Developing San Francisco’s Waterfront in the Age of Sea-Level Rise

San Francisco Bay is projected to rise by one to two feet (0.3 to 0.6 m) by 2050 and as much as seven feet (2 m) by 2100. (Brookfield Properties) The Port of San Francisco’s 20-year, multibillion-dollar vision for the waterfront is designed to be adaptable to rising sea levels far into the future.ULI MEMBER–ONLY CONTENT: In the coming decades, San Francisco’s waterfront will be transformed. The Port of San Francisco owns 7.5 miles (12 km) of property along San Francisco Bay stretching from the famed tourist district at Fisherman’s Wharf down to India Basin in the city’s southeast corner. The north end is already bustling with tourists, office workers, and residents. But south of the Bay Bridge, the shoreline is dotted with surface parking lots and underused industrial zones—remnants of the