As we reported yesterday, the agreement between the developer of the proposed 8 Washington condo building and the Port of San Francisco is officially over, after a saga that lasted more than five years at the ballot box and in the courts. That means a piece of land that was set to be used for the project is now back in play. So what's next? Right now, anything is possible, but some in the community are pushing for a public activity center on the site.

The land in question is Seawall (SWL) Lot 351, a triangle-shaped parcel at the corner of the Embarcadero and Washington Street. Had the 8 Washington project gone through, the parcel would have been developed alongside private land owned by Timothy Foo (who also owns the Gateway Apartments and Townhomes, where this reporter lives). Foo currently leases that land to the Bay Club at the Gateway, which would have been demolished if 8 Washington had been built. 

Today, SWL 351 is still a parking lot that yields roughly $350,000 in annual revenue for the Port of San Francisco, said interim executive director Elaine Forbes. That's important, because the Port is a self-funding agency, and with aging piers and a Great Seawall in need of upgrades, every penny counts.

Seawall Lot 351.

With that said, the community has long sought non-parking uses for the seawall lots. Affordable housing is going to be built on a current parking lot (SWL 322-1) at Broadway and Front Street, while Teatro ZinZanni is partnering with a developer to build a dinner theater and hotel on another parking lot at Broadway and The Embarcadero. 

Could SWL 351 still become new housing? Nothing is ruled out yet, Forbes said. "There have been discussions about housing, open space, mixed use; so we need to vet those ideas," she said.

It's an ideal time to discuss those options, she added, because the Port launched a process for updating the Waterfront Land Use Plan last fall. It includes working groups made up of residents from around the city, as well as community members who have deeper knowledge of particular areas. "It's a really good time to step back and go through that process and get some guidance," she said.

The community weighed in on future Port projects at a Waterfront Vision Workshop in October.

The working groups are currently "looking at the piers; the seawall lots that have not been developed," Forbes said. Now that 8 Washington's developer, San Francisco Waterfront Partners, no longer has an exclusive negotiating agreement for SWL 351, it will be added to the working groups' agenda, so they can consider the best use for the land and what's economically viable.

Lee Radner, who's been a vocal proponent of saving the longtime recreation center currently known as the Bay Club at the Gateway, is urging local leaders and the community to consider a public activity center on the spot. “I’ve always felt that Seawall Lot 351 is the gateway to the northeast corridor," Radner said. 

Lee Radner.

He imagines a place for bike sales, rental, repair and storage, a cafe with indoor/outdoor seating, and services such as tennis racket repair and a space for purchasing swim goggles or tennis balls, as well as getting information about lessons in the area. It would also include locker rooms and showers, so people could refresh themselves after a long bike ride or run along the Embarcadero.

Radner has long advocated that the city adhere more closely to a document that his group, Friends of Golden Gateway (FOGG), commissioned Asian Neighborhood Design to produce in 2011. Titled "A Community Vision for San Francisco's Northeast Waterfront," it used community input to develop recommendations for how to develop the waterfront.

For SWL 351, it says, "participants kept returning to the idea of recreation, bicycle, transit and youth-oriented activities that would complement the existing Gateway recreation center, and create synergies with the proximity to the nearby Ferry Building and ferry terminal."

Jon Golinger, an 8 Washington opponent who is also a volunteer on the waterfront working group, said the idea for a recreation center should be considered immediately. However, he added, "I’m not pushing any one idea. I just want 351 not to sit idle. I want it to be part of the waterfront planning process."