Data Debacle
District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton proposed a 45-day moratorium on expansion of new data centers in San Francisco while officials investigate the facilities’ environmental impacts.
If passed by the Board of Supervisors, the suspension could be extended up to roughly 22 months if the San Francisco Planning Commission determines that the City’s 15 existing regional data-center campuses pose a threat to residents. NOVVA, a 7.5-acre, soon-to-be-36-megawatt facility tucked into Bayview’s industrial corridor on 400 Paul Avenue, was approved by the Commission in 2016. The facility launched its first phase, which brought nine megawatts of power online, last summer; further expansion would potentially be stalled by the freeze. Across the street, at 200 Paul Avenue, Digital Realty operates another data center… Data centers are a physical embodiment of artificial intelligence, the present focus of apocalyptic terrors even as reliance on the tool rapidly increases. No doubt siting and operation of these facilities should be carefully evaluated, particularly associated with their bottomless needed for fossil fuel backup generators and consequences to grid affordability. There should also be mindfulness of the Southeast Waterfront’s role as San Francisco’s industrial powerhouse, home to intensive shipbuilding, manufacturing, and electricity generating stations. Maybe this time the necessary post-industrial infrastructure can be proudly built without creating long-lingering environmental and employment problems.
Noisy Neighborhood
Residents of Potrero Hill’s southeast slope are increasingly beset by noise. Recently, a Caltrain departed the Fourth Street Station around 3 a.m. sounding its horn continuously as it moved slowly toward the Mariposa Street tunnel. More broadly, while electric trains roll quietly, federal regulations require their horns to blast between 96 and 110 decibels, a shrill sound that’s amplified because Caltrain relocated the horn units 14 feet into the air on top of the train cabs. The elevated scream is aimed directly at the open crossing at 16th Street, where it collides with the massive, newly constructed concrete San Francisco Flower Market parking garage. Dense concrete acts as an acoustic mirror; the 100-plus decibel warning blasts ricochet off the structure’s flat face and funnel southward, bombarding nearby residential windows with augmented echoes…In addition to trains, the Flower Market receives deliveries between 2 and 4 a.m., which results in a cacophony of semi-trucks and their backup beepers, with loud alarms every time they raise and lower the delivery bay doors. Ah, city living…
Air Bricks
Airbnb is leasing the historic Takahashi Building at 200 Rhode Island Street, a 100,000-square-foot brick warehouse built on a triangular lot. It’s made of heavy timber, with an unusual trapezoidal shape, and was previously the home of a Japanese import business. The Takahashi name is still displayed prominently on the property, which was originally constructed in 1912 and is composed of multiple structures that’re largely zoned for production, distribution and repair PDR uses.
Money Makes Money
Steph Curry’s abandoned San Francisco headquarters project, at Illinois and 20th streets, has sold for $11 million, two years after he bought the vacant Dogpatch industrial building for $8.5 million. The deal delivers a swift profit on a property for which many observers thought he’d overpaid. Curry’s company, Thirty Ink, had planned to turn the site near Pier 70 into a flagship hub for his business empire. It scrapped the project last year amid a dispute with the Carpenters Union over construction labor. The buyer is listed as Dane Reinsurance Inc., a Utah corporation that appears linked to Corgi, a fast-growing artificial intelligence insurance startup. The sale adds to a string of real estate moves by Curry and his wife Ayesha, including the sale of an Atherton estate and a Four Seasons condo in San Francisco.
Fair Warning
Southeastern San Francisco residents will ultimately have to navigate months of traffic closures when repairs to a 76-year-old drawbridge along Third Street finally begin. The $102 million overhaul, overseen by San Francisco Public Works, will replace the Islais Creek Bridge with a fixed structure consisting of a 24-foot-wide light-rail track in the center, two 11-foot car lanes in each direction, and shared pedestrian and bicycle paths on the eastern and western sides. The effort, slated to begin in fall 2028, is expected to last 24 months, during which vehicles won’t be able to access the bridge and be detoured to other streets. Public transportation will also be disrupted.
Artful Mayor
Last month Mayor Daniel Lurie proposed to name part of Embarcadero Park for former Mayor and Potrero Hill resident Art Agnos, whose decision to remove the Embarcadero Freeway following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake revitalized the waterfront. As part of planned renovations to Embarcadero Plaza and Sue Bierman Park, the future park’s southern half would be called Art Agnos Plaza, with the northern half known as Sue Bierman Commons.
Mental Health
Practice, which offers mental health services to children, teenagers, young adults, and parents, has opened an office at 1796 18th Street, at the intersection of 18th and Carolina streets. Established in 2017, the group provides psychological evaluations and educational programs, with additional locations in Cow Hollow, Noe Valley and Mill Valley.
