Brookfield leases first seven tenants at Pier 70

New York-based Brookfield Properties signed the first food and art tenants at Building 12, part of the developer’s 28-acre mixed-use neighborhood development at Pier 70 in San Francisco.

The seven tenants include local brewery Standard Deviant, baker Breadbelly, custom sneaker designer Studio Duskus, florist Marbled Mint, design business Prowl Studio, alternative motorcycle dealer Scuderia and a shared space for artists Zai Divecha (working with paper) and Emi Grannis (a metalsmith, making jewelry), The SF Business Times reported. 

Each of the tenants is currently working through the permitting process and plans to open up at different times in the next 18 months. Collectively, they’re taking over about 20,000 square feet of the three-level, 150,000-square-foot building located at 180 Maryland Street.

Building 12 is the lone element of the Pier 70 development to deliver since breaking ground in May 2018. The building is planned to be a focal point of the neighborhood providing the public with accessible maker spaces and retail for local artisans. 

The building features 22-foot ceilings on the open second level, arranged in a kind of “donut” shape around the perimeter of the cavernous ground floor, and 38-foot-high ceilings in the central hall. A wood-paneled third floor will primarily host office space.

“It really does take your breath away,” Tim Bacon from Brookfield told The Business Times. “You’ll have these different moments as you walk in, seeing people making things. Big stainless steel brewing tanks. Beautiful, colorful pastries and the smell of baking, and a place to sit down and watch all this happening.”

The tenants have signed leases anywhere between three and 10 years and all will have a combination of retail and manufacturing space. Tenants such as Standard Deviant were able to negotiate lease terms that were first agreed upon before the pandemic. They settled on a lower base rent and larger percentage rent structure that kicks in after a few years.

“It’s an understanding from both sides that when this place is going off in a few years, we’re happy to get you guys a little more cash as well,” co-founder Mark DeVito said.

Beyond Building 12, however, Brookfield’s Pier 70 plans could be subject to change after the pandemic’s severe impact on the construction and leasing side. The developer halted construction last year toward the end of the first of three planned phases of construction, citing market conditions, and said it is exploring “potential modifications” to move the project forward.

“There’s a lot of work happening in the background on what the future of Pier 70 looks like,” Bacon said. “This idea of having a mix of uses throughout the site, that’s something we still believe in and is still part of our project plan going forward — delivering acres of parks and waterfront space, commercial space and housing and a great opportunity for experiencing historic rehab.”

The pandemic already threw a major wrench in Brookfields plans after Google paused negotiations to lease the entire office component at Pier 70, which would have totaled 1.75 million square feet.

If built out to original plans, Pier 70’s redevelopment is projected to cost $3.5 billion from multiple projects across the 69-acre site owned by the Port of San Francisco and located at the foot of the Potrero Hill and Dogpatch neighborhoods. In addition to the 28-acre Brookfield waterfront site, Pier 70 includes Illinois Parcels (7 acres) and Crane Cove Park; the 20th Street Historic Core project by the port and Orton Development; and a new ship repair facility.

— Pawan Naidu