Pier 70 gets serious – maybe
SFT Board member Howard Wong has been participating in the evolution of designs for renovation and development of Pier 70. The good news is that some historic buildings may be open to the public in two years. The newly named Crane Cove Park has much potential as a renovated public open space accessible from 20th Street. A first phase is funded—with development parcels being shifted around to create more street frontage.
On 28 acres of the pier that have been optioned by Forest City development, a sort of new-town-in-town is being proposed which would use existing, large, formerly-industrial buildings for housing and for local manufacturing start-ups to make their goods and to sell them in shops on site. Apparently the developers will respect the 40-foot height limit on portions of the site to produce some lower-scale residential buildings that could create a sense of true neighborhood. However, they state that keeping those buildings low requires them to propose at least two new high rises at approximately 230 feet to the north and south of the site. Instead of the earlier highly criticized idea to put high rise housing on the footprint of the former slipways at the edge of the Bay, the newest concept is to have four-story housing set back from the water’s edge to allow the creation of a waterside pedestrian way which would connect to the Bay Trail..
Tall buildings along the water (even if they are somewhat withdrawn from the edge) aren’t allowable at this time without a major height limit change in the Planning Code. Proposals elsewhere in the city (see 75 Howard story, this issue) show that developers are pushing the envelope. They are challenging the restrictions of height near the Bay, restrictions that have been sacrosanct for the last forty years. It has been forcefully declared in the Planning Code and Master Plan since 1960 that building heights should step back and taper with varied heights as they increase in distance from the water. Pier 70 is zoned for 40-foot height limits, measured at Illinois Street as the site slopes down to the Bay.
There will be a two-year evaluation of the environmental effects of their proposal with an EIR published as a basis for Planning Commission, Port Commission and Board of Supervisors decisions and possible approvals with conditions. The renovation of the historic aspects of Pier 70 must be accomplished alongside reasonable long-term development of housing and retail. Some of the industrial uses, being maritime, must be conserved; this is the waterfront, after all, even if it is little used today for purely maritime purposes. The excitement of having this amazing “industrial era gem” reused and ramified into a real neighborhood will be balanced by a hard look at the environmental issues but the EIR has not yet been prepared.
Of course, economics are a driving motivator. But with the strong historical attributes of this site, it’s possible to envision the creation of a special neighborhood that is lively and authentic.
