X-OldHeader: From dfielder@cooper.cpmc.org-DeleteThis.com Sun Feb 18 15:59:10 2001 Return-Path: <dfielder@cooper.cpmc.org-DeleteThis.com> Received: from opus.labs.agilent.com (root@opus.labs.agilent.com-DeleteThis.com [130.29.244.179]) by jr.labs.agilent.com (8.9.3 (PHNE_18979)/8.9.3 AgilentLabs Workstation) with ESMTP id PAA18559 for <wind_talk_ls@jr.labs.agilent.com-DeleteThis.com>; Sun, 18 Feb 2001 15:59:10 -0800 (PST) Received: from msgbas1t.cos.agilent.com (msgbas1t.cos.agilent.com [130.29.152.59]) by opus.labs.agilent.com (8.9.3 (PHNE_18979)/8.9.3 AgilentLabs Workstation) with ESMTP id PAA11059 for <wind_talk@opus.labs.agilent.com-DeleteThis.com>; Sun, 18 Feb 2001 15:59:10 -0800 (PST) Received: from femail11.sdc1.sfba.home.com (femail11.sdc1.sfba.home.com [24.0.95.107]) by msgbas1t.cos.agilent.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id B6AE94E3 for <wind_talk@opus.labs.agilent.com-DeleteThis.com>; Sun, 18 Feb 2001 16:59:09 -0700 (MST) Received: from [24.12.42.155] by femail11.sdc1.sfba.home.com (InterMail vM.4.01.03.00 201-229-121) with ESMTP id <20010218235907.GMVX9767.femail11.sdc1.sfba.home.com@[24.12.42.155]> for <wind_talk@opus.labs.agilent.com-DeleteThis.com>; Sun, 18 Feb 2001 15:59:07 -0800 X-Sender: dfielder@gate.cpmc.org-DeleteThis.com Message-Id: <v04020a03b6b6127e691c@[24.12.42.155]> Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2001 16:00:44 -0800 To: wind_talk@opus.labs.agilent.com-DeleteThis.com From: "David R. Fielder" <dfielder@cooper.cpmc.org-DeleteThis.com> Subject: Here is the TI Article X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by jr.labs.agilent.com id PAA18559
Glitzy Plans Submitted for Treasure Island
Developers envision hotels, museums,
Disney
David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, February 15, 2001
Picture a row of 12-story hotels facing downtown San Francisco
from Treasure Island's western shore, just across the Bay.
Below the hotels runs a wide promenade, its view a sweep of bay
and city. Nearby, people fill museums and an entertainment
complex complete with Imax theater and a new Disney attraction.
Or, instead, picture the hotels and promenade located next to a
neighborhood of new homes covering much of the island's
northern half. Near the marina, people streaming off ferries visit a
working film production center to see how movies are made.
Two development groups are seeking the right to remake Treasure
Island, hoping to turn the former military base with jaw-dropping
views into a combination of residential neighborhood and tourist
attraction.
Both have submitted preliminary development ideas to the island's
controlling agency, which must first decide whether the two
groups are qualified to take on the immense and expensive task.
Even if both groups make the cut -- which isn't certain -- debate
on the proposals for developing the island won't start for months.
But the preliminary concepts pitched by Navillus Associates and
Treasure Island Community Development suggest a radically
different island, one with far more residents and visitors than it
now has.
"We see Treasure Island as San Francisco's newest
neighborhood, and that's what we intend to build," said Jay
Wallace, one of the project's managers for Treasure Island
Community Development.
The two proposals, still in their preliminary stages, have much in
common. Indeed, the mix of hotels and entertainment both
envision comes straight from the city's 1996 guidelines for
redeveloping the island.
"We followed what they wanted, right down to the wetlands in
there," said Ronald F. Sullivan, president of Navillus.
The difference lies in emphasis. Community Development's
proposal has more housing -- a tricky thing to build, considering
some of the legal constraints that exist on the island. Navillus
pictures more entertainment and retail.
Neither would be easy to build. The island itself is man-made, a
patch of earth dropped into the bay six decades ago. Its aging
infrastructure would need serious work -- about $220 million
worth -- before development begins. And getting people on and
off the island without clogging the already jammed Bay Bridge
poses its own problems.
"It clearly is very, very tough," said Jim Chappell of the San
Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association. "But that
doesn't mean you don't do it."
Navillus pictures a place similar in feel to Monaco -- although
Sullivan hastens to add that doesn't include casinos. Three
12-story hotels would line the island's southwestern edge. A
time-share resort, of the same proposed height, would sit nearby.
The existing 1,000 housing units would be maintained. Residents
and visitors would shuttle to and from downtown San Francisco
via ferry. Museums, one devoted to the bay's ecosystem, would
be mixed in with entertainment centers and shopping. A small
wetland of 18.5 acres would cover the island's northeast corner.
Navillus' plans even include the possibility of hosting a Grand
Prix-style road race on Treasure Island and adjacent Yerba Buena
Island.
Community Development would build new housing, mostly one-
and two-story buildings, and boost the number of units to 3,000.
Since new housing is, in general, forbidden by one of the legal
trusts that covers the island, construction would require a
complicated land swap that would transfer those restrictions to
space on Yerba Buena Island. Wallace, however, insists it can be
done.
Stores and offices serving residents would be clustered near a
residential park in the center of the neighborhood. (Offices also
would require a land swap.) Hotels would occupy the island's
southwest corner, while the existing film production soundstages
next to the marina would become the focus of a new entertainment
complex centered on media and movie making.
Navillus is a joint effort of companies including the Cushman &
Wakefield real estate firm and Dinwiddie Construction. Treasure
Island Community Development, similarly, includes Kenwood
Investors and Lennar Corp., the development company working
on the Hunters Point and Mare Island redevelopment projects.
With plans still in their early stages, and neither group yet certified
as qualifying for the job, few people in and outside of city
government have seen the proposals. Supervisor Chris Daly,
whose district includes the island, said he was most interested in
getting services for the small neighborhood already there.
"I'm looking for plans that take care of the pressing needs of the
newest neighborhood in the city -- like getting a grocery store out
there," Daly said,
adding that he was troubled the city had just two development
groups coming forward with proposals.
"The fewer proposals, the fewer bids, the fewer choices," he
said. "With a development this big, it would be nice to have some
choices."
Treasure Island's future
This artist rendering shows a plan by Navillus Associates' to
build a row of 12-story hotels on the west side of Treasure Island
facing downtown San Francisco across the Bay. The group is one
of two potential developers for the island. Key elements of each
plan are:
NAVILLUS ASSOCIATES:
--Hotels
--Pedestrian mall of shops and restaurants
--Entertainment complex, possibly including Imax theater and a
Disney attraction.
--Museums, including one devoted to the Bay ecosystem.
--Wetlands, about 18.5 acres.
--Possible Grand Prix car race.
TREASURE ISLAND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT:
--Hotels
--Housing, about 2,000 new units.
--Neighborhood shopping district.
--"Backlot" entertainment center built around existing movie
production stages on island.
-- Possible tennis facility and resort Sources: Navillus
Associatessss and Treasure Island Community Development
groups Chronicle Graphic
E-mail David R. Baker at dbaker@sfchronicle.com.-DeleteThis.com
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