850 housing units, recreation in bold waterfront plan
every project and approvals, which are required from several agencies, can take many years.
The other two proposals for the sites would have had far less housing. One, from prolific builder Tishman Speyer, called for 459 units while a third, from Vornado, would have 360 units.
The Strada proposal would include investing $369 million into waterfront infrastructure as well as provide approximately $325 million in lease payments over many years. The proposed investment in critical infrastructure includes strengthening the seawall, developing seismically sound piers as well as the deep draft berth, all of which would provide critical resiliency and sea level rise protection along the waterfront, while also offering firstinkind recreation opportunities in the bay.
This isn’t the first time a developer has floated the idea of a bobbing pool in the bay. In 2006, a recreation company proposed a similar idea for Piers 2731, where Shorenstein Properties wanted to build office space.
In the Strada plan, Piers 3032 would be demolished and replaced with two finger piers and “simple shed buildings.” Between the piers would be a floating swimming pool and bay recreation area that would allow people to swim and kayak between and around the piers.
“Our project is designed to succeed where others have failed by basing our proposal on established precedent, a pragmatic design that embraces a ‘less is more’ ethos, and public trust consistent attractions not seen elsewhere around the Bay,” Strada states in its proposal.
The sheds on the piers would include 376,000 gross square feet of office space and about 3 acres of the pier’s 7.2 acres would be publicly accessible open space. A quarter of the homes would be affordable housing.
The port commission is expected to hear the proposals at Tuesday’s meeting.
Supervisor Matt Haney said he’s “excited that there is finally a longterm plan for that site and one that includes much needed housing and recreation space. This is a dense and growing neighborhood that needs both those things.”
Haney said the proposal also assuages neighborhood concerns that the current use — a Navigation Center for homeless people — would be permanent.
“When we were having the conversation about the Navigation Center, I made it clear that it would be temporary and that there would be a longterm development for that site,” Haney said. “I’m happy to see that come to fruition.”
Political consultant P.J. Johnston, who has been involved in several waterfront projects that have been killed by neighborhood opposition, said that San Francisco’s resistance to change “is especially cutthroat and cynical when it comes to the waterfront.”
“They scream and shout about protecting the waterfront,” he said. “They exploit people’s fear of change. But all they end up doing is protecting parking lots.”
Strada and Trammell Crow couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.