The Challenge

Ideally located in the heart of San Francisco, the mixed-use project has quickly become a must-see attraction.

But Westfield San Francisco Centre didn’t become one of the world’s premiere retail destinations overnight. In fact, its story goes all the way back to 1896 when the Emporium made its debut as the West Coast’s first full-service department store. Its famous features – the Market Street façade and the glance-stealing dome – had instantly made it a cultural landmark.

A decade later, the Emporium – save for the historic façade – was destroyed in a fire after the horrific 1906 earthquake. The resilient landmark – along with its signature dome – was rebuilt in 1908. The Emporium would go through a number of incarnations through the years until 1996, when it was shuttered in the cold wake of a corporate buyout.

Some time after that, Federated Department Stores, the owner of the former Emporium, approached Forest City about developing the once-proud, then-vacant shell of a building. A team of Forest City executives, led by Co-chairman Albert Ratner, toured the complex. According to Berg, it was Albert Ratner’s vision that provided a beacon for the developers to follow. “Albert came out and looked at it and said ‘Well, we can do a department store, but we can do a much better project,’” Berg said.

But anyone who knows real estate development knows that a vision is only as powerful as the drive and execution to achieve it. James Ratner, president and CEO – Forest City Commercial Group, along with Jones, Berg, countless others in the San Francisco development office and Forest City’s executive leadership, shepherded Albert’s vision through the challenging process, ensuring that it would become a reality.

In 2002, the future of the project took an interesting turn. The former Emporium was structurally connected to the San Francisco Shopping Centre, which opened in 1998 and was operated by The Westfield Group. Realizing the incredible potential of combining the two projects, Forest City and Westfield hammered out a deal to fully integrate their disparate properties into the new Westfield San Francisco Centre.

From there, Forest City was able to initiate the radical restorations that would lead Westfield San Francisco Centre to become one of the premiere urban retail, dining, entertainment and office destinations in the world.

Through it all, the project remained a perfect fit for Forest City’s expertise in urban renewal. “This is exactly the type of project that Forest City really likes to do,” Berg said. “It’s an urban project. It’s a complex project. It’s an exciting project. And it’s a wonderful economic generator for Forest City, Westfield and the local area.”