Three different futures for the eastern end of Marina Boulevard are circulating at once. One is a pair of residential towers on the Safeway lot. One is a five-acre park at Gashouse Cove. The third, a car-free boulevard lined with 900-plus new homes, showed up on windshields and doorsteps in October. Two of them are real, and both have already passed the stage where a public meeting could change them. The third has no sponsor anyone can find.
The decisions still ahead for the Marina waterfront belong to a Planning Department deadline, a federal judge and state and federal permit agencies. None of those is a commission vote where neighbors line up at the microphone.
The Safeway decision has a date, and no hearing
The proposal at 11 and 15 Marina Boulevard comes from Align Real Estate working with Albertsons, Safeway's parent company. Since July it has called for 848 homes, 86 of them affordable, in two curved towers designed by Arquitectonica. One tower would rise 22 stories to 258 feet and the other 18 stories to 219 feet, with a new 67,180-square-foot Safeway inside the project, according to SF YIMBY's report on the July revision and the Chronicle's coverage of the same plans.
The July changes run against what most people would expect. The unit count went up from 790 to 848 while the towers came down from 25 and 22 stories. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Align attributed the change to more efficient floor plans. Amenity space was cut nearly in half and the grocery area got bigger.
The approval route is the main reason there has been no public hearing. The project uses Assembly Bill 2011, a 2022 state law that fast-tracks the conversion of commercial property into housing that includes affordable units. KQED reported that for qualifying projects, this ministerial process skips public hearings and environmental review as long as certain criteria are met.
Here is how the file has moved so far, and the date it is headed toward:
- December 4, 2025: Align files its notice of intent under state housing law.
- March 19, 2026: Planning issues a notice of conditional eligibility for streamlining.
- July 14, 2026: The revised 848-unit plans are submitted.
- August 13, 2026: The city finds the project eligible for the AB 2011 process. That finding was not final approval.
- November 11, 2026: The reported date for Planning's final decision.
The last date comes from SFGATE, which quoted Department of Building Inspection spokesman Patrick Hannan in August saying the Planning Department is required to approve the application on Nov. 11. In mid-October, the Standard still described the project as awaiting streamlined approval. On the calendar, Nov. 11 falls on Wednesday.
The opposition moved to federal court
Because the process has no hearing, the debate has gone elsewhere. Mayor Daniel Lurie came out against the proposal last December. He called it inconsistent with the spirit of the city's own upzoning plan and said his administration would use the levers it has to make the project work for the neighborhood, as Mission Local reported. District 2 Supervisor Stephen Sherrill challenged the project's eligibility for AB 2011, the Chronicle reported.
Neighborhood organizations wrote to the city as well. The Marina Community Association, Cow Hollow Association, Golden Gate Valley Neighborhood Association, Marina-Cow Hollow Neighbors and Merchants, and Neighborhoods United SF objected to streamlining and asked for further review.
In September, the YesAND Foundation, Neighborhoods United SF and four Marina residents filed suit against the city in San Francisco federal court. They argue the project is not eligible for AB 2011 and ask the court to reverse the streamlining decision, KQED reported. The plaintiffs told KQED they were seeking proper review and a chance to be heard, not a veto.
The case has not gotten far yet. It was reassigned several times in September, and Judge Charles R. Breyer recused himself on September 24. The docket now lists Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin, and the entries posted through early October show no hearing, injunction ruling or merits decision. The city's deadline and the court's schedule are on separate tracks.
What the Safeway plan means for the weekly grocery run
KQED reported in July that the store would close during construction and be replaced by the new one, and that no construction timeline had been released. SFGATE reported that current employees would be reassigned to nearby stores until the replacement opens. No temporary grocery option for shoppers has been announced, and there is no closing date yet. A decision on Nov. 11 would not close the store that week.
Gashouse Cove already cleared its vote
A few hundred yards east of Marina Green, the second real project is further along and gets far less attention. On April 16, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission voted unanimously to approve the concept design for the Marina Improvement and Remediation Project. The plan turns Gashouse Cove in the East Harbor into an expanded five-acre public park, the Chronicle reported.
The project is driven by PG&E's cleanup of the cove, where a 19th-century power plant once stood, under a legal settlement with the city. It follows an earlier version that the Board of Supervisors dropped in February 2024. That plan would have put about 185 slips in the West Harbor and blocked views for Marina residents. The new design moves the extra slips north of the East Harbor breakwater instead, so views from Marina Boulevard stay open.
What's planned for the shoreline:
- A community dock for kayaks, paddleboards and other nonmotorized boats in the shallow basin near shore
- A wider shoreline and Bay Trail improvements, with space for nature exploration and a small plaza
- Beach volleyball courts and a picnic area
- New planting, irrigation, lighting and furnishings
The harbor shrinks to make room. East Harbor loses 170 slips, which leaves 536 city-owned slips across the East and West harbors. Most boats in the southern part of East Harbor have already moved, and many of the old wooden piers are gone. The Gashouse Cove fuel dock, one of the few public fuel docks in San Francisco, will move to the West Harbor near the St. Francis Yacht Club. Commission chair Kat Anderson said fuel service would not stop during construction.
From here, the park's schedule depends on permits more than politics. In a March update, Rec and Park said it had applied for state and federal permits and was aiming to finish construction documents in mid-2026. The department has not published a groundbreaking date.
The plan on the flyer has no author
Then there is the one plan the whole neighborhood has seen. In October, flyers left on windshields and doorsteps proposed closing all four lanes of Marina Boulevard to private cars and building 900-plus homes, "inspired by Sunset Dunes." They were signed by "Friends of Marina Park," and their map ran from the Presidio to the Safeway lot. The San Francisco Standard reported that the leaflets appear to be AI-generated, that the city's Ethics Commission has no record of a committee or filer by that name, and that the groups listed as allies on the flyer had never heard of it.
No city agency has proposed closing Marina Boulevard. Of the three plans, the flyer is the only one that has never been filed with any agency, and it is also the one that reached the most front doors.
| Marina Safeway | Gashouse Cove park | "Marina Park" flyer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proposed by | Align Real Estate with Albertsons | SF Recreation and Park Department, tied to PG&E cleanup settlement | Unknown; no Ethics Commission filer |
| Where it stands | AB 2011 eligibility found Aug. 13 | Concept approved unanimously April 16 | Not filed with any agency |
| Next step | Reported Planning decision Nov. 11; federal suit reassigned, no ruling yet | State and federal permits | None |
| Public hearing ahead | None under AB 2011 | Commission vote already held | None |
The citywide shoreline plan starts somewhere else
The Port of San Francisco and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finished a waterfront study and released a Recommended Plan in August. The Port describes it as a framework for longer-term strategy and near-term improvements. KQED reported that the first design work focuses on Fisherman's Wharf, the Embarcadero between Harrison and Townsend, and the downtown stretch between Broadway and Harrison. Funding and 35% design still have to come first, and delivery could take decades once the money is there. It includes no Marina construction schedule.
This post is general information about public projects and the laws they rely on. It is not legal advice, so anyone weighing how these rules affect their own property should check with an attorney.
If you own on or near Marina Boulevard and want to know how a pending Safeway decision or a park under design affects your rental plans or your property's value, Home 2 San Francisco can talk it through with you. Pamela Kelley will start from your property and what's actually on file, not from the flyers.
