Aerial view of the four completed buildings of Mission Rock’s first phase, with China Basin Park in the foreground. Clockwise from left: Visa Market Support Center [white building], Verde [green building], 1090 Dr. Maya Angelou Lane [shorter white building], The Canyon [red-brick building].
(Photos courtesy of Jason O’Rear/Mission Rock Partners)
A 28-acre (11 ha) waterfront site across McCovey Cove from San Francisco’s Oracle Park had long served as a parking lot for Giants baseball fans—but little more. Today, the property is home to Mission Rock, an ambitious mixed-use development undertaken in a public-private partnership between the Giants, the Port of San Francisco, and global real estate development company Tishman Speyer.
Attendees of the 2025 ULI Fall Meeting will have the opportunity to tour Mission Rock and learn how an unusually collaborative approach to development has created a neighborhood that goes beyond serving sports fans.
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“Mission Rock is now coming into its own after more than a decade of work,” says Maggie Kadin, managing director and regional director for Northern California at Tishman Speyer, who will lead the tour along with Tishman Speyer Senior Director Jeremy Bachrach and a San Francisco Giants executive.
Oracle Park opened in 2000 in the city’s South Beach neighborhood. Seven years later, the state allowed the Port of San Francisco to open up some of its seawall lots for uses other than stadium parking, and in 2009 the Port Commission chose the Giants to redevelop the vacant acreage. City voters approved a necessary raising of building height limits in 2015 so that Mission Rock could move forward, and three years later the Giants selected Tishman Speyer as its joint venture partner on the project.
When completed, Mission Rock will be a 2.7-million-square-foot (250,838 sq m) mixed-use development, with 12 buildings constructed across several phases: 1.4 million square feet (130,064 sq m) of office/lab space, more than 1,000 apartments, 200,000 square feet (18,581 sq m) of shops, and eight acres (3.24 ha) of parks. As master developer on behalf of the Port of San Francisco, Tishman Speyer and the San Francisco Giants built the necessary infrastructure, including streets and utilities, and these costs are to be repaid with revenue sources generated by the complex.
Crafting a neighborhood, not an entertainment district
Unlike many developments centering around sports venues, Mission Rock was conceived as a standalone neighborhood from the start, rather than simply as an entertainment district attached to the ballpark. The development team reached out to local food vendors such as Flour + Water Pizza Shop and Arsicault Bakery, supplementing them with national retailers like Sweetgreen and Ike’s Sandwich Shop.
“We’re excited to show that off, now that the retail is opening,” Kadin says. “We spent a disproportionate amount of time on the ground-floor experience, designing the open space and the retail to meet the needs of a range of different user types, whether that be residents, office workers, or game-goers.”
The first phase of Mission Rock was completed in 2023 and 2024. It incorporates two office buildings—the 13-story Visa Market Support Center, designed by Henning Larsen, and the eight-story 1090 Dr. Maya Angelou Lane, designed by WORKac—and two residential buildings—the 23-story Verde, a 254-unit residential tower designed by Studio Gang, and the 23-story mixed-use residential complex known as The Canyon, designed by MVRDV. It also includes creating the five-acre (2 ha) China Basin Park, designed by SCAPE Landscape Architecture.
The four buildings showcase a variety of architectural expressions that all draw inspiration from California’s landscape. The Canyon’s textured red-brown façade takes cues from the state’s familiar rock formations, and a “canyon” cuts a diagonal through the building’s plinth to link the neighborhood’s heart with China Basin Park. The Verde residential tower’s shape recalls California’s coastal bluffs, with outdoor spaces carved out along its façade. Its green, glazed ceramic cladding has subtle variations in color and profile.
At center, Larry Baer, president and chief executive officer of the San Francisco Giants; Carl Shannon, senior advisor for Tishman Speyer; and then-San Francisco Mayor London Breed cut the ribbon for China Basin Park’s opening in 2024. Maggie Kadin, managing director and regional director for Northern California at Tishman Speyer, stands at far right.
(Photos courtesy of Jason O’Rear and Mission Rock Partners)
The faceted white precast façade of the Visa Market Support Center references the striped basalt columns of Devils Postpile National Monument in Mammoth Lakes. Outdoor terraces offer views of Oracle Park and downtown San Francisco. 1090 Dr. Maya Angelou Lane’s carved-out gardens serve as outdoor spaces for working and meeting. Landscaping transitions from leafy vegetation at lower levels to hardy succulents higher up. All four buildings have commercial spaces to enliven the ground plane.
Multiple design teams worked collaboratively to lay the groundwork for Mission Rock, with Studio Gang leading the process to ensure coherence across the site. “We made the decision not to have one design firm do four iterations, but to bring four different [firms] together, each designing individual buildings with feedback and collaboration at the center,” Kadin says. “Being able to channel the ideas of these amazing designers, who could be influencing buildings across the street from the building that they are working on, was an exciting process, and some of that design work set the stage for what’s to come next.”
The development team committed to creating China Basin Park in the first phase as an amenity for the public. The open space includes plazas, spaces for food trucks, an amphitheater, and a stormwater garden designed to filter and treat runoff for all of Mission Rock. “Over the last year, it’s taken on a life of its own,” Kadin says. So far, the park has hosted events both large and small, from workout classes to the North Face Climb Festival.
The park also includes a section of the San Francisco Bay Trail, a popular 350-mile (563 km) bicycle and pedestrian path that follows the waterfront around the entire bay. “That’s incredibly well utilized, whether for commuting purposes or exercise or just out taking a walk and enjoying the waterfront,” Kadin says.
Water management and climate resilience
Mission Rock incorporates district-scale utilities, including a thermal heating and cooling plant and an onsite “black water” treatment plant. “We made a commitment to having 100 percent of nonpotable water used at Mission Rock recycled on site,” Kadin says. These systems are sized to accommodate future phases as well.
The entire site was raised five feet to accommodate sea level rise. This elevation change required careful integration across the park, the streets, and the buildings to ensure a cohesive design.
The neighborhood offers easy access to public transit. “We’re well located to T line, with a Mission Rock stop that connects to BART, and we have a lot of bike sharing on site,” Kadin says. The buildings include bicycle parking and showers to encourage workers to cycle to their jobs. A structured parking garage has been approved for a later phase.
Plans for the future
The timing of the future phases will depend on the market. “We have flexibility in terms of what comes next,” Kadin says. “Like many who are navigating this economic environment, we are looking to take a customer-driven approach. We’re having conversations, soliciting feedback, and [using those to] guide the timing of the next phase. We’re certainly getting more optimistic as we see how the first phase of Mission Rock has been received.”
The neighborhood is coming to life as residents with a range of income levels occupy the apartments and commercial spaces start operating, Kadin says. “A significant portion of our retail is leased, and a growing number of shops are now open to the public. We’re incredibly excited to see all of it take shape. Mission Rock is well positioned to play a role in the larger revitalization of San Francisco.”
