Radioactive findings push back cleanup deadline at Hunter’s Point

The redevelopment of the Hunter’s Point Shipyard into San Francisco’s newest neighborhood has gone radioactive.

That’s the reason the U.S. Navy gave for its latest pushback on the timing of its cleanup at the 500-acre site, which is in the portfolio of Irvine-based FivePoint Holdings, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Naval officials said they will widen an ongoing toxic remediation project on two parcels of the site because soil sampling done last year has produced two radioactive objects — an inch-and-a-half deck marker covered in radium-tainted paint and a piece of glass.

Publicly traded FivePoint has entitlements for thousands of residential units and millions of square feet of commercial space at Hunter’s Point and the separate Candlestick site that was once home to San Francisco’s baseball and football stadium. The developer bills Hunter’s Point as a project that will “provide housing, commercial and community uses reflective of the city’s rich history, diversity and boundless energy” with “a vision to integrate dynamic mixed-use development with publicly accessible parks and open spaces that connect surrounding communities.”

The public portion of the plan relies on FivePoint conveying land to the city — a process that is held up by the protracted environmental remediation measures.

The finding of radioactive objects and expanded scope of work will add up to 18 months to the cleanup schedule, with an estimated completion date now well past a hope-for start in 2026. Navy workers uncovered the items as they were double-checking work done by a former contractor, Tetra Tech, which has faced allegations of fraud on the cleanup job and now faces multiple lawsuits.

Tetra Tech denies any wrongdoing.