Baylands to Start 660-Acre Redevelopment in SF and Brisbane

Baylands Development is poised to break ground on a 660-acre redevelopment of a shuttered lock factory and toxic landfill straddling San Francisco and Brisbane.

The San Francisco-based unit of Universal Paragon could plant its shovels next year on Baylands North, a project with nearly 600 homes around the former Schlage Lock factory at 2189 Bayshore Boulevard in Visitacion Valley, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Baylands North is the first phase of a larger Baylands project across both cities that will include nearly 4,000 homes, 6.5 million square feet of offices, research labs, shops and restaurants, 140 acres of parks, 90 acres of solar panels and an 80-acre lagoon.

Plans for the initial phase include six buildings to contain 594 apartments and condominiums, two parks, a renovated Bayshore Caltrain station and a pedestrian-friendly shopping center.

Baylands has already sunk $11 million to renovate the old Schlage Lock headquarters, which now serves as a community center and hub for Baylands. The developer has spent $35 million on cleanup, a storm drain system and on “pads” for the first apartments.

The approved project to build a walkable “15-minute city” will be carbon neutral, with a 55-acre solar farm and 35 acres of solar panels on buildings and garages. The batteries of a fleet of 500 electric cars, available to residents, will provide reserve power when not driving.

Baylands CEO Greg Vilkin hopes to start construction next year.

“We don’t have sticks in the air yet, but we have done a ton of development work,” Vilkin told the Chronicle.

The transit-oriented project, in the works since the Schlage Lock factory closed in 1999, once called for a Home Depot, a proposal killed by neighbors. A proposed development of 1,200 homes fell by the wayside when Gov. Jerry Brown ended the state’s redevelopment program.

In 2018, property owner Universal Paragon won approval to build 1,674 homes and 46,700 square feet of commercial space on the 20-acre Schlage Lock site; and 2,200 homes on the 640-acre Brisbane side, along with 6.5 million square feet of biotech labs and offices.

The project was ready to break ground in 2020 when the pandemic hit and Baylands lost financing. Baylands North, in San Francisco, is expected to take 15 years, according to the city.

Vilkin acknowledged the first phase of the project has no financing.

But he says Universal Paragon, which generates $20 million a year from heavy material recycling and bus and rental car storage on the property, is committed to investing its own money as a “loss leader” in the initial phase.

The developer wants to work with the city to create an infrastructure financing district to allow the project to borrow against future tax revenue to pay for it, Stephanie Shakofsky, Baylands senior vice president of government affairs, told the newspaper.

— Dana Bartholomew