Hunter's Point redevelopment going forward
The Hunter’s Point project is an ambitious plan to redevelop a former naval shipyard and make it one of the premier residential and commercial areas of the city of San Francisco, it will cost a fortune at a time when housing prices are down and will throw up many hurdles for the company, Lennar Corporation, undertaking the project.
The main cause of the project’s complexity in terms of environmental and safety standards is the former shipyards history. The Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard started life in 1870 as a commercial shipbuilding and repair hub and expanded considerably on reclaimed land before being bought by the US navy in 1940.
The shipyard was a naval base until 1974 and carried out major repairs and shipbuilding activities, giving birth to a range of secondary industries in the area, which pulled in thousands of workers from across the city and surrounding areas so that Hunter’s Point became one of the most significant shipyards on the west coast.
It was also a center of research, the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory was located at the shipyard and was the largest facility in the US military for applied nuclear research. Because of this, the area become contaminated with radiological waste and other toxic materials related to both nuclear research and ship building and repair in general. The shipyard itself was, therefore, not considered fit for human habitation for many decades.
However, the navy has spent around $500 million, according to San Francisco news reports, on cleaning up the site and is planning to spent another several hundred million in order to make it safe for redevelopment. In 2004 city officials told San Francisco news media that investigations at city, state and federal levels had found the first part of the shipyard to be cleaned safe for habitation and redevelopment.
This first section to be cleaned amounts to the first phase of Lennar’s residential and commercial development plan for the shipyard, or what they call Parcel A. Parcel A is around 63 acres in size, roughly a tenth the size of the total project and will see 1,400 new houses built in semi-detached and apartment block styles, while an additional 9000 square feet will be given over for the development of commercial facilities into which small to medium sized business can relocate.
According to press material for the project, Parcel A will also include 25 acres of urban park space and at least 30% of the homes will be priced within reach of low income families. This is part of Lennar’s intention of leading the redevelopment of the entire area around Hunter’s Point, which was left devastated by the departure of the Navy in the 1970s.
The many thousands who’d been employed at the shipyard directly and by secondary industries found themselves out of work and unemployment, crime and associated social ills became prevalent in the area. To this day, Hunter’s Point is regarded as a maligned part of the city. It is for this reason that Lennar has focused heavily on “meeting the needs of the community” for the redevelopment of the 600-plus acre shipyard can only work if the surrounding area is transformed as well.
The Hunter’s Point project is therefore seen as one that can provide the jobs that were lost several decades ago and play a part in the investment and uplifting of the local community. Such plans come with a hefty price tag attached. The project will cost around $7 billion in total and the amount of funding needed is reflected in the disproportionate size of phase two of the project compared to phase one.
Once Parcel A is redeveloped, there are plans for 10,500 homes to be built, 300 acres of parkland landscaped, 2 million square feet of commercial facilities for local employment and investment, a 49ers stadium and an artists’ colony.
The project is riddled with hurdles though. The environmental regulations that must be met are many. The entire shipyard needs to be proven to be 100% safe for long-term human habitation, which involves a number of government agencies and stakeholders and takes time, while Lennar is continuing to build homes and other facilities with no guarantee of when it’ll be able to start selling them.
Some property has began to be sold, according to San Francisco news reports, but the sales generated through sales and leasing are reportedly falling 40% to 50% short of intended goals due to the weaker economy while costs have increased by around 20%.
There are also environmental groups that feel some aspects of the project, such as a focus on public transport, may actually damage the local environment. A suit was recently filed in San Francisco Superior Court alleging that a bridge to be built over Yosemite Slough is unnecessary and will damage the shoreline and eco-systems that populate the creek.
The suit was put forward by the Sierra Club and Audubon Society and while the city has indicated its initial environmental review was thorough in both its depth and scope, it reveals the extent to which building what is essentially a little city can be extremely complicated and costly.
Lennar is one of the biggest property developers in the US though and has told San Francisco news media that its considerable experience in drawn out legal navigation and financially hefty projects makes it capable of staying the course. In promotional material for the Hunter’s Point project the company admits that the redevelopment is “arduous and lengthy”.
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Hunter's Point redevelopment going forward
Hunter’s Point and the redevelopment project for the idle shipyard may or may not see a neglected part of the city transformed into a upward moving residential and commercial suburb, but the effort will be a long and costly process.
The Hunter’s Point project is an ambitious plan to redevelop a former naval shipyard and make it one of the premier residential and commercial areas of the city of San Francisco, it will cost a fortune at a time when housing prices are down and will throw up many hurdles for the company, Lennar Corporation, undertaking the project. Read more
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