In recent decades, San Francisco’s waterfront has been home to some of the city’s most transformative projects, including Mission Bay, AT&T Park, China Basin and the South Beach neighborhood. Today the waterfront is once again where many of the city’s largest and most exciting development proposals are taking place. Several new plans along the bay — including Seawall Lot 337/Pier 48 (also known as Mission Rock), Pier 70 and the Warrior’s Stadium — are proposing to make their mark on the city. At the same time, San Francisco is hosting the America’s Cup races in 2012 and 2013. Throughout the fall, SPUR will be hosting a series of forums exploring planning on the waterfront.
Mission Rock
Located just south of AT&T Park, Seawall Lot 337/Pier 48 is one of the most interesting development opportunities in the city. Currently home to a large surface parking lot serving AT&T Park, Mission Rock will create a mixed-use development featuring a large waterfront park on the northeast corner of the site. The plan also calls for breaking down the site into a series of small, walkable blocks (at a finer grain than those in neighboring Mission Bay). The Port of San Francisco is working with the SF Giants and the Cordish Company to further refine this plan. We’ll be hearing the latest on October 29 at SPUR’s forum The Future of Mission Rock.
Pier 70
To the south of Mission Rock and east of the Dogpatch neighborhood sits Pier 70, a 69-acre site that includes many beautiful historic structures desperately in need of repair and conservation, as well as a the largest floating dry dock on the west coast of the Americas. The Port of San Francisco has engaged in a lengthy planning process to find ways to preserve the waterfront’s rich history and create new parks while protecting maritime and industrial needs. At the same time, the plan invites new development to create a place for innovative industries and new residents. The port is working with Forest City to bring this plan to fruition. SPUR will host a forum on Pier 70 on November 29 and a walking tour on October 17.
Warrior’s Arena
Another major project on the waterfront is the plan proposed on Piers 30-32 and Seawall Lot 330 for a privately financed, multi-purpose entertainment and commercial complex that includes a new facility for the Golden State Warriors basketball team, complementary maritime uses and substantial new public access and open space on the pier. This project would host not just Warriors games, but conventions, performances and special events. Located just south of the Bay Bridge, Piers 30-32 are within walking distance of AT&T Park and served by Muni’s N-Judah and T-Third lines.
As always, SPUR will be tracking and weighing in on all of these important projects, which collectively have the potential to make an enormous positive impact on the waterfront, as well as helping enable the port to repair and seismically upgrade some of its deteriorating infrastructure. For more on SPUR’s perspective on waterfront planning, see our report Hard Choices at the Port of San Francisco.