New plans to redevelop Candlestick Park site emerge after years of waiting
Long after the 49ers left for Santa Clara, and more than a decade after plans for a grand redevelopment, there is a new plan for Candlestick Point in San Francisco.
Developers and city planners now say ground could be broken relatively soon, and neighbors in the area say it's a long time coming.
"It's a great view," said Allen Mort. "I think, when I look out here, it's one of the biggest chances in America, in an urban environment like this."
When Mort steps outside his San Francisco home, he gets this remarkable view of a corner of the city in waiting.
"Something needs to happen here," he said. "Because it's a great space. And if they can have some vision."
Back in 2010, as the 49ers were about to make their way south, the 280 acre site was set for 7,000 new homes and a million square feet of retail space, part of the broader redevelopment of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard.
As various environmental challenges surfaced in the shipyard, developers have decided to bump up the timeline on Candlestick, but they also want to update their vision.
"We respectfully ask for your support and your vote to move this project forward," Suheil Totah of FivePoint Communities told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
The city is now considering a revised plan for the site. It includes taller buildings, and a so-called "innovation district" aimed at biotech and AI - that replaces some of the original retail space.
In short, the changes reshuffle the schedule and the financing, and that requires approval by the Board of Supervisors.
"In the first phase, there will be affordable housing being built?" Supervisor Shamann Walton asked.
"This is not just another development," said Thor Kaslofsky with the Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure. "This is a legacy project that reflects the very best of what we can achieve."
The city's redevelopment office has signed off on the revised project, calling it an important piece if the city's housing goals. And a lot of neighbors are hoping this time, the plans will actually take shape.
"But everyone wants something out here," Mort said. "It's needed. This neighborhood needs something. It deserves something."
So 14 years after Candlestick was originally slated for redevelopment, the plans are changing shape again. But developers say they are ready to move, and if everything goes according to plan, they are hoping to start construction sometime next year.
