Real Estate

Old Power Plant at Pier 70 Could Become New Restaurant Space

A possible restaurant venue?
A possible restaurant venue? Photo: ABC 7

The Port of San Francisco, the City, and several developers are at work on a massive revitalization project at Pier 70 which could take this dilapidated and underused section of the waterfront and turn it into a new residential neighborhood, as well as a shopping and dining destination with a bayside park. The industrial site at the foot of Potrero Hill was, for a century from the late 1800s to the 1970s, a bustling ship-building and repair operation, the largest of its kind on the west coast. The last major project produced by the steel plant there was the fabrication of the Transbay Tube for BART. Orton Development is a part of the team looking to rehabilitate and reuse many of the existing historic structures on the land, and one project already being discussed is the conversion of a defunct power plant — complete with enormous gears in the middle of the main room — into a restaurant.

Think Epic Roasthouse, but with actual historic significance for those big gears and belts.

ABC 7 has the full story about the Pier 70 undertaking, which has retail, office, and residential components, and would likely not be complete before 2016, pending approvals, etc. But it sounds like the retail and restaurant pieces, with adjacent office space, would be the first to come down the pike. Exciting stuff.


SF Has Plans to Develop Neglected Pier 70 [ABC 7]

Old Power Plant at Pier 70 Could Become New Restaurant Space