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San Francisco Giants' Modified Mission Rock Plans Include Shorter Buildings, Affordable Housing

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — The San Francisco Giants have modified plans for a 28-acre mixed-use development near AT&T Park across from McCovey Cove to include shorter buildings and more affordable housing.

The idea is to make more people happy with the development, which has been in the works for some time. The contention is unlike Boston, New York, Los Angeles, or other major baseball markets, they aren't getting the revenue through TV and other streams that these major markets are getting and they need to make it up somehow. Add the fact that they paid for their own stadium and they're looking for cash to keep the operation going.

Their solution— this new Mission Rock development in what is now Giants' Parking Lot A. But given San Francisco's waterfront politics and the unease about high-rise development, they've reexamined and scaled back.

Giants President and CEO Larry Baer says he has a community vision for the waterfront. "We want this neighborhood to function where you have elements of 24th Street or Chestnut Street so it feels like a fun neighborhood."

Historic Pier 48 would be renovated and CEO of Anchor Brewing, Keith Gregor, envisions a new home.

"It gives us an opportunity to expand on Pier 48 with a new flagship brewery, which will really help fuel us for the next 50 years," he said.

In total the project is estimated to support 11,000 permanent jobs.

But how will this play with the neighbors? The UCSF folks are already in high dudgeon over the Warriors Arena set to be built in Mission Bay and that's not too far away. To be honest there really aren't that many neighbors around this part of town; it's sort of evolving and just coming in.

Sunny Schwartz has lived in Mission Bay for 12 years and is supportive of the project.

"I just think it represents what corporate America should be doing," she said.

When AT&T Park was first built, all that was down there was some unused warehouses and railroad tracks. There really wasn't much going on. It's exploded since then with tech and UCSF biotech and even some residential development. And now the Giants are adding a retail component with shops, a park and other neighborhood improvements that includes a parking garage with the capacity for about 3,000 cars.

Traffic for sure will be impacted in the event of two overlapping sporting events within the same vicinity of a new residential-commercial part of town. The gridlock will be a point of contention for the Giants and Warriors to work out behind the scenes before things go to the ballot in November for the public to decide.

The plan calls for 1,500 new rental apartments — a third of which will be affordable.  The Mission Rock initiative needs to collect 9,700 signatures by July to qualify for the ballot.

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