I’ve worked to save the historic brick buildings at the Potrero Power Station on 23rd Street since 2018 when the site’s developer told me all these buildings would be demolished. Thankfully, plans changed. Station A, the largest historic building, will be saved and added to. I was told in January that the 100 year old…
After a contentious years-long debate over how best to renovate Esprit Park, the Dogpatch Neighborhood Association, supported by the Potrero Boosters, among others compromised on Plan W, selecting it from six redesign plans offered for the 1.8-acre open space. Plan W calls for two meadows, the south designated “family” – dog-free – the north an…
Last fall Bridge Housing released 2020 Rebuild Potrero Impact Report, which reviews progress redeveloping the Potrero Annex-Terrace housing complex on Potrero Hill’s southside. The “Rebuild Potrero” project was launched in 2008 by the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development and Bridge Housing Corporation, a nonprofit headquartered in San Francisco. Bridge Housing operates twenty-one properties…
The commercial real estate market in Potrero Hill and Mission Bay has so far been largely immune to COVID-19’s economic disruption. Vacancies remain low, office rents are rising, and tenants are signing leases for newly constructed retail storefronts. Life science spaces with research laboratories have a waitlist. “It seems almost impossible when you look at…
Last spring, Mayor London Breed signed legislation approving construction of The Power Station, a 29-acre mixed-use complex located along 23rd Street. The development will have approximately 2,400 residences, six acres of publicly accessible parks and recreational areas, and 1.2 to 1.9 million square feet of office, lab, and retail space. It’ll also open access to…
More than a year after planning efforts began, municipal officials and advocates have determined that the Islais Creek Adaption Strategy should include a comprehensive vision for how the watershed can best serve nearby residents, workers and businesses, as well as address ways to manage increasing flood risks. Bayview and the Southern Waterfront are especially vulnerable…
Over the past decade and a half Potrero Hill has become denser and more lux. The latest development wave may have started in 2007, when Whole Foods moved into a 165-unit complex at 450 Rhode Island Street. In 2016, Martin Building Company started constructing 177 apartments at 88 Arkansas Street, across the street from Jackson…
A family that’s owned land for four generations at the southern tip of San Bruno Avenue wants to build a seven-story housing development utilizing the state Density Bonus Law to gain exemption from City height limitations. Early indications are that neighborhood opposition to the project will be fierce. San Francisco’s zoning restricts structure heights on…
The San Francisco Planning Department is studying how best to redesign roads, public transit and open space in ways that smooth connections between Showplace Square, Western and Central South-of-Market, and Mission Bay. The Showplace/SoMa Neighborhood Analysis and Coordination Study (SNACS) will also identify possible sites for additional market-rate and affordable housing, and evaluate demand for…
Following a June community gathering to update neighbors, Recology submitted a project application to the San Francisco Planning Department to develop its 900 Seventh Street truckyard as a Special Use District (SUD) that’d mix commercial and industrial space with housing. Modified from a preliminary scheme the employee-owned waste management company submitted to the Planning Department…
Associate Capital presented alternative Potrero Power Plant development designs to the San Francisco Planning Commission last spring, which included restoring the 300-foot concrete smokestack and adjacent 131-foot Unit 3 control room, as well as preserving elements of Station A. Claus Spreckels, who founded the company that became the Western Sugar Refinery, built Station A in…
Developer Associate Capital’s preferred plan for the 28-acre Potrero Power Station site, located along 23rd Street, calls for 19 new buildings and demolition of all the early-20th Century historic brick structures, three of which are individually eligible for the California Register of Historical Resources and contributors to the historic Third Street Industrial District. The San…
Dogpatch and Potrero Hill residents, along with their neighborhood associations, are unhappy that vaping company JUUL has leased space at historic Pier 70. The nicotine-supplying e-cigarette maker is occupying 8,000 square feet of office space at Building 102, on 20th and Illinois streets. In June, the View broke the news that Orton Development, which is…
Earlier this fall, more than 100 people turned out to view a proposed new design for Jackson Park, which features an elevated promenade around the park, community center with rooftop tennis court and adjacent plaza, large public open space at the corner of Mariposa and Carolina streets, restored clubhouse, new picnic area outside the ballfields,…
Blattner Hall, California College of the Arts’ new 64,000 square foot four-story student residence hall, located at 75 Arkansas Street, began housing scholars last summer. District 10 Supervisor Malia Cohen, who also serves as president of the Board of Supervisors, spoke at the Hall’s September 24th ribbon-cutting. “Stable housing is essential for academic success, particularly…
Progress continues on Rebuild Potrero, a decade-long effort to revitalize the Potrero Annex-Terrace housing complexes through a partnership between BRIDGE Housing, San Francisco Housing Authority, and San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development. The most recent milestone is completion of a reconstructed block of 25th Street, between Connecticut and Dakota streets. The work…
A new development complex in Dogpatch pays homage to an early technology pioneer who paved the way for Silicon Valley. The site – 815 Tennessee Street – used to be home to the Bowie Switch Company, which specialized in large-capacity electrical controls. In engineering, a switch is a component that can “make” or “break” an…
Amidst a chaos of construction that includes the University of California, San Francisco Child, Teen and Family Center/Department of Psychiatry Building to the west, the Chase Center to the north and apartment buildings in between, there’s a 9.8-acre parcel along the waterfront that was supposed to have been turned into a park by 2017. Last…
Plans for the site that used to host the Potrero Power Plant continue to be fleshed-out, with the owners, Associate Capital, soliciting suggestions on how to best develop the parcel. Last spring, Associate Capital principals helped judge the Architectural Foundation of San Francisco’s 49th Annual High School Design Competition, which featured the plant location as…
In May, City officials, developer Forest City Realty Trust and Dogpatch residents formally launched construction at 28-acre Pier 70, slated for development of housing, waterfront parks, space for artists and local manufacturing, and rehabilitated historic buildings. Pictured (l-r) are City Assessor Carmen Chu, Mayoral Candidate Mark Leno, Forest City Senior Vice President Jack Sylvan, Forest…
This month, concrete pours and site deliveries will limit street parking near the 1601 Mariposa Street development site. Related California’s construction contractor, Nibbi Brothers, is in the process of installing foundation elements and underground plumbing, as well as concrete floors, walls, columns, and elevated decks. In addition, demolition of the existing concrete wall on 18th…
Last month, the San Francisco Planning Department released a final version of the Central Waterfront Public Realm Plan, reflecting an 18-month effort to synthesize municipal and neighborhood land use aspirations into one guiding document. The plan takes a comprehensive look at the waterfront and Dogpatch east of Pennsylvania Street and north to south from Mariposa…
A showroom and retail building located at 300 Kansas Street, on Potrero Hill’s northern end, may be transformed into a modern structure, if a preliminary proposal moves forward. Developer Group i recently submitted an application to the Planning Department that proposes to demolish the existing production, design, and repair building and construct a new six-story…
The San Francisco Planning Commission’s October approval may not have been the fall victory San Francisco Giants fans would’ve liked, but it’s a solid leadoff single for the team’s plans to redevelop 28 acres south of AT&T Park. The project needs approval from the Port Commission, which will consider the matter at a January 9…
The Potrero Power Plant, located on the Central Waterfront, and its predecessors supplied San Francisco with electricity from 1890 until the facility’s 2011 closure. Since then, the site has been unused, soaked with toxic chemicals from more than one hundred years of industrial activities. Associate Capital purchased the 21-acre property last fall from NRG Energy,…