New Life for Pier 70 Historic Shipyard as Construction Begins on Expansive Waterfront District

CLEVELAND and SAN FRANCISCO, May 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- For decades, most of San Francisco's historic Pier 70 has sat idle and inaccessible to the public, a mix of vacant land, deteriorating buildings, storage and staging areas. Now, there is new life for Pier 70. At a groundbreaking ceremony today, Mayor Mark Farrell, Supervisor Malia Cohen and members of the Port of San Francisco, developer Forest City Realty Trust (NYSE: FCEA) and the Dogpatch community celebrated the start of construction on an expansive 28-acre waterfront neighborhood with new housing, waterfront parks, space for artists and local manufacturing, and rehabilitated historic buildings.

Speaking in front of historic Building 12, a vast steel, glass and timber structure where WWII ship hulls were fabricated, officials applauded the years of collaboration with the community to create a project that has unprecedented support.

"This is an inspiring location reflective of San Francisco's history of ingenuity that will once again be a major source of economic, civic and cultural value to the City," said Mayor Farrell. "The Pier 70 project provides meaningful solutions to City priorities by building significant affordable housing, creating signature spaces to support the arts, and providing revenue generating local manufacturing and commercial uses. Congratulations to all who have dedicated themselves to achieving today's milestone."

Pier 70's 28-Acre Site is a public-private partnership project between the Port of San Francisco and Forest City, and one of several sub-divisions the Port is managing or is developing at Pier 70 along San Francisco's Central Waterfront adjacent to the Dogpatch neighborhood. The City unanimously approved the project last November after ten years of planning. Pier 70 was the first waterfront project requiring a citywide vote under Prop. B with 73 percent voting in favor.

"I am so happy that after decades of work people who live just blocks from the Bay will now have access to the breathtaking waterfront. The revitalization of Pier 70 is so valuable because it builds new connections in this neighborhood and delivers over $750 million dollars in public benefits to the greater San Francisco community," said Supervisor Cohen. The supervisor highlighted several project benefits, including how transportation funding generated by the project will be used for transit improvements that serve the neighborhood. She also applauded the unprecedented commitment by a private developer to achieve 30 percent local hire to address job needs and a housing program that benefits residents in District 10 by giving them preferred status for affordable housing built at the site.  

"This project is a testament to commitment, creativity and partnership that will result in the revitalization of this exciting part of the waterfront, connecting Dogpatch residents and the larger community to the San Francisco Bay," said Port of San Francisco Executive Director Elaine Forbes. "From its start, this project has had remarkable public support because of the exceptional collaborative process and hard work of all involved.  This project will provide long-term value for the City and its residents."

Pier 70 Historic District

"We're building an entirely new mixed-use district that acknowledges the location's industrial history, the diverse character of the Dogpatch neighborhood, and an expansive waterfront location," said Forest City Chief Development Officer Ronald A. Ratner. "The new Pier 70 will reflect the best of San Francisco with what will be premiere new waterfront parks, local establishments, restaurants, arts uses, and event spaces. We're really proud of this project, created in partnership with the City, Port and community, and thrilled to see it come to life."

The project includes 1,100-2,150 residential units, including 30 percent on-site affordable of which about 65 percent will be rental units. There will be seven acres of new parks and open space; 900,000-1.75 million sq. ft. commercial space, with up to 360,000 sq. ft. of local retail and services, arts and light industrial space, including a new waterfront arts facility. Three historic structures will be rehabilitated, including Building 12, which will return as a modern hub of light industry and craftsmanship where products are made and sold. A permanently affordable state-of-the-art waterfront arts facility of up to 90,000 square feet will include new artist studio space for the Noonan Building creative community currently onsite. Approved plans also call for an extensive transportation management program. The project is expected to generate more than 10,000 construction jobs, built in partnership with the Building and Construction Trades Council, and 12,000 full-time jobs. The project will be built in three phases over 15 to 20 years.

Designs for New Parks Unveiled

Forest City also unveiled designs for Pier 70's new waterfront parks, which echo the site's maritime history, the neighborhood's creative character and emerging San Francisco. The designs show a network of open spaces from the center of the project to the waterfront that feature public art, such as large steel frames that define bay views, and terraced lawns, promenades that jut into the water, meadow plantings and tree lined areas, timber furnishings where people can gather and lounge, and more. The designs were created in partnership with James Corner Field Operations, renowned for their work on New York City's High Line.

"Along the waterfront, imagine people dining at restaurants and bars, and a cultural arts building that opens up onto to an expansive lawn where residents are enjoying a concert. Meanwhile, people lounge on oversized porch swings taking in views of the Bay Bridge and downtown San Francisco," said Forest City Sr. Vice President Jack Sylvan. "This is an inspired location where people will want to be."

First Phase of Construction Focuses on Housing and Parks

Pier 70 is the fastest master planning project in City history to go from project approvals to start of construction — in just six months. The initial phase of work involves building an entirely new infrastructure, then rehabilitating historic buildings, creating parks and open spaces to reopen public access to the waterfront, building significant affordable housing, and creating space for artists, local manufacturing and commercial uses. Construction of the first new buildings is anticipated in late 2019. Both the parks and initial buildings in Phase 1 are anticipated to be completed in 2021-2022.

Unique construction features in Phase 1 include creating protections against sea level rise at the high-end of projected 2100 sea-level-rise estimates established by the State. The grade of the entire 28-acre site will be raised. As part of that the sea-level rise plan, Forest City will be elevating the 120,000 square foot historic Building 12 nearly nine feet. A unique project-based funding mechanism will pay for future sea-level rise infrastructure needs on surrounding Port property.

Pier 70's Compelling History

Most of Pier 70 is listed on the National Register as the Union Iron Works Historic District and is considered one of the most intact industrial complexes west of the Mississippi. As headquarters for both Union Iron Works and Bethlehem Steel, Pier 70 was home to ship repair operations from the time of the Spanish American War in 1898 through today. Pier 70 is notable for its role in the nation's maritime history, supporting multiple war efforts, as well as in the evolution of industrial architecture in San Francisco. The Pier 70 area encompasses 69 acres of historic shipyard property. The project areas include: the 28-Acre Site—the Forest City project; 7-acre Illinois Parcels—a Port project; Crane Cove Park—a Port project, 20^th Street Historic Core—by the Port and Orton Development; and, an existing ship repair facility.

Safe Harbor Language

Statements made in this news release that state the company's or management's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions of the future are forward-looking statements. The company's actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements due to various risks, uncertainties and other factors. Risks and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the company's ability to carry out future transactions and strategic investments, as well as the acquisition related costs, unanticipated difficulties realizing benefits expected when entering into a transaction, the company's ability to qualify or to remain qualified as a REIT, its ability to satisfy REIT distribution requirements, the impact of issuing equity, debt or both, and selling assets to satisfy its future distributions required as a REIT or to fund capital expenditures, future growth and expansion initiatives, the impact of the amount and timing of any future distributions, the impact from complying with REIT qualification requirements limiting its flexibility or causing it to forego otherwise attractive opportunities beyond rental real estate operations, the impact of complying with the REIT requirements related to hedging, its lack of experience operating as a REIT, legislative, administrative, regulatory or other actions affecting REITs, including positions taken by the Internal Revenue Service, the possibility that the company's Board of Directors will unilaterally revoke its REIT election, the possibility that the anticipated benefits of qualifying as a REIT will not be realized, or will not be realized within the expected time period, the impact of current lending and capital market conditions on its liquidity, its ability to finance or refinance projects or repay its debt, the impact of the slow economic recovery on the ownership, development and management of its commercial real estate portfolio, general real estate investment and development risks, litigation risks, vacancies in its properties, risks associated with developing and managing properties in partnership with others, competition, its ability to renew leases or re-lease spaces as leases expire, illiquidity of real estate investments, its ability to identify and transact on chosen strategic alternatives for a portion of its retail portfolio, bankruptcy or defaults of tenants, anchor store consolidations or closings, the impact of terrorist acts and other armed conflicts, its substantial debt leverage and the ability to obtain and service debt, the impact of restrictions imposed by the company's revolving credit facility, term loan and senior debt, exposure to hedging agreements, the level and volatility of interest rates, the continued availability of tax-exempt government financing, its ability to receive payment on the note receivable issued by Onexim in connection with their purchase of our interests in the Barclays Center, the impact of credit rating downgrades, effects of uninsured or underinsured losses, effects of a downgrade or failure of its insurance carriers, environmental liabilities, competing interests of its directors and executive officers, the ability to recruit and retain key personnel, risks associated with the sale of tax credits, downturns in the housing market, the ability to maintain effective internal controls, compliance with governmental regulations, increased legislative and regulatory scrutiny of the financial services industry, changes in federal, state or local tax laws and international trade agreements, volatility in the market price of its publicly traded securities, inflation risks, cybersecurity risks, cyber incidents, shareholder activism efforts, conflicts of interest, risks related to its organizational structure including operating through its Operating Partnership and its UPREIT structure, as well as other risks listed from time to time in the company's SEC filings, including but not limited to, the company's annual and quarterly reports.

View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-life-for-pier-70-historic-shipyard-as-construction-begins-on-expansive-waterfront-district-300646779.html

SOURCE Forest City Realty Trust, Inc.