The Yerba Buena CBD, a property-based BID, is an integral part of San Francisco’s lively South of Market Area, known to many as SOMA. This area has gone through a dramatic transformation with significant increases in residents, hotel guests, office workers, museumgoers, diners and nightlife patrons. This is all in addition to the continued increase in attendees at the expanded Moscone Convention Center, which sits in the heart of the area. The CBD purposefully needed to review its mission, boundaries and $3MM budget, with an aim to focus and improve services.
The CBD needed help, in the form of a top-notch consultant to guide the CBD and its’ many stakeholders through a renewal and expansion of the district, while reviewing service levels and exploring the possible establishment of zones within the area. To that end, NBS was selected for our experience, technical expertise and, importantly, our deep understanding of San Francisco and the Yerba Buena area.
In the yearlong process of the project, a number of options, services, and boundary changes were considered and a wide range of stakeholders was engaged. Stakeholders ranged from the robust Moscone Convention Center to hotels, museums, businesses, commercial developers, residents, and social-service providers. Because of the varied elements and stakeholders, outreach and basic education about CBDs was essential.
Happily, the multi-faceted effort resulted in resounding success for the expansion and renewal across all stakeholder groups. We created two benefit zones to reflect the levels of service, with a total annual budget of over $3MM. We also supported the Yerba Buena staff and stakeholders throughout the process, and ultimately created the Management Plan and Engineer’s Report.
For more information, please contact: Tim Seufert, Managing Director, tseufert@nbsgov.com.