Financial District | |
|---|---|
 San Francisco Financial District as seen fromBuena Vista Park | |
| Nicknames: "FiDi",[1] "Downtown" | |
  Financial District Location within San Francisco | |
| Coordinates:37°47′43″N122°24′10″W / 37.7952°N 122.4029°W /37.7952; -122.4029 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  California |
| City-county | San Francisco |
| Government | |
| • Supervisor | Julie Christensen |
| • Assemblymember | Matt Haney (D)[2] |
| • State senator | Scott Wiener (D)[2] |
| • U.S. rep. | Nancy Pelosi (D)[3] |
| Area | |
• Total | 0.460 sq mi (1.19 km2) |
| • Land | 0.460 sq mi (1.19 km2) |
| Population | |
• Total | 9,447 |
| • Density | 20,500/sq mi (7,930/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−8 (Pacific) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−7 (PDT) |
| ZIP codes | 94104, 94108, 94111, 94133 |
| Area codes | 415/628 |
TheFinancial District is aneighborhood inSan Francisco, California, United States, that serves as its maincentral business district and had 372,829 jobs according to U.S. census tracts as of 2012–2016.[5] It is home to the city's largest concentration of corporate headquarters, law firms, insurance companies, real estate firms, savings and loan banks, and other financial institutions. MultipleFortune 500 companies headquartered in San Francisco have their offices in the Financial District, includingWells Fargo,Salesforce, andGap.[6][failed verification]
Since the 1980s, restrictions on high-rise construction have shifted new development to the adjacentSouth of Market (SoMa) area surrounding theTransbay Transit Center. This area is sometimes called theSouth Financial District by real estate developers, or simply included as part of the Financial District itself.[7][8]
The 2020s have seen high office vacancy rates in the Financial District since theCOVID-19 pandemic, attributed to the accelerating exodus out of the downtown core, particularly by retail and tech companies.[9][10][11][12][13]
The area is marked by a cluster of high-rise towers in the triangular area east ofKearny Street,[14] south of Washington Street, west of theEmbarcadero that rings thewaterfront, and north ofMarket Street.[citation needed] The district includes theTransamerica Pyramid, formerly San Francisco's tallest building.Montgomery Street (sometimes called "Wall Street of the West") is considered the traditional heart of the district.
UnderSpanish andMexican rule, the area had been the site of a harbor namedYerba Buena Cove with a small civilian outpost namedYerba Buena that served to support the military population of thePresidio and theMission Dolores. The sandy, marshy soils of the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula discouraged the Spanish, and later Mexican governments from establishing a preeminent town there, who focused theirpueblo settlement efforts in thePueblo of San José with its extremely fertile land. It was not until 1835 that the first settlers established themselves on the shore of Yerba Buena Cove, with the first town plan surveyed in 1839.[15] Yerba Buena's potential as a seaport made it the eventual center for European and American settlement.
After gold was discovered in theSierra Nevada Foothills in 1848, Yerba Buena's location on the natural harbor of San Francisco Bay acted as a magnet for European and American settlers, as well as gold and job seekers from a multitude of countries. FollowingCalifornian independence and American annexation and theCalifornia Gold Rush, the area boomed rapidly and the Bay shoreline, which originally ended near Montgomery Street, was filled in and extended to The Embarcadero. Gold Rush wealth and business made it the financial capital of the west coast as many banks and businesses set up in the neighborhood. The west coast's first and onlyskyscrapers, were built in the area alongMarket Street.
The neighborhood was nearly completely destroyed in the1906 Earthquake and Fire, as the area's skyscrapers survived. By 1910, the area was largely rebuilt with low-rise, masonry-clad buildings ranging from six to twelve stories in height.[16] During the late 1920s, severalNeo-Gothic high rises, reaching 300 to 400 feet in height, were constructed, including theStandard Oil Building,Russ Building,Hunter-Dulin Building,Shell Building, and thePacific Telephone Building.[16]
With the onset of theGreat Depression and statewide height restrictions due to earthquake fears, few new buildings were constructed, and the district remained relatively low-rise until the late 1950s. Due to new building and earthquakeretrofitting technologies, the height restrictions were lifted, fueling a skyscraper building boom.[16] This boom accelerated under mayorDianne Feinstein during the 1980s, something her critics labeled "Manhattanization".[17] This caused widespread opposition citywide leading to the "skyscraper revolt" similar to the "freeway revolt" in the city years earlier. The skyscraper revolt led to the city imposing extremely strict, European-style height restrictions on building construction citywide.
Due to theseheight restrictions, lack of buildable lots, and changes in the local real estate market, new development in the area has shifted toSouth of Market Street since the 1980s. The area south of Market, east ofThird Street, north ofFolsom Street, and west of the Embarcadero is sometimes called theSouth Financial District, or simply included as part of the Financial District itself.[7] To encourage new development south of Market, and to help fund the replacement for theTransbay Terminal, many height limits were raised in the area. As a result, nearly all new high rise construction since the 1980s (and for the foreseeable future) has taken place South of Market.
According to TRI Commercial, the traditional Financial District provides[when?] approximately 30 million square feet (2,800,000 m2) of office space, and the South Financial District offers about 28 million square feet (2,600,000 m2).[18]
In the 2020s, theCOVID-19 pandemic stimulated an exodus of business from the downtown core of San Francisco.[19] By 2024, the average sale price of office towers in the Financial District had fallen to around $310 per square foot from $800 before the pandemic.[20] Successive owners of office buildings and hotels defaulted on their loans,[21][22] raising concerns about the effect on San Francisco's tax revenues and the financial stability of local government services.[23]
Adjacent to the Financial District to the west is theUnion Square shopping district. To the northwest isChinatown, and to the north isNorth Beach andJackson Square. To the east lies theEmbarcadero waterfront and theFerry Building. To the south liesMarket Street and theSouth of Market district.
The Financial District is served by more than two dozenMuni bus and rail lines, including onecable car line, as well asMontgomery Street Station andEmbarcadero Station in theBART system.
The nickname "FiDi" is occasionally employed,[1] analogous to nearbySoMa. The area is commonly referred to as "Downtown" as well, although "Downtown" may include the broader Union Square, Chinatown,Tenderloin, and SoMa districts as well.
The District is home to numerous corporate headquarters, including half of San Francisco's eightFortune 500 companies—Wells Fargo,Salesforce,Visa, andGap—[6] as well asLevi Strauss,Kimpton Hotels,Dodge & Cox,Prologis,Docusign,Yelp, andSoFi among others; and formerlyBank of America,Bechtel,Pacific Bell,Crocker Bank,Transamerica,Chevron,PG&E,McKesson,URS, andCharles Schwab among others. The headquarters of the 12th district of the United StatesFederal Reserve is located in the area as well. Prior to their disestablishment,AirTouch,South Pacific Air Lines,Pegasus Aviation Finance Company, and thePacific Exchange all had their headquarters in the Financial District.[24][25][26]
There are several shopping malls in the area, including the Crocker Galleria, theEmbarcadero Center, theFerry Building Marketplace, and theRincon Center complex. Parks and plazas located there includeSue Bierman Park;Justin Herman Plaza, and Transamerica Redwood Park. St. Mary's Square andPortsmouth Square are near the borders of the district, but are usually considered as part of Chinatown.
Several consulates are located in the financial district. Countries with consulates in the Financial District includeFrance,[27]Brazil,[28]Guatemala,[29]Japan,[30][31]Luxembourg,[32]Mexico,[33]Ireland,[34]the Netherlands,[35]Singapore,[36] andthe United Kingdom.[37] TheHong Kong Economic and Trade Office and theTaipei Economic and Cultural Office is located in the Financial District.[38]
On any given week in San Francisco, office buildings are at about 40 percent of their prepandemic occupancy.
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Union Square-Financial District travel guide from Wikivoyage| International | |
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