Residents of SF’s Design District object to Amazon expansion

Residents of San Francisco’s Design District are pushing back against Amazon’s expansion in the area, saying the neighborhood should no longer support heavy industrial use.

Neighbors say Amazon doesn’t fit a creative area that’s home to artists’ spaces and an expanding California College of the Arts campus, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. They object to a 725,000-square-foot delivery center proposed for a six-acre former garbage truck depot in Showplace Square that it bought for $200 million in December 2020.

The company already has an UltraFastFresh logistics center at 888 Minnesota Street, across from Esprit Park; a 75,000-square-foot warehouse at 435 23rd Street, just south of the Potrero Power Station; and a 112,000-square-foot delivery hub at 749 Toland Street.

“I’d have the same concerns if it were FedEx or UPS,” David Meckel, senior adviser to the president of the art school, told the newspaper. “For me, it’s about urban design.”

Meckel said that three daily shifts of 400 workers would generate about 2,800 car trips, on top of the 70 Amazon trucks that will be coming and going from the site, leading to a traffic nightmare for pedestrians.

Showplace Square is part of a block of parcels bound by 7th Street, Division Street, Potrero Avenue and 16th Street that’s zoned for industrial use. Back in 2018, community members rejected a plan to build about 1,000 residential units on the site, which would have required a rezoning.

The zoning was meant to strike a balance between protecting industrial jobs and new housing. The land has been successfully shielded from the tech office and housing developers, Anne Taupier, director of development at the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, told the Chronicle.

“A clear set of rules to play by were established and it really hasn’t changed since then,” said Taupier. “We think it has worked and is continuing to work.”

Amazon is at the beginning of the approval process for the Showplace Square development, so residents and city officials will have ample time to discuss the project.

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