Busy FiDi pedestrians scurrying to or from the Embarcadero BART/Muni station or any number of bus lines might have felt a sidewalk squeeze lately due to a construction project at 50 California St. So what's going on there?

Plans call for sprucing up the lobby and adding about 900 square feet of retail space, said Andrew Neilly of Gallen Neilly & Associates public relations firm, speaking on behalf of Shorenstein Realty Services, L.P., which manages the building. And, he added, you can look for partially covered outdoor public seating (about 10 tables) to create more of a community feel and offer more room to munch by the Chipotle near Sacramento and Davis. No word yet on what kind of retail might be added, though another eating establishment could be in the works.

The renovations will give the building a bit of a facelift, too. “This lobby was completed in 2004, so it’s over 10 years old now," Neilly said. "They wanted to make the lobby a little more of a destination rather than a pass-through." It's designed to create a brighter space with a more open feel, he said, adding. "It’s going to have a welcome desk on the Sacramento side and additional retail space next to Chipotle."

via Shorenstein Properties

The expansion of the lobby and ground floor retail spaces will extend to the back side of the columns, infilling a portion of the arcade where pedestrians used to be able to walk through. That'll be gone, but the additions won't eat up any actual sidewalk space and won't fully extend to the property line, according to the Planning Department. The public sidewalk begins at the face of the columns, as shown in the photo below. Still, the new lobby will eat up some room to roam that was there before.

via SF Planning Department

The scope of the project was small enough that it didn't trigger a Planning Commission hearing; instead it was processed as a building permit, according to the Planning Department. Demolition began in February and the project is expected to be done by late fall 2015, Neilly said. The Shorenstein Properties web page for 50 California St. includes a virtual tour of the lobby renovations. 

50 California St. was built in 1971 and includes 663,487 square feet on a parcel of 39,886 square feet, according to property records.