Aerial view of Seawall Lot 330, via our friends at Google Maps
The new, enhanced terms of the San Francisco's deal for the A-Cup, which snatched the race from the laps of sailboat-loving Newporters, have been revealed. In the proverbial nutshell: Team Ellison gets title to Port-owned Seawall Lot 330 (that triangular parking lot, above, surrounding the Watermark) and a new, reduced rate on the long-term leases for the adjacent piers. In exchange for infrastructure investment in the piers and holding the race here, the deal includes indemnification (in the form of further-reduced rents) against losses.The original plan was to lease the lot for 75 years: that changed to title in exchange for a cut of revenue from the condos Team Ellison would build there; the new deal gives the city nothing in direct revenue. Just the promise of a huge cash infusion into the local economy and permanent facilities for other sailing events and regattas in the future.
So far, no word on the bulk Team Ellison will be permitted to build on Seawall Lot 330 or whether they'll have to fit into the density parameters laid down when the site was destined to be part of the cruise ship terminal planned there in the early 2000's. Bovis, which built the Watermark, gave up its rights to the rest in 2006 and the still-unbuilt cruise terminal location moved north to Pier 27 in 2008. The site has been a parking lot for the ballpark ever since, and recent history's not in Ellison's favor. Nothing's been built on the Embarcadero since the Hotel Vitale went up in 2005. Developer Simon Snellgrove had to reduce the height and bulk of HVAC equipment on his Pier 1.5 renovation project to appease Telegraph Hill dwellers, and we all know how successful he's been in getting his 8 Washington Street project built on Seawall Lot 351. Should be a fun year!
· Cup Deal Sweetened [Examiner]
· 8 Washington/Seawall Lot 351: Strange Bedfellows [Curbed SF Archives]
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