Thumbs-up for Giants’ huge project

In the real estate development equivalent of a perfect game, the Giants’ vision of creating a new “heart of Mission Bay south” on 28 acres of paved parking lots across the Lefty O’Doul Bridge from AT&T Park won unanimous support at the Planning Commission on Thursday.

But it wasn’t just the seven commissioners who heaped undiluted praise on the project, called Mission Rock, which would bring up to 1,500 housing units, 1.5 million square feet of retail and office space, and 8 acres of parks to the expanse of hardtop currently used by fans for parking and tailgating.

It was everyone: progressives, moderates, neighbor-

hood residents, nonprofit leaders, housing advocates, environmentalists, educators, youth workers, building trade representatives. In a city where development politics is blood sport, the debate over the Giants’ Mission Rock project was a game of patty-cake.

“This is the new gold standard for San Francisco development,” said former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos, who is often critical of development. “And if (other developers) say they can’t match this, tell them to wait until they can.”

What did people like about Mission Rock?

They said they liked the fact that 40 percent of the housing units would be affordable to low- and moderate-income families. They appreciated that 24 of those housing units would be set aside for individuals aging out of foster care. They piled accolades on the project for its 8 acres of open space, its pedestrian-oriented street design, its small-scale retail spaces, its commitment to including middle-income housing that teachers and nurses would qualify for.

The Rev. Arnold Townsend, a minister at Without Walls Church, said it was obvious that Mission Rock was conceived of by longtime San Franciscans because “it has all the bells and whistles that people in this town like.”

“This is one of the easiest speeches I’ll ever make before the Planning Commission because I don’t think there are many people in town who are mean enough or crazy enough to oppose this project,” he said.

The groundwork for Thursday’s lovefest was established over a grueling decade of community meetings, which started in 2007 when the Giants and a team of partners beat out several other development groups hoping to get their hands on the valuable portowned land. While all of the team’s high-profile development partners walked away from the deal during the recession, the team marched ahead. Finally, in November 2015, the Giants went to the voters with the plan — a requirement for any project on Port of San Francisco land that exceeds current height limits — and won handily with 74 percent approval.

Giants officials emphasized that the vision for Mission Rock is in part a response to some of the perceived weaknesses in the greater Mission Bay neighborhood. While Mission Bay is criticized as feeling blocky, generic and institutional — with its uniform heights and segregated academic, residential and commercial uses — Mission Rock would be a true mixed-use enclave with variety and human scale. The heights would vary from 90 to 240 feet. The office, housing, parks and retail would be jumbled together. The residential buildings all would be mixed-income, with market-rate, lowincome and moderate-income spread throughout.

Fran Weld, who is heading the development for the Giants, said Mission Rock is “grounded in residential uses” with retail crafted to emulate the best of the city’s commercial corridors in neighborhoods like Noe Valley, the Mission and Bernal Heights.

“Each building will face onto a park or public open space,” Weld said. “Each park will have unique character. The streets will all feel different from each other.”

The Planning Commission’s Thursday vote was the first in a series of approvals that will take the project to the Board of Supervisors, the Port Commission, the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and the State Lands Commission. The team is hoping to win all approvals early next year and start construction in the first quarter of 2019.

“Today marks a very important milestone in our journey to transform this very important part of our neighborhood,” said Giants General Counsel Jack Bair.

The Giants are in the baseball business and not the office or apartment development business. But Bair stressed that nobody has more at stake when it comes to the burgeoning Mission Bay neighborhood, the transformation of which started nearly two decades ago with the opening of the team’s only other venture into real estate: AT&T Park.

“The Giants are not flipping this property,” Bair said. “The Giants are the next-door neighbors of this property and will remain so.”