Transbay Block 2 occupies 0.98 acres in the East Cut, on the downtown San Francisco block that held the Transbay Temporary Terminal. Mithun, the architect of the west building, states that a public mews will connect the two buildings and support pedestrian connectivity in the neighbourhood. The block will hold more than 700 residents.
The Mews on the Block Plan
SF YIMBY reports the mews connects Folsom Street to the future Block 3 park. It passes a central courtyard and the secured childcare open space. The same publisher reports a five-storey townhouse wall along the future extension of Clementina Street on both buildings, and that extension will separate Block 2 from the park.
No source publishes a width for the mews or a completion date for the connection. A planner holds a pedestrian line through the middle of the block.
Seven Hundred Residents and 335 Homes
Mithun puts affordable rental housing for more than 700 residents across the two buildings, and SF YIMBY describes the pair as a 335-unit infill. Block 2 West, now Philip C. Chin Commons, is a nine-storey building of 109,650 square feet with 151 homes for senior households. Thirty of those homes are reserved for people who have experienced homelessness, and 60 serve extremely low-income residents on fixed incomes. The mix runs to studios and one-bedroom apartments.
Block 2 East is the family building. SF YIMBY reported 184 homes there in May 2025 at 20 to 80 percent of area median income, with two set aside for on-site property managers. Mercy Housing California is the lead developer, and Kennerly Architecture & Planning designed the building with Y.A. Studio.
The Retail Bay at Grade
Mithun lists 3,000 square feet of ground-floor retail in the west building. SF YIMBY reported in April 2024 that the east building holds 1,960 square feet of community-serving retail and a 6,480-square-foot childcare centre serviced by Wu Yee. Neither publisher names a tenant, an operator or an opening date.
That bay sits at the foot of the mews, where a walking programme enters the block.
Streets Around the Block
SF YIMBY binds the block by Folsom Street, Beale Street, Howard Street and Main Street. Block 2 East carries the address 230 Folsom Street. The west building overlooks Folsom Street, and the publisher's May 2025 photographs were taken from Beale Street and from Main Street at Clementina Street.
A programme that books downtown San Francisco builds its walking route on those frontages.
Construction State
Chinatown Community Development Center and Mercy Housing California held a joint groundbreaking in May 2024. Mithun's project note from June 2024 put completion at 2025. SF YIMBY's May 2025 dispatch reports the west building topped out with facade installation complete. The east tower stood at 14 floors, and that dispatch projects a summer 2026 finish.
No later dispatch appears in that publisher's project category. A planner rechecks the block before a season.
The Park Frontage Still to Come
Mithun states the west building forms a backdrop to the future Transbay Park. Block 3 is a proposed one-acre park drafted by the city's Public Works Department with a playground, open lawn and trees. SF YIMBY reported in May 2025 that Hines had stepped away from Transbay Block 4 and that OCII was searching for a developer to build 300 to 325 affordable homes at Block 4 West.
Both park frontages sit on land not yet built. A group that walks the East Cut this year passes construction fencing at the edge of the block.
The Group Read
Neither building carries a meeting room, an event space, a room block or a venue capacity on the architect's page or in the publisher's reports. An association running a programme in the East Cut holds the mews as a walking line through the block, the retail bays at its foot and more than 700 residents living inside it.