SF Symphony proposes $100 million renovation, expansion

One of San Francisco’s major artistic venues may be getting bigger.

The San Francisco Symphony announced in a Sept. 20 press release that it has asked the city to initiate the entitlement process for sweeping renovations to Davies Symphony Hall. During this process, which the symphony said could take up to two years, it will work with the city to ensure that its plans conform with all codes, zoning and guidelines.

If completed, the renovations could add 55,000 gross square feet of floor area to the building’s main concert hall, as well as more than 34,000 gross square feet of open space. According to SF YIMBY, construction is expected to cost $100 million or more. That figure may look staggering, but it’s comparatively small next to renovation costs for San Diego Symphony’s Copley Symphony Hall ($125 million) and New York Philharmonic’s Geffen Hall ($550 million).

The proposed changes include the construction of a new recital hall and new outdoor terraces.

The symphony expects the entitlement process to last for two years.

Davies Symphony Hall is located on Van Ness Avenue in the city’s Civic Center neighborhood, adjacent to city hall and near other marquee performing venues like SFJAZZ and the San Francisco Opera. Its doors opened in 1980. Now, “as it approaches 50, the Symphony is exploring ways to enhance the physical space to make the building more publicly accessible, transparent, and operationally efficient,” the press release reads.

Still, it looks like it will be a long time before any scaffolding goes up. The symphony said in its press release that it is in “an early, exploratory stage of this process,” and that it is not yet filing permit applications.