Updated plans have been filed for the mixed-use redevelopment of the Safeway at 15 Marina Boulevard in San Francisco’s Marina District. The latest application has slightly reduced the floor count while significantly increasing the overall residential capacity from 790 to 848 units. Align Real Estate is the project sponsor filing on behalf of the property owner, Albertsons Companies.
15 Marina Boulevard, rendering by Arquitectonica
15 Marina Boulevard vertical elevation, illustration by Arquitectonica
The 258-foot-tall structure is now expected to yield around 989,500 square feet, including 746,600 square feet of housing, 33,840 square feet of amenities, 67,180 square feet for the new Safeway, and 141,960 square feet for the 349-car garage. Additional parking will be provided for 360 bicycles. Unit sizes will vary with 254 studios, 268 one-bedrooms, 212 two-bedrooms, and 114 three-bedrooms.
The increased unit count and unit size come with a modest increase in residential floor area and a near-halving of residential amenity space. Plans for the new Safeway have also expanded slightly, while the garage has shrunk without reducing the car parking.
According to reporting by Laura Waxmann for the San Francisco Chronicle, “the design fits dozens of additional homes into a smaller envelope by ‘enhancing the efficiency of the building and optimizing floors plans,’ Balducci said.” David Balducci is principal at Align Real Estate.
15 Marina Boulevard pedestrian view, rendering by Arquitectonica
Preliminary permits for the project were filed last December, and the city deemed the application eligible for streamlining through Assembly Bill 2011 in mid-March of this year. The decision started a timeline requiring the city to complete the design review and determine final approval of the project by August 1st. However, the revised application is considered a reset to the deadline. Reached for comment, Daniel A. Sider, Chief of Staff for San Francisco Planning stated “we received new plans yesterday afternoon. The State gives us 30 days to review those plans and if they meet all requirements we will have a further 90 days for approval.”
The application still includes 86 units of affordable housing deed-restricted for households earning around half of the area’s median income. However, the filing is able to achieve nearly a 50% density bonus.
Florida-based Arquitectonica is responsible for the design of the Marina Boulevard tower. The complex will feature two towers rising from a shared podium, with the west tower rising 18 floors and the east tower rising 22 floors. The overall aesthetic has not changed significantly in the updated plans, with renderings still showing a sloped sculptural tower setback from the water with irregularly shaped billowing balconies and rounded edges across the facade.
15 Marina Boulevard, image via Google Satellite
The 2.6-acre property occupies a full block bound by Marina Boulevard, Laguna Street, North Point Street, and Buchanan Street. The site is across from the Fort Mason Park and the Marina Yacht Harbor.
The estimated cost and timeline for construction have not been provided.
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
It’s beautiful. Build it!
It looks like the number of 1BR (from 333 to 268) has gone down, while the number of 2BR (119 to 212) and 3BR (83 to 114) have gone up fairly substantially, which I think is a good thing to attract more families to the area.
NIMBYs will still think it’s too tall. They don’t want ANY development.
I don’t think that is true. What is true is that you have been brainwashed.
We’ve all stepped around crackheads in the street with higher brain function and more intelligent things to say than you my man.
You would cry if we both took IQ tests together. You would not fare well, scrote.
But don’t feel bad, many scrotes like you lead perfectly normal lives.
Think of how electric that area will be on a busy weekend from April-Nov. Between residents coming and going, and people buying stuff at Safeway for picnics at Fort Mason, it will be VIBRANT.
Doesn’t seem like it’s happening, but I would be in favor of a small retail strip along Buchanan to compliment the Starbucks and a few other shops, and make it a one block commercial corridor servicing residents, as well as all of the people coming to that area for daytime recreation.
Had a similar thought about the Fulton & 48th Safeway project. Would be nice to have smaller scale commercial storefronts facing La Playa to activate that street into an extended local commercial corridor.
No sea wall please. Build the bernal, richmond, and fillmore projects as is. Convert this project to a 6 story building.
Every single person that would submit public comment opposing this project would also subject public comment opposing a 6 story version. They cannot and will not be appeased.
Cmon, you’re being silly now.
I am not entirely sure how I feel about this one. On one level, it would definitely become a landmark. I like the design and this seems to be a good opportunity to replace a one-story suburban supermarket with something more urban. Architectoniqa, or however you spell it, does pretty interesting work, but as we saw with the Trinity Plaza project, they lure you in with a dynamic design, but then it gets completely dumbed down as a result of value engineering.
The other thing I don’t get is how it will get around Prop K, which says that buildings that exceed the 40-foot height limit can’t cast shadow on parkland managed by SF Rec and Park. I know that Fort Mason is federal property, but the Marina Green and Moscone Playground are Rec and Park.
Did His Wienerness overturn Prop K too?
SHADOWS!!!!
~ NYC, Chicago, Tokyo, Toronto, Boston, London, Singapore, Shanghai, Miami; exists ~
It’s wild, all these cities have parks surrounded by towers triple the height of this building, yet they manage to have thriving green spaces that are welcoming and well-lit. For the absent-minded, trees and grass need light to grow. Last time I checked, the sunbathers of Central Park are surrounded by fields of green.
Might I suggest moving 20′ up the hill, where the stepped shadows are guaranteed to miss, because, land higher, geometry, common sense, just, ya know, works? I know the land was once a fort, but I promise you are free to roam.
Just because I was interested in the specific changes:
Height: 297 -> 258
Stories: 25 -> 22
Studios: 88 -> 254
1Bs: 485 -> 268
2Bs: 132 -> 212
3Bs: 85 -> 114
So they increased the room count in a smaller envelope by shifting a lot of 1Bs to studios. But also added some 2 and 3 bedrooms. Seems like a pretty good mix.
Yes I like adding tons of housing units to the North side of the city which is notoriously anti-development. Yes I like upgrading a ‘suburban’ style single-story retail space with surface parking to much more dense land use. I just really don’t like the way this looks, especially in the context of the Marina neighborhood. Arquitectonica (sp?) are famous, sure, but this glamorous swoopy design with lots of glass surfaces looks to me exactly like it belongs in Miami or Dubai, and not in a neighborhood of faux-Spanish/Mediterranean style buildings. Daring? Yes. Good? No. JMHO
Look at the City surrounding it in the picture, the Real SF, and tell me you think this crap should be built. Another city, sure, but not SF.