Pier 70

Mixed-Use District. Draft EIR Historic Resources Section (2016)

Pier 70 is a 69-acre property owned by the Port of San Francisco located in the City’s Central Waterfront that contains dozens of industrial facilities which form the Union Iron Works (UIW) Historic District. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the UIW Historic District is historically significant as the center of steel ship building and repair on the West Coast for nearly 150 years, and as an exceptional example of shipyard architecture and industrial design from the 1880s to the end of World War II. Developer Forest City proposes to redevelop a 28-acre waterfront parcel at Pier 70 that would allow up to 2,100 new residential units and 1.75 million square feet of office space among other uses to be built within the boundaries of the larger UIW Historic District. In addition to allowing the construction of many new buildings within the District, the development proposal would demolish a number of district contributors primarily built during World War II, and retain, rehabilitate, and relocate others.

While working as the Senior Architectural Historian at a prior firm, and in coordination with Planners at the San Francisco Planning Department, the Port of San Francisco, the Forest City development team, and SWCA Environmental Consultants, Mr. Brewster prepared the historic resources section of the Pier 70 Mixed-Use District Draft EIR that evaluated the impacts of the proposed development on the National Register UIW Historic District. As part of the impact analysis, Mr. Brewster identified mitigation measures that would reduce impacts to the District’s contributing buildings and landscape features, including an analysis whether proposals for the rehabilitation and relocation of historic buildings at Pier 70 would meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. Mr. Brewster recommended other measures and review processes which would enhance the compatibility of new buildings with those contributors to remain, and helped to develop preservation-specific alternatives.

Video: KPIX CBS SF Bay Area
Published on 1 Nov 2017
Transforming one of the Bay Area's oldest shipyards into housing and commercial space just got a green light. And almost a third of housing will be below market rate. John Ramos reports.