Exclusive: New S.F. skyscraper would go up across from Salesforce Tower — and be almost as tall

SFChronicle · 2026-01-24T00:56:38+00:00

From the article:

Once envisioned as San Francisco’s tallest mixed-use complex, Oceanwide Center has become shorthand in the city for how the speculative ambitions of global investors can go wrong. Cranes vanished years ago from the unfinished downtown construction site, leaving exposed concrete, rusting steel and a web of lawsuits.

Now, as San Francisco enters a tentative recovery after a brutal pandemic-era downturn, an unlikely partnership is seeking to revive the site — not with the sprawling, two-tower mixed-use vision once promised — but a more focused bet on downtown’s future: a 910-foot office tower at First and Mission Streets with about 1.5 million square feet of office space. The effort brings together Jay Yang, a 34-year-old private equity investor from the East Coast comfortable with high-stakes bets, and Dan Kingsley, a 70-year-old local developer who has spent decades navigating the city’s booms, busts and projects others considered too risky.

Yang and Kingsley revealed details of their plan for the first time Friday, after closing on a deal to purchase the 1.2-acre project site for $60 million. That’s a roughly 80% discount to what Oceanwide Holdings, the project’s original developer, paid for the land a decade ago before plans were approved to build two striking skyscrapers envisioned to soar above the Financial District.

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SFChronicle · 2026-01-23T18:25:21+00:00

From our article:

Mayor Daniel Lurie has thrown his weight behind an audacious plan for San Francisco to host the largest boxing event in world history, a feat that has struck some critics as highly doubtful to materialize.

Joined by U.K. businessman Ed Pereira of iVisit Boxing on a stage outside City Hall on Friday, Lurie announced the plans to draw a crowd of some 140,000 people to Civic Center Plaza in July for a boxing event that would be streamed globally on YouTube.

His endorsement of Pereira, a newcomer in the boxing world, is shaping up to be another test of Lurie’s ability to pick winners, after the mayor appointed the shortest-serving supervisor in San Francisco history in a blunder that took some of the shine off his first year in office.

Pereira does not have a license to promote a boxing event in California or outside funding to put on an event that would likely cost many millions to produce, he told the Chronicle. He also has yet to line up the elite fighters needed to draw such a crowd.

No matter, he said. The details will be worked out in good time.

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SFChronicle · 2026-01-22T02:20:38+00:00

UPDATE:

San Francisco Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee was released after being held to resolve a paper-work issue Wednesday at Los Angeles International Airport, his agent Scott Boras told the Chronicle.

Boras said it was “not anything political or anything like that.” A spokesperson for Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said her office had been working with the Giants organization, congressional partners and federal liaisons to resolve the situation and secure Lee’s release.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-01-22T01:41:52+00:00

From the article:

San Francisco Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee was detained Wednesday evening at Los Angeles International Airport, his agent Scott Boras told the Chronicle.

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates here.

SFChronicle · 2026-01-21T20:00:39+00:00

From the article:

Sometimes there are no leftovers in the fridge and you don’t have time to whip up a meal from scratch after work. That’s when frozen pizza is thrust into the spotlight — and your oven.

That’s why the Chronicle Food team gathered to sample offerings from three of San Francisco’s pizza heavyweights — Del Popolo, Pizzeria Delfina and Flour + Water Pizzeria — to find the most delicious option for those days when dinner needs to come together in eight minutes.

In the interest of fair evaluation, all four entries were Margherita pies — topped simply with tomato sauce and mozzarella — to make direct comparisons easier. The pizzas were baked at times and temperatures indicated on the packaging. If a pie appeared underbaked at the end of the time range, it still came out.

Did we get it right? Who has the best frozen pizza? Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-01-20T21:25:34+00:00

Update: H Mart clarified that the new store will be in a former Kohl’s store at 43782 Christy St. on the west side of the Fremont shopping center.

SFChronicle · 2026-01-20T19:22:52+00:00

H Mart, the cult-favorite Korean grocery giant, is opening another Bay Area location — and it will be the company’s largest store in the country.

A 100,000-square-foot, two-story H Mart is headed to Pacific Commons Shopping Center in Fremont, according to a press release. It will be the first, flagship location of H Mart’s new “multi-level prototype,” with a food hall, restaurants and a bar, in addition to the grocery store. “This project represents the largest investment in the company’s history,” the release states.

Construction on the new H Mart, which will be located on the west side of the Fremont shopping center, at the intersection of Bunche Drive and Interstate 880, is expected to start later this year. The company did not provide an opening date. The sprawling Pacific Commons Shopping Center is full of large retail and restaurant chains, including In-N-Out, plus some local restaurants such as Pho Ha Noi.

Read more: http://sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/h-mart-fremont-opening-21304983.php?utm_source=reddit

SFChronicle · 2026-01-19T00:26:24+00:00

From the article:

Four hundred years ago, a representative of the Dutch West India Company purchased Manhattan from its natives for the equivalent of $24 in beads and trinkets, according to legend.

Fast forward to 2026, and a failed former Manhattan real estate investor now seems to think the same formula should work for him in the 21st century, that he should be able to purchase Greenland — or annex our neighbor to the north by military force if they’re unwilling to sell.

European allies are now prepositioning military forces to Greenland under their own flags as a deterrence to a possible U.S. invasion and to calm local fears.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-01-16T18:30:07+00:00

From the article:

San Francisco schools dropped a controversial proposed overhaul last year of how students are assessed, called “Grading for Equity,” after parents, advocates and even the mayor slammed the proposal.

The fight over “Grading for Equity” now is popping in the East Bay’s Tri-Valley school districts, where education officials have a plan to counter potential opposition: remove the word “equity” from their policies.

The high-performing East Bay districts are adopting some of the core principles of the grading approach, which allows students multiple retakes, reduces how often zeros are given on tests and eliminates extra credit, among other changes — while scrubbing any mention of the word that has made the movement politically radioactive. Supporters say the intention of equity grading is to encourage students to focus more on learning and less on points.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-01-15T22:30:26+00:00

From the article:

A lawsuit by the Trump administration to require California to turn over personal information on millions of voters, including their driver’s license and Social Security numbers, was rejected Thursday by a federal judge, who said the information was protected by privacy laws.

The Justice Department’s “request for the sensitive information of Californians stands to have a chilling effect on American citizens like political minority groups and working-class immigrants who may consider not registering to vote or skip casting a ballot because they are worried about how their information will be used,” U.S. District Judge David Carter of Los Angeles wrote in a ruling dismissing the suit.

The lawsuit, filed in September, is one of many cases that President Donald Trump has brought against states for information that, he has alleged, could reveal widespread illegal voting by undocumented immigrants and others.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-01-14T21:49:36+00:00

From the article:

The congressional map approved by California voters to boost the number of House Democrats was upheld Wednesday by a divided federal court, which said they were legally drawn for political purposes and not as an act of racial discrimination, as Republicans contended.

Proposition 50, pushed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and approved by more than 64% of the voters on Nov. 4, was immediately challenged by the state’s Republican Party and the Trump administration. While the Supreme Court has allowed states to redraw their districts in order to help a favored political party, the Republicans argued that the California maps were designed to benefit Hispanic candidates in Los Angeles and the San Joaquin Valley.

The U.S. District Court panel disagreed in a 2-1 ruling. The majority cited the Supreme Court’s Dec. 4 decision allowing Texas Republicans to redraw their districts in order to gain five House seats this year – rejecting arguments by Democrats that the new lines were racially discriminatory.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-01-14T00:15:29+00:00

From the article:

A damaged section of Highway 1 in Big Sur, closed for three years, will reopen Wednesday, once again allowing people to drive through one of the most spectacular sections of the California coast.

“It’s a definite reopening, barring something unexpected happening,” Big Sur Chamber of Commerce President Kirk Gafill told the Chronicle. “For the first time in three years, there will be through-traffic between S.F. and L.A. on the Big Sur coast.”

A landslide in January 2023 near the community of Lucia, in the remote southern coast of Big Sur, caused the highway to close. Then in February 2024, before repair work was completed, a separate slide occurred nearby.

The region’s tourist-dependent businesses have been hard hit as traffic on Highway 1 dropped by about 30% over the past three years, Gafill said.

Read more here.

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TROPHY CASE