Giants fans don't have to wait for massive new parks and towers to enjoy spending time on ashphalt-laden Seawall Lot 337. Tomorrow at noon, the Yard, a temporary food and retail pod-village built from shipping containers, is set to debut on land once occupied by 73 spaces at Parking Lot A, facing Mission Creek and the ballpark. The project, designed by Gehl Studio in collaboration with OpenScope Studio and UrbanBloc, consists of 13 containers reassembled and decked out to serve as retail and restaurant space. Like its predecessor Proxy across town, the Yard puts land awaiting development to productive, food-truck-friendly use. As you recall, the Giants are planning a big mixed-use project bringing more than 650 units of housing, an eight-acre park, and commercial space to the site—but that's still a few years out.
The Yard will feature a beer garden operated by Anchor Brewing, along with Peet's Coffee, SF Made, the Whole Beast, and the North Face. (Our sister site Eater has the full report on the offerings, which include Off the Grid's first non-roving food truck park.) As Eater reports, a permitting issue means the Yard must forgo heat lamps, so those North Face jackets will probably be highly necessary.
Also expect cooking demonstrations and group workout classes. What's more, a Saturday farmer's market should be coming in the next few weeks, bringing fresh produce to an area currently starving for proper grocery stores.
The Yard's use of containers harks back the area's industrial past; it was a rail yard into the 80s, as John King points out in the Chronicle. The bright red tree planters hail from the Yerba Buena district, all bars and drink rails are made from wood reclaimed from the East Bay Municipal Water Storage Yard, and more wood trim comes from the floors of other unseaworthy shipping containers.
The site's development plans will hold off till 2017 or 2018, at which point, notes Eater, the Yard could be packed up and moved elsewhere.
·The Yard [Official Site]
· Previous Coverage of Seawall Lot 337 [Curbed SF]
· Take a Spin Through The Yard, The Giants' New Pregame Party Complex [Eater SF]
· Urban Chic Shipping Pods Catch on in Giants Development [SF Gate]