San Francisco Marina residents 'appalled' by Safeway tower plan

[Auggie]

San Francisco Chronicle / 12-8-2025

The audacious proposal to convert a Marina District Safeway into a 25-story, two-tower, U-shaped apartment complex with a jagged gray wall resembling bricks on one facade and nearly 800 apartments was heaped with scorn and mockery in the waterfront San Francisco neighborhood on Thursday, even by local residents and elected officials who typically back the “build, baby, build” agenda popular with the YIMBY movement.

Marina Community Association President Eric Kingsbury, who was endorsed by YIMBY Action when he ran for assembly delegate, said, “We need a lot more housing in the neighborhood,” but that the scale of the project, and the fact that it would require the Marina’s only grocery store to shutter for an undisclosed span of time, “blindsided the community.”

“It’s out of scale with the neighborhood and the area,” he said. “One of the nice things about the Marina is it’s low-slung. It’s walkable. It feels like a village separate from the city in many ways. And along comes this behemoth right on the waterfront.”

SNIP

Both Supervisor Stephen Sherrill and Mayor Daniel Lurie, who each have strong support in the YIMBY community, blasted the proposal, with a spokesperson for the mayor accusing the developer of “trying to sneak in a project before our plan takes effect,” referring to Lurie’s “Family Zoning” plan, which the Board of Supervisors approved Tuesday but has yet to take effect.

Link (paywall): https://eedition.sfchronicle.com/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=02cae394-b4a1-4e8a-b808-9097ddeb831c&

“Outrageous,” “cartoonish” and “a publicity stunt,” says Sherrill (from the link).

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I believe proposals like these are intentionally ridiculous so that when scaled-back plans are re-submitted the developer's hope is they might be met with relief and more acceptance.

[quaint]

1. You are, I'm certain, correct that they count on "but it could have been so much worse."

[cbabe]

2. Godzilla Safeway came to my village neighborhood. Their plan was exactly that: it could've been worse... but not by much.

[kimbutgar]

3. That Safeway is very popular and one of the few large grocery stores in that area

There was a Safeway nearby on Bay Street that closed a few years ago and only a Trader Joe’s would be the nearest market for that neighborhood. I think the pushback of those residents of Marina losing their Safeway will be vicious.

There is also plans to do the same at the Safeway down at the Beach.