Brookfield adds 600 units at Pier 70 to make the math work
A live case study in what it now takes to get a big San Francisco waterfront project across the financing line.
Brookfield wants to build 600 more market-rate apartments at its Pier 70 waterfront project in San Francisco’s Dogpatch, and the reason is the one every developer recognizes right now: the deal did not pencil as designed. The proposed changes lift density and height while trimming the affordable share, a live illustration of what it takes to move a large California project from stalled to shovel-ready.
Why it matters
Pier 70 is a 28-acre entitlement that has sat largely dormant while construction costs, rates and rents refused to cooperate. Brookfield’s fix is to squeeze more revenue-generating units onto the same land. That is the tradeoff cities across the country are quietly accepting: allow more market-rate density, or watch approved projects stay on paper. For developers, the tell is in the framing. A modest bump in units is what separates a project “on the edge of penciling,” in the words of Brookfield’s development lead, from one that finally clears its return hurdle.
The numbers
The plan raises market-rate units from 2,150 to 2,750, about a 28 percent increase, and lifts maximum building heights from 70 to 90 feet, the ceiling allowed under the 2015 voter-approved framework. The first phase grows from 575 to 700 units, with the first market-rate building gaining roughly 70 apartments to reach 350. The count of affordable units stays flat, which drops the affordable share from about 30 percent to roughly 20 percent of a larger total. Brookfield is targeting a 2027 groundbreaking and is seeking approval for the changes now.
What’s next
The entitlement body has to weigh more housing overall against a thinner affordability percentage, the same math that is reshaping San Francisco’s Prop M office pipeline. If Brookfield gets the density, a 2027 start on one of the city’s largest waterfront sites becomes plausible. Watch how the affordable-share cut lands politically; it is the variable that decides whether other stalled San Francisco megaprojects follow the same playbook.
On the record
Primary record
- Our coverageThe tradeoff Brookfield is seeking, more market-rate density to hit a pro forma, is the same pressure reshaping San Francisco's Prop M office allocations we covered on July 15.Read our earlier story →
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