, Moscone Center hosted 74 events with a total attendance of 1,021,031. Moscone Center hosts a number of annual professional gatherings, including: In addition, Moscone Center hosts public gated events such as
585-464: The aboveground structures and beneath Yerba Buena Gardens and the Metreon entertainment center. The massive underground hall has been described as a bunker. Together, Moscone North and South have 504,000 square feet (46,800 m ) of contiguous exhibition space, two ballrooms, 82 meeting rooms, and 107,000 square feet (9,900 m ) of pre-function lobby space. A large solar electricity system
630-510: The administration of Mayor Willie Brown , more frequent police patrols initially displaced homeless residents from Civic Center Plaza to UN Plaza and Hallidie Plaza; a committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to bring the latter two under the city's Parks code which would allow stricter enforcement of laws criminalizing vagrancy; the full Board passed the measure in late January 1999. John King noted that making
675-429: The bathroom expected to cost an additional $ 20 million. The new bathrooms opened on February 2, 2022. The renovation was completed in November 2022. It included a ceiling artwork titled Elysium , which depicts an illuminated view of the buildings above the station. After a test at Castro, colored lights were installed on escalators at Muni Metro stations in 2018–19. Those at Powell are yellow and burgundy, reflecting
720-456: The center is named after the murdered mayor, Moscone initially opposed the development of the area when he served on the SF Board of Supervisors in the 1960s because he felt it would displace elderly and poor residents of the area. As mayor, Moscone convened a special committee of proponents and opponents of a convention center. Hearings were held throughout SF seeking citizen input. A compromise
765-528: The colors of the cable cars. The entrances on the southern side of the station were closed on April 13, 2020, due to low ridership during the COVID-19 pandemic. The center entrance reopened on May 15, 2021, with the remaining entrances reopened on June 12. Thirteen BART stations, including Powell, did not originally have faregates for passengers using the elevator. In 2020, BART started a project to add faregates to elevators at these stations. The new faregate on
810-593: The connection to the new station. The closure was originally planned for the previous August, but delayed after Muni determined it was not yet needed. Muni purchased the entrance from BART for one dollar . Central Subway service began on November 19, 2022, with the Ellis entrance reopened. Following the 2015 addition of a canopy over an escalator at 19th Street Oakland station , which reduced escalator downtime by one-third, BART decided to add canopies to all downtown Oakland and San Francisco entrances. The canopies protect
855-531: The creation of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District in 1962, the report What to Do About Market Street was published later that year. In it, Halprin and Associates, led by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, called for pedestrian arcades to connect the planned transit station with parking garages, north or south of Market, in this retail district. Two potential sites were examined in the 1965 Market Street Design Report , written by
900-649: The eastern and western ends. However, the 1967 plan called for more gradual amphitheater-style steps leading north to street level. The three architecture firms formed the Market Street Joint Venture Architects in 1968 to take on the Market Street Redevelopment Project in 1968, which also encompassed the design for two other large plazas along Market: United Nations Plaza at the neighboring Civic Center/UN Plaza station and Embarcadero Plaza near
945-471: The eastern and western portions of the plaza, and wood slat benches were originally installed on the lower and mezzanine levels of the plaza. In addition to the eastern and western escalators, the plaza can be accessed from street level via stairs in both portions, parallel to Cyril Magnin/5th. The plaza also contained a 1,880 sq ft (175 m) visitor information center off the tunnel under Cyril Magnin/5th from 1976 until it moved to Moscone Center at
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#1732797331314990-417: The end of 2018. Construction of an elevator started in 1997; Michael Willis was the architect responsible for the perforated metal design. The $ 510,000 elevator was approved after a lawsuit from disability rights activists charged that Hallidie Plaza was not accessible. The San Francisco Arts Commission was involved in the approval process, and took the opportunity to create a new public sculpture. During
1035-558: The escalator from weather damage, improve lighting, allow the escalator to be fully closed off when the station is not open, and provide a location for real-time train arrival information displays. The Powell station entrance at Market and Ellis was chosen for early implementation; it was closed on November 6, 2017, with the new canopy opened on September 29, 2018. Construction of the Market Street entrances will begin in 2020, with completion in 2027. The southern entrance of 5th Street
1080-684: The fare mezzanine from the concourse level of the Emporium Centre San Francisco mall. The mall pays BART about $ 750,000 per year for the entrances. A closed passageway leads from the northeast end of the station under Market Street partway to Third Street; this was planned to be a direct entrance from the Yerba Buena Center development, but was never completed. Powell and nearby Montgomery , both designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill , have similar designs – including distinctive domed hexagonal "bubble tiles" on
1125-532: The firms led by Mario J. Ciampi and John Carl Warnecke; one site was the triangular block eventually selected, bounded by Mason, Eddy, and Market; the other site was south of Market across from the Phelan Building . By 1967, Ciampi and Warnecke had refined the design for the planned Powell Station Plaza ; the 1967 site and design largely matched the eventual implementation of Hallidie Plaza, a sunken triangular plaza with escalators parallel to Market Street at
1170-492: The metal-screened elevator added in 1997 "San Francisco's Poop Chute", describing it as "a hideous and cold addition to the open plaza." On April 30, 2018, BART started a pilot program to provide elevator attendants to discourage drug use and the elimination of human waste in the elevators at Powell Street and Civic Center/UN Plaza . The pilot was expanded to the other two downtown BART stations in 2019. Powell Street Station Powell Street station (often Powell station )
1215-498: The mezzanine level. The Central Subway passes under the Powell station complex at Stockton and Fourth streets, with Union Square/Market Street station located north of Powell station under Stockton Street. The stations are connected outside of Muni fare control by a passageway. The existing Stockton/Ellis entrance to Powell Street station was closed for a planned five years on April 24, 2013, so that it could be modified to include
1260-542: The northeastern edge. In 2003, the mezzanine terrace was closed after reports of criminal activity; the benches were removed and the terrace was reopened in 2005. In 2009, it was proposed to close the western part of the plaza; the area west of 5th/Cyril Magnin would be covered and a 480,000 US gal (1,800,000 L) cistern would be installed in the below-grade space, while the new deck would be used for cafe seating and public performances. The cistern would be used to hold groundwater pumped from Powell Street station;
1305-666: The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Moscone Center has struggled to fill its event calendar. Moscone hosted approximately 36 events in 2023 and 22 events in 2024. Some conferences did go forward as scheduled at Moscone Center, only to decide that they will not come back. For example, the American College of Surgeons went forward with its annual meeting in October 2024 and then decided afterwards, without disclosing
1350-640: The planned Better Market Street project, F stops would be consolidated to reduce travel times. The inbound stop at 5th Street and both stops at 4th Street would be discontinued, with a new inbound stop midway between 4th and 5th. Moscone Center The George R. Moscone Convention Center ( / m ɒ s ˈ k oʊ n i / ), popularly known as the Moscone Center , is the largest convention and exhibition complex in San Francisco , California, United States. The complex consists of three main halls spread out across three blocks and 87 acres (35 ha) in
1395-611: The plaza into eastern and western parts. The western part receives relatively little use. It is just south of the Flood Building , One Powell Street, and the cable car turntable at Powell and Market streets, and lies across Market from the Emporium Centre San Francisco mall. Hallidie Plaza also includes the Powell Street mall, which is the one-block-long portion of Powell south of Eddy that has been closed to road traffic. After San Francisco Bay Area voters approved
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1440-534: The plazas more unwelcoming did not discourage the homeless from gathering and recommended instead "the city should strive for places that are vibrant and attract all walks of life." Indeed, after Cable Car Coffee opened up a branch location in Hallidie Plaza in June 1998, the increase in retail activity depressed the number of homeless in the plaza. The wood slat benches were removed in 1998, along with trees along
1485-436: The reason, that it would not return to San Francisco in 2029 as originally scheduled. In general, San Francisco's "high hotel and booking costs have been cited as challenges, along with concerns over street conditions". The Moscone Center complex consists of three main halls: Moscone North and South are connected by a pedestrian bridge over Howard Street, as well as by the underground exhibition hall, which extends far beyond
1530-543: The site's usability and attract retail development. A sign with the names and distances to the nineteen sister cities of San Francisco was installed at Hallidie Plaza in late June 2018. USBID has studied the possibility of adding flags of the sister cities to Hallidie Plaza and installing the large sculpture R-Evolution by Marco Cochrane to attract more activity. San Francisco Chronicle urban design critic John King has described Hallidie Plaza as desolated, denounced its design as deeply flawed, and commented that "what
1575-433: The solar system, combined with savings from energy efficiency measures, delivers the equivalent energy to power approximately 8,500 homes. The location of the complex in the South of Market area provides easy access to downtown San Francisco's many hotels and restaurants, as well as major transportation systems. The Yerba Buena/Moscone station , in the southwestern corner of the convention center complex, provides access to
1620-629: The station requires continuous pumping to prevent flooding from underground creeks. The city kicked off the Better Market Street project in 2012, aimed at improving the appeal of Market for the first time since the Market Street Redevelopment Plan was completed in the 1970s. The Union Square Business Improvement District (USBID) released its Public Realm Design Manual in 2015, including a section entitled "Activating Hallidie Plaza" with suggestions to improve
1665-403: The three other shared Muni/BART stations in the Market Street subway, Powell has three underground levels. The first level is a fare mezzanine, with two Muni paid areas and two BART paid areas. The second level has a single island platform for Muni Metro, and the third level has an island platform for BART. The station has eight street entrances along its length, plus two underground entrances to
1710-518: The visual and social complexity of the San Francisco street scene ... has a genuine aesthetic value that transcends that of many more harmoniously integrated situations. It is a piece of powerful urban theater, by virtue of the impressions and lessons imparted by its contrasts." Clare Cooper Marcus faulted the lack of interesting features and the dramatic difference in elevation for its paucity of users: "At Hallidie Plaza in San Francisco, there
1755-440: Was added to provide access to the plaza and station for disabled people. Although Powell Street station is one of the busiest stations in the BART system, Hallidie Plaza is relatively underused and has been criticized for its isolation from Market. Hallidie Plaza lies within the triangular block bounded by Market, Mason, and Eddy, north of Market; the plaza is below grade, crossed by a bridge carrying Cyril Magnin/5th which divides
1800-440: Was closed on January 10, 2022, for canopy construction. That entrance was completed on April 24, 2023, with the 4th Street entrance closed for construction at that time. In September 2015, BART released a report on possible modernization of the station. A total of $ 93 million in potential improvements were identified, including escalator replacement and canopy construction ($ 25 million), a corridor to Cyril Magnin ($ 13.7 million),
1845-529: Was completed in 2012. The renewal project was designed by HOK , the center's original architect. A $ 551 million expansion project is underway, which was scheduled for completion in December 2018. The aboveground portions of Moscone South have been demolished and replaced by a more spacious structure. Moscone North was also renovated. The expansion project was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in collaboration with Mark Cavagnero Associates . Since
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1890-432: Was envisioned as a grand entrance instead is a void to avoid, a deep, angled space beloved by none but too pricey to fix." King also said the plaza was "flawed from the start, products of a 1960s-era planning mentality that says spaces work best when they're kept apart from traffic and noise." In contrast, architect Lajos Héder said the contrast created by the "technologically oriented BART environment [opening] directly onto
1935-412: Was featured in the 1995 movie The Net , with Sandra Bullock. The expansion of Moscone North and Moscone West in 1992 and 2003, designed by Gensler with Hunt Construction Group as the general contractor, added an additional 600,000 square feet (56,000 m ) to its original 300,000 square feet (28,000 m ) of exhibit space. Moscone North and South underwent a two-year renovation project that
1980-425: Was installed on the roof of the center in March 2004 by PowerLight Corporation. The installation of this system marked San Francisco's first major step towards obtaining all municipal energy from pollution-free sources. With the 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m ) solar array (675 kW capacity) in place, San Francisco boasts one of the largest city-owned solar installations in the country. The electricity generated by
2025-452: Was reached which was supported by Moscone. He put the matter on the ballot in November 1976 and it passed overwhelmingly. The original Moscone Convention Center hall opened in 1981 on the site of what is now known as Moscone South. It was designed by a team at Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum led by Bill Valentine . The exhibition hall was placed underground to minimize the controversial convention center's visible footprint. Moscone Center
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