Power Station Coming to Life

Over the past year, Associate Capital has installed elevators, painted interiors, and finished the exterior façade of the Sophie Maxwell building, aka “The Maxwell.” The 105-unit housing complex, located at 1212 Maryland Street, is priced to be affordable for middle-income San Franciscans. 

“We’re finishing the Phase 1 infrastructure of Power Station. This comes after building the seawall a few years ago. When the ribbon-cutting for the Sophie Maxwell building is announced…we will share specific information about eligibility and the application process,” said Enrique Landa, Associate Capital managing partner, who indicated the opening will occur this month. 

Associate Capital planted its first street trees – red maples on the Humboldt Loop; African fern pines on Delaware and Maryland streets – alongside new sidewalks. It reconstructed the sidewalk, put in an irrigation scheme and installed an auxiliary water supply system on 23rd Street. 

According to PJ Johnston, Associate Capital spokesperson, while the developer is responsible for most street improvements within the Power Station’s boundaries, 23rd Street is municipally owned, with several entities involved with improving it. 

An almost three-acre “Prequel Park” is being designed by London-based Heatherwick Studio. The commons will be created around Unit 3, a former eight-story fossil gas-powered boiler, and the 300-foot stack. It’ll cost between $15 and $20 million to develop such potential features as gardens, play areas, a running loop, 100-person amphitheater, and art gallery in the stack. The park will be replaced by a hotel sometime after 2032. Associate Capital expects to open the space in early 2027. 

The University of California, San Francisco plans to construct a Life Sciences Building at Power Station, 1.2 miles south of UCSF’s Mission Bay campus. The structure will be 10 levels, two below-ground for a proton therapy center, primary and secondary care clinics, with multi-specialty clinics on floors two through five, and a life sciences business incubator on floors six through eight. The Life Sciences Building will also house an endoscopy suite, an infusion center and pharmacy. The building’s clinical space will open in 2028.

Proton therapy is a new type of radiation treatment that involves focusing beams of protons on cancer cells. The center is expected to open in 2029. 

Associate Capital is working with the YMCA of Greater San Francisco to design a “full facility” at Power Station, spanning roughly 25,000 square feet. 

“We’re in the early design and fundraising phase, with a target of five years to start construction. So far, $6 million has been committed, including $3 million from the Loker Foundation for an aquatics center and $3 million from the Power Station Foundation for early capital support,” said Jamie Bruning-Miles, president and chief executive officer of the YMCA of Greater San Francisco. 

Dogpatch and Potrero Hill residents have requested that multiple amenities be incorporated into the Power Station YMCA, including a gym and wellness center, indoor aquatics facility, community meeting rooms and flexible gathering space. There’s interest in programs focusing on childcare, mental health, nutrition, and senior gathering, as well as relating to chronic disease, cancer recovery, brain health, workforce development and other types of economic advancement. 

According to Bruning-Miles, the YMCA is piloting programming for the Power Station facility by observing members’ interests and uses at the Dogpatch YMCA. 

“The more community members that use the Dogpatch Y at Crane Cove… will help us understand what we need in the future,” said Bruning-Miles.

Associate Capital recruited the YMCA of Greater San Francisco after the community engagement process leading up to the 2020 opening of Crane Cove Park. 

“We saw how the community has embraced Crane Cove Park. That was part of the inspiration for working with the YMCA of Greater San Francisco. We got involved with the Y because it has a history of seeding smaller spaces to accomplish community building,” said Landa. 

“The Potrero Boosters are pleased that Associate Capital is making progress in this challenging economic environment. We’re also happy that the first building set to be completed will be workforce housing. Further it’s good that they added a major institution as a tenant, the University of California, San Francisco,” said J.R. Eppler, a District 10 Supervisor candidate. 

“Associate Capital has always worked well with the community. We appreciate that they’ve been committed to this project, and adding housing, commercial space, and active green spaces is a huge benefit for Dogpatch,” said Susan Eslick, a Dogpatch Business Association board member and Dogpatch & Northwest Potrero Hill Green Benefit District treasurer.

“The electrical infrastructure for the whole development is now complete. Liffey Electric did the work, with the help of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 6,” said John Doherty, business manager and financial secretary for IBEW 6. 

Doherty said building a new neighborhood in San Francisco is challenging. During excavation and site preparation, older foundations were discovered underneath groundworks that were recently demolished.

“Power Station is an interesting mix. It has the old elements of historic San Francisco and new elements of “just-built” San Francisco,” said Doherty. 

CityBuild Academy, a workforce training program operated by the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development, has referred graduates to work at Power Station. CityBuild Academy collaborates with the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council, City College of San Francisco, private employers and community-based organizations, to provide residents with pre-apprenticeship construction training. According to Johnston, at least 13 CityBuild Academy participants have worked at the development. 

Eppler and Eslick agreed that Prequel Park will help attract neighbors and visitors from throughout the City to the southern waterfront. 

“Pier 70 did that before they started to break ground. It worked because people got their first glimpse of this area that was closed off for so long,” said Eslick.

Power Station is in Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) Number One. EIFDs were authorized by State Legislation in 2015 after redevelopment districts were eliminated under former Governor Jerry Brown. An EIFD receives a percentage of property tax revenues from a defined area. 

Since additional tax revenue won’t fully materialize until development is completed, the City and County is loaning infrastructure funds to Associate Capital and residential and commercial owners, which’ll ultimately be repaid. A governing board – Public Financing Authority (PFA) – determines expenditures in accordance with an Infrastructure Financing Plan, which it also approves. The money pays for facilities like streets and utilities, as well as other features. The PFA is composed of five members, three elected officials and two community participants, who serve two- to four-year terms. 

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved PFA creation in 2023. Between 2023 and June 2025, Katherine Doumani, Dogpatch Neighborhood Association board member, and Keith Goldstein, Potrero Hill Dogpatch Merchant Association president, served as the PFA’s community members, appointed by District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton. During the period Walton, District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan, and District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar participated as elected officials. 

“Our work consisted of reviewing components of Power Station public infrastructure that Associate Capital needed to build. Then we approved the financing arrangements for these components,” said Doumani. “It got slower after the financing instruments were approved. Then we stopped holding meetings. We were waiting for the next project to be considered for financing approval.” 

Between 2023 and June 2025, Walton, District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan, and District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar served as elected officials. 

Gayle Starr, a board member of Fundrise Real Estate, a real estate private equity investment company, was appointed to the June 2025 to 2029 term. Kath Tsakalakis, a steering committee member of Friends of Lakeside Village, a merchant association for the Ocean Avenue between 19th Avenue and Junipero Serra Boulevard commercial corridor, will serve from June 2025 to 2027. Supervisor Walton will continue with a second term until June 2029; Supervisors Chan’s and Melgar’s terms end in June 2027. The PFA will meet on October 16.