Mission Bay is a neighborhood on the east side of
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. It is bordered by
China Basin
San Francisco, in the US state of California, has both major, well-known neighborhoods and districts as well as smaller, specific subsections and developments. While there is considerable fluidity among the sources, one guidebook identifies five m ...
to the north,
Dogpatch
Dogpatch was the fictional setting of cartoonist Al Capp's classic comic strip ''Li'l Abner'' (1934–1977).
''Li'l Abner'' comic strip
The inhabitants of Dogpatch were mostly lazy hillbillies, who usually wanted nothing to do with progress. ...
to the south, and
San Francisco Bay to the east. Originally an industrial district, it underwent development fueled by the construction of the
UCSF
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It con ...
Mission Bay campus, and is currently in the final stages of development and construction. It is the site of the
Chase Center
Chase Center is an indoor arena in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The building is the home venue for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and occasionally for the University of San ...
.
Location
Mission Bay is bounded by Townsend Street on the north,
Third Street and
San Francisco Bay on the east, Mariposa Street on the south, and 7th Street and
Interstate 280 on the west.
[Mission Bay Map](_blank)
History
Before urbanization,
Mission Bay was nestled inside of a +500 acre
salt marsh
A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...
and
lagoon
A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...
, and was occupied by year-round tidal waters.
[Historic Ecological Map](_blank)
Ecological Map of the Mission Bay district. References to industrial and ecological history. This area was a natural habitat and refuge for large
water fowl
The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating ...
populations that included
duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...
s,
geese
A goose ( : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (the black geese). Some other birds, mostly related to the she ...
,
herons,
egret
Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build ...
s,
osprey
The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...
s and
gull
Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century ...
s. The
Native American tribes who resided in this area were the
Costanoan people who spoke eight
different languages which delineated between the various tribelets. The tribe most prevalent in the Bay area was the
Patwin people
The Patwin (also Patween, Southern Wintu) are a band of Wintun people native to the area of Northern California. The Patwin comprise the southern branch of the Wintun group, native inhabitants of California since approximately 500 AD.
The Patw ...
who resided in the area for over 5,000 years.
Beginning in the mid-1800s, Mission Bay was used as a convenient place to deposit refuse from building projects. It was later used as a dumping ground for debris from the
1906 earthquake.
[Brief History of Mission Bay](_blank)
, Mission Bay Brief History. As the marsh quickly stabilized with the weight of the infill, the area quickly became an industrial district. By 1850 the area was used for shipbuilding and repair, butchery and meat production, and oyster and clam fishing.
[Mission Bay Industrial History](_blank)
Mission Bay Urbanization History, Mission Bay urbanization history. With the addition of the railroad, Mission Bay became the home to shipyards, canneries, a sugar refinery and various warehouses.
In 1998 the area was announced by the Board of Supervisors as a redevelopment project.
Much of the land had long been a
railyard
A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or ...
of the
Southern Pacific Railroad Company
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
, and was transferred to
Catellus Development Corporation
Catellus Development Corporation is an Oakland, California based real estate developer founded in 1984 to be the real estate division of Santa Fe Pacific Corporation, as part of the Santa Fe–Southern Pacific merger. It was spun off into its own ...
when it was spun off as part of the aborted
merger of Southern Pacific and the
Santa Fe Railway
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...
.
Catellus subsequently sold or sub-contracted several parcels to other developers. It has rapidly evolved into a wealthy neighborhood of luxury
condominium
A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...
s, hospitals, and
biotechnology
Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...
research and development.
[Alexandria's Mission Bay Development Plan](_blank)
/ref> From 2010 to 2020, Mission Bay population increased by over 200%.
Attractions and characteristics
Mission Bay was the original headquarters of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) was created in 2004 after 59% of California voters approved California Proposition 71: the Research and Cures Initiative, which allocated $3 billion to fund stem cell research in California ...
prior to the organization's move to Oakland.
It is also the headquarters, at 550 Terry Francois Blvd, of the Old Navy
Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of the Old Navy stores are its ...
brand of The Gap The Gap may refer to:
Places Australia
* The Gap, New South Wales, a locality near Wagga Wagga, New South Wales
* The Gap, Northern Territory, a suburb of Alice Springs, Northern Territory
* The Gap, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
...
clothing retailer. It is the location of a new research campus of the University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It con ...
, UCSF Mission Bay
* Mission Bay was to be the location of a 14-acre, two-million-square-foot Salesforce
Salesforce, Inc. is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It provides customer relationship management (CRM) software and applications focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, a ...
U.S. headquarters. Salesforce abandoned its construction plans for the area in 2012 and sold 12-acres to the NBA's Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...
in 2014. The site later became the Chase Center
Chase Center is an indoor arena in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The building is the home venue for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and occasionally for the University of San ...
.
* The northern terminus of the Third Street Light Rail Project
The Third Street Light Rail Project was the construction project that expanded the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California, linking downtown San Francisco to the historically underserved southeastern neighborhoods of Bayview-Hunters Poin ...
of the San Francisco Municipal Railway
The San Francisco Municipal Railway (SF Muni or Muni), is the public transit system for the City and County of San Francisco. It operates a system of bus routes (including trolleybuses), the Muni Metro light rail system, three historic cabl ...
.
* The northern terminus of Caltrain
Caltrain (reporting mark JPBX) is a California commuter rail line serving the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley). The southern terminus is in San Jose at Tamien station with weekday rush hour service running as fa ...
.
* An AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...
Fiber to the premises
Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber optic ...
greenfield project.
* The first new branch of the San Francisco Public Library
The San Francisco Public Library is the public library system of the city and county of San Francisco. The Main Library is located at Civic Center, at 100 Larkin Street. The library system has won several awards, such as '' Library Journals ...
in over 40 years, The Mission Bay Branch Library, opened on July 8, 2006. It is located on the ground floor of a new multi-use facility, which includes an adult day health center, affordable senior housing, retail space and a large community meeting room. The new library is approximately , and is the 27th branch of the San Francisco Public Library.[Mission Bay Branch Library grand opening announcement](_blank)
/ref>
* 455 Mission Bay Boulevard South, originally planned to be the headquarters of Pfizer
Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...
's Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center (started construction August 5, 2008), occupied by Nektar Therapeutics in November 2010 as their corporate headquarters. The other half of the building is occupied by Bayer's U.S. Innovation Center.
* Location of the San Francisco Public Safety Building at Third Street and Mission Rock. It includes a Police headquarters, Police Station and Mission Bay Fire Station. Funding for the building was passed with a 79.4 percent positive vote on Proposition B.
* The home o
Rock Health
a seed accelerator
Startup accelerators, also known as seed accelerators, are fixed-term, cohort-based programs, that include mentorship and educational components and culminate in a public pitch event or demo day. While traditional business incubators are often g ...
for digital health startups.
* An estimated 56 biotech companies were clustered in Mission Bay in mid-2010.
* The San Francisco Bay Trail
The San Francisco Bay Trail is a bicycle and pedestrian trail that when finished will allow continuous travel around the shoreline of San Francisco Bay. As of 2020, of the trail have been completed. When finished, the trail will be over of p ...
.
* The Blue Greenway waterfront trail.
*Sinking sidewalk on the 1200 block of 4th street.
Mission Bay is served by the N Judah
The N Judah is a hybrid light rail/streetcar line of the Muni Metro system in San Francisco, California. The line is named after Judah Street that it runs along for much of its length, named after railroad engineer Theodore Judah. It links downt ...
and T Third Street
The T Third Street is a Muni Metro light rail line in San Francisco, California. It runs along the east side of San Francisco — primarily in the median of Third Street — from to the Market Street subway. It is interlined with th ...
lines of San Francisco's Muni Metro
Muni Metro is a light rail system serving San Francisco, California, United States. Operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), a part of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), Muni Metro served an average of 157 ...
. The N Judah links the neighborhood to Downtown, BART
Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc.
Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Bartho ...
, Hayes Valley and the Sunset District, and the T Third Street links to downtown, BART, and the Bayview and Visitacion Valley
Visitacion Valley (; Spanish: ''Valle de la Visitación''), colloquially referred to as Viz Valley, is a neighborhood located in the southeastern quadrant of San Francisco, California.
Visitacion Valley is roughly defined by McLaren Park and Gle ...
neighborhoods. Several other Muni bus and trolley bus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
lines link the area to neighborhoods to the north, west and south. The Caltrain
Caltrain (reporting mark JPBX) is a California commuter rail line serving the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley). The southern terminus is in San Jose at Tamien station with weekday rush hour service running as fa ...
commuter rail system connects Mission Bay with San Jose and Gilroy. The proposed Central Subway project will make the link between Mission Bay, Oracle Park
Oracle Park is a Major League Baseball stadium in the SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Since 2000, it has been the home of the San Francisco Giants. Previously named Pacific Bell Park, SBC Park, and AT&T Park, the stadium's curre ...
, Market Street Market Street may refer to:
*Market Street, Cambridge, England
*Market Street, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia
* Market Street, George Town, Penang, Malaysia
*Market Street, Manchester, England
*Market Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
...
-Union Square
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
, and Chinatown even faster.
Although near to and often associated with Oracle Park
Oracle Park is a Major League Baseball stadium in the SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Since 2000, it has been the home of the San Francisco Giants. Previously named Pacific Bell Park, SBC Park, and AT&T Park, the stadium's curre ...
, the ballpark is in the adjacent South Beach neighborhood. UCSF
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It con ...
has built a new 289-bed hospital serving children, women, and cancer patients which opened in February 2015.[UCSF to Build World-Class Medical Center at Mission Bay](_blank)
[Facts About UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay](_blank)
Construction of the hospital began in October 2010.
Mission Bay has a large residential component with approximately 6,404 apartments and/or condos planned (1,806 of them to be designated affordable).
*The Beacon is one of the largest condominium complexes in San Francisco and anchors much of the activity in North Mission Bay. With 595 condominium units, it sits on a full city block bounded by Townsend to the north, King to the south and 3rd and 4th Streets. A Safeway anchors the retail sections of the building; a Borders bookstore recently closed, and its space has been occupied by Lucky Strike Bowling. The building's name refers to its being the first large scale mixed-use project planned for the new neighborhood, and thus " The Beacon" of the area's revival. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) was created in 2004 after 59% of California voters approved California Proposition 71: the Research and Cures Initiative, which allocated $3 billion to fund stem cell research in California ...
also calls the Beacon home.
*Madrone is a high-end residential condominium developed by Bosa Development Corporation. Overlooking San Francisco Bay, the building has two towers with 329 modern residences, many with bay, city and Bay Bridge views. Sales and marketing firm The Mark Company achieved ongoing sales of 20 units per month in 2012 for Madrone, despite a still recovering economy. The building went to market in 2011, and more than 200 residences were sold by August 2012, making it one of San Francisco's most successful projects in more than a decade.
*Glassworks is a mixed-use building with approximately 40 modern condos of varying floor plans and sizes, located directly across Oracle Park
Oracle Park is a Major League Baseball stadium in the SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Since 2000, it has been the home of the San Francisco Giants. Previously named Pacific Bell Park, SBC Park, and AT&T Park, the stadium's curre ...
at 3rd Street, between King and Berry Streets.
*Signature Properties has built two mid-rise condos on Berry Street: 255 Berry Street and 235 Berry Street. 255 Berry Street was completed in 2004 and 235 Berry Street in 2007. Both buildings sit between Berry Street and Mission Creek and consist mainly or two-bedroom units of various sizes and floor plans. The first floors contain townhome style condos. Units facing south have views of the creek and South Mission Bay.
*Arterra is San Francisco's first LEED-certified market-rate condominium building, located on Fifth Street, between Berry and King Streets (300 and 325 Berry Street). The project consists of three connected buildings, each in a different exterior color: "City" (nine stories), "Park" (six stories) and "Sky" (16 stories). There are a total of 268 condos in the complex.
*Park Terrace (325 Berry Street) is similar in construction to both 255 Berry Street and 235 Berry Street in style and height (nine-story mid-rise). The building has 110 market rate homes.
*Radiance at Mission Bay is in the south part of Mission Bay, adjacent to the Bay. It consists of 99 market rate condominiums.
*Strata is a market rate apartment complex near the UCSF campus.
*Arden is a market-rate residential condominium that was developed by Bosa Development Corporation.
Other notable buildings in Mission Bay include The Gladstone Institute, the Mission Bay medical offices of Kaiser Permanente, and soon-to-be-completed "The Exchange", developed by Kilroy Realty Corp., which will be 100% occupied by Dropbox upon completion in 2019.
Mission Bay Parks completed as of fall 2010 include: Mission Creek, Mission Bay Commons lots on Mission Bay Boulevard between Radiance and the Nektar/Bayer buildings, the 5th street plaza, the sports courts, Koret Quad and China Basin Park. Future Mission Bay parks plans include Bay Front Park, a little league diamond and a junior soccer field.
Education
The University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It con ...
opened its Mission Bay campus in 2015.
Construction of the Mission Bay School, the neighborhood's first public school, is scheduled for completion in 2025.
References
External links
San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, Mission Bay
SF New Developments - Mission Bay
Mission Bay Parks
{{authority control
Neighborhoods in San Francisco
South of Market, San Francisco
Populated coastal places in California