Perfecting the Phased Approach to Mixed-Use Development on a Reclaimed San Francisco Waterfront

Early explorers and settlers of the San Francisco Bay relied on a rocky outcropping to help them identify and navigate Mission Bay, where downtown San Francisco now stands. Over time, Mission Bay was filled in, and eventually, Mission Rock became the foundation for two of the piers that still jut out from the city’s Embarcadero. When the San Francisco Giants built their new baseball stadium along the waterfront, this former industrial site—turned parking lot—became valuable real estate.

In 2018, the owners of the Mission Rock piers, the Port of San Francisco brought in the San Francisco Giants and Tishman Speyer as partners to redevelop the area. The 28-acre plot would be transformed into a new neighborhood featuring 1,000 rental units, 1.4 million square feet of office and life science space, 200,000 square feet of retail, and eight acres of parkland and open space. The goal was to create a vibrant, mixed-use community that could serve as a new waterfront destination, seamlessly blending residential, commercial, and recreational elements.

A project of this scale is a multi-decade effort, one that would need to be delivered in as many as four phases. One of the challenges the development team had to overcome was planning these phases in a way that would be both economically viable and functional, ensuring that each phase provided a useful, completed product on its own. “A lot is dependent upon the successes and experiences that people have around phase one,” said Maggie Kadin, Managing Director and Regional Director for Northern California at Tishman Speyer. “You need people to see, understand, and then believe that it’s a differentiated proposition to come to Mission Rock and different from the other office vacancies that exist within the city.”

One of the first steps the team took to achieve this was designing the new neighborhood around a central intersection, forming a square rather than a linear row along a single street, which is often the default approach in developments. This “center-out” design allowed the core of the neighborhood to feel complete and activated from the start while also enabling future expansion. As subsequent phases of construction begin, the worksites will remain mostly out of view from the main “town center” cross street built during the first phase. This approach ensures that as the project evolves, it will maintain a sense of cohesion and usability, rather than feeling like a patchwork of separate developments.

The first phase of a major development is often the most exciting, as it gives the new neighborhood its initial shape, but it is also one of the most challenging. “It is critical to get design teams to think through how you take our master planning elements and really deliver those in the initial phase because if you defer those, it’s pretty hard to add them back later,” Kadin explained. “For this project we have district-scale systems we have built in phase one.”

With this in mind, the first phase included major district-scale infrastructure investments, such as a district heating and cooling system that utilizes bay water for efficient heat exchange. A stormwater runoff system was also implemented, providing irrigation for an 11,000-square-foot on-site garden. Additionally, the entire site was elevated by 66 inches to protect against future sea level rise. These were significant upfront costs to incur in the first of four phases, but having the Port Authority as a committed partner ensured a long-term roadmap that could support such large-scale investments.

Another critical focus in the first phase was creating a lively ground-floor experience with retail and amenities that would establish a sense of place. “We thought a lot about how you physically lay out the first phase to create a finished corner and then build out from there because I think that entry into something that feels like a finished intersection is important.,” Kadin said. “We have also thought a lot about the softer elements around the retail and the ground plane.” 

The team prioritized local retail, curating six different restaurants at various price points to help attract visitors and future residents to the area. “We wanted to make sure that we structure the leases in a way where they can be successful, where we are really treating our operators as partners while trying to raise awareness that they are coming to the neighborhood,” Kadin explained. “This is important because all of the density and foot traffic that will be there eventually will not be there on day one so you try and make sure you’re setting these partners up for success as they stick with you toward the ultimate vision.”

In addition to retail, the team paid close attention to the types of public spaces they were creating, ensuring they would appeal to both residents and visitors. Parks, open spaces, and pedestrian-friendly streets were incorporated into the design to encourage foot traffic and foster a sense of community. Outdoor seating areas, public art installations, and event spaces were also planned to bring people together and create a welcoming atmosphere.

Any large-scale project is complex, but Mission Rock faced additional challenges due to the economic downturn that hit San Francisco during the pandemic. Kadin noted that mixing office, retail, and multifamily in the development was critical in helping them maintain the amount of inclusionary housing that was planned for the site. “The mixed-use nature of the project really supported phase one getting off the ground,” she said. “The reason for that was how much value was embedded in the commercial spaces in the 2018-2019 timeframe in the Bay Area. We were able to capture some of that value and effectively have a subsidy paid from the commercial projects to support the residential parcels and allow for an outsized inclusionary offering to be included when the construction costs – even at that time – did not support it.” 

When COVID-19 hit and office values came into question, the team had to rethink their approach to keep the project financially viable while ensuring the housing component remained affordable—an essential requirement from City Hall. In response to changing market conditions, the team adjusted the design to accommodate new workplace trends. Some commercial spaces were broken into smaller suites to offer more leasing flexibility, and they introduced their own coworking space, Studio, to cater to hybrid work models. Recognizing that remote work had shifted traditional office dynamics, the developers also worked to create spaces that could support a variety of business needs, from startups to established companies looking for flexible leases.

Now, with San Francisco’s office leasing market showing signs of recovery, Mission Rock has already secured a major anchor tenant. Early on Visa signed a large, long-term lease, providing a strong foundation for the project’s future. Even with these positive developments, the team remains focused on securing additional pre-leased tenants to mitigate risk in future phases. Reports have also surfaced that OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman is considering leasing space at Mission Rock for his new cryptocurrency project, World. If finalized, this deal would further establish the area as a hub for cutting-edge technology companies.

A development of this scale requires coordination among numerous agencies and stakeholders. “There’s an incredible number of stakeholders, the amount of contributors to each piece here is pretty remarkable,” Kadin said. While the remaining three phases are set to follow, one of the key lessons from the first phase is the importance of maintaining flexibility. “There needs to be room to adapt as conditions change,” she noted.

Beyond flexibility, long-term success will also depend on the city’s economic and political landscape. San Francisco has seen its share of ups and downs, and large-scale developments like Mission Rock are often at the mercy of market fluctuations, zoning regulations, and broader economic trends. But, the project’s strong foundation, thoughtful planning, and commitment to sustainability put it in a solid position to evolve with the times.

Hopefully, the political and economic conditions in San Francisco will align to support the continued progress of Mission Rock. If all goes well, what was once a simple rock outcropping used for navigation could become one of the city’s most dynamic waterfront neighborhoods, blending innovation, community, and resilience into a lasting urban legacy.