In San Francisco, an influx of tech workers has driven up the cost of housing and pushed natives to the far reaches of the city. And in the remote waterfront neighborhood of Hunters Point, an entirely new community is rising on the site of a former nuclear testing facility.
Lennar Corp.— the nation's largest housing builder — and its California-based spinoff Five Point have set out to transform the retired San Francisco Naval Shipyard into a bustling live-work community with 12,000 new homes and approximately five million square feet of office and commercial space. The project has a price tag to match its hefty ambitions: $8 billion.
The redevelopment of the neighborhoods around the shipyard and Candlestick Park, where the San Francisco Giants once played, began in 1999. The project has taken so long, in part, because it involves the cleanup of radioactive contamination. In the 1940s, the shipyard hosted a federal nuclear program that included a secret laboratory where researchers ran tests on the effects of radiation on living organisms. Its closure in 1994 left behind San Francisco's worst toxic-waste dump.
Now, the "micro-hood" at Hunters Point is starting to take shape, with 234 homes sold (about 83% of the completed units) and another 49 condominiums marketed for sale.
Take a look inside the rebranded San Francisco Shipyard.
The bus ride to The SF Shipyard reminds me of the approach to Walt Disney World when I was a kid. For half a mile back, roads signs welcome you to a real-estate wonderland.
After a roughly 45-minute bus ride from downtown, I arrived in The SF Shipyard.
It was less glamorous than I expected. Wire fences separated swaths of dirt from other plots of dirt. A few residents walked their furry companions along the paved roads.
The city bus drops residents off along the back of the development, where rows of condominiums meet what remains of the retired San Francisco Naval Shipyard.
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