[Pedestrian]

Giants’ Mission Rock megaproject is taking shape across from Oracle Park
John King
Jan. 1, 2021 Updated: Jan. 4, 2021 4:53 p.m.

. . . After nearly a year of site preparation, construction crews have started on what will be two residential towers and two full-block commercial buildings, as well as new city streets and a 5-acre waterfront park . . . .

Demolition of the northern half of the parking lot began last January . . . . (and) proceeded steadily, attracting little attention until last month, when the first piles began being pounded into what was a natural marsh before it was filled with soil and debris to create a railyard in the late 1800s.

If all goes well, a 23-story residential tower should open on Third Street near the Lefty O’Doul Bridge by the end of 2022, along with the shoreline park and a 13-story office block that Visa already has leased as its headquarters-to-be. Another residential tower and office building should follow within months.

The pandemic has not caused the developers — the Giants and Tishman Speyer — to make any major revisions to the designs of the first four buildings, although newer renderings emphasize the outdoor terraces that already were included by the architects. But some interior features have been tweaked to reassure potential tenants who might be wary of, say, the possibility of infections in shared spaces . . . .

Mission Bay has been criticized for its often-stodgy architecture and the dormant feel of many blocks.

The goal with Mission Rock, developers say, is to mix things up. Offices share blocks with housing towers, for instance. Building designs will be more varied than in Mission Bay as well, including a residential high-rise in the first phase by Chicago architect Jeanne Gang, whose tightly wound Mira tower near the Embarcadero is one of the skyline’s most distinctive new sights.

For now, the focus is on such construction basics as driving the piles that in many cases will go deeper than the height of the buildings they eventually support. Road beds are being prepared with an unusual lightweight concrete to keep streets from sagging into the fill, a problem that has plagued some parts of Mission Bay . . . .

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/...o-15839330.php