San Francisco Neighborhoods · Central Waterfront
Central Waterfront
Transition zoneSan Francisco's working bayshore, where 170 years of shipbuilding meet a new waterfront of parks, lofts, and a beer hall under crane shadows.
- Historic Pier 70 shipyard setting
- New Crane Cove Park on the bay
- Emerging Pier 70 mixed-use district
- T-Third light rail to downtown
On the map
Open Central Waterfront on the map →The story
This stretch of the central-eastern waterfront grew up around the Union Iron Works, the shipyard Peter Donahue's firm established at Potrero Point in the 19th century and which built the battleship USS Oregon and early U.S. Navy submarines. Charles Schwab's Bethlehem Steel bought the yard in the early 1900s, and during World War II Pier 70 built and repaired thousands of naval vessels. Commercial ship repair continued in the two floating dry docks until the operator walked away in 2017, leaving them idle. The Port of San Francisco opened the seven-acre Crane Cove Park here in 2020, and Brookfield's Pier 70 redevelopment is restoring historic structures like the WWII-era Building 12 while adding housing, parks, and arts and maker space.
Things most people don’t know
Union Iron Works
The Pier 70 shipyard traces to the 19th-century Union Iron Works at Potrero Point, later Bethlehem Steel, which built the battleship USS Oregon and some of the Navy's first submarines.
Idle dry docks
Pier 70's two floating dry docks repaired ships for decades but have sat deserted since the operator left in 2017; the Port has budgeted to demolish the aging structures.
Crane Cove Park
Opened in 2020, this seven-acre Port park off Illinois Street has a sandy beach, lawns, a dog run, and two preserved shipyard cranes on the bay.
Building 12 reborn
Brookfield's Pier 70 project rehabilitated the WWII-era steel warehouse Building 12 into a market hall of makers, artists, food, and a taproom, the heart of the new district.
Pier 70 redevelopment
The Pier 70 plan adds roughly 3.6 million square feet of housing, commercial, arts, and light-industrial space plus new waterfront parks to the historic district.
Eating and drinking near Central Waterfront
Central Waterfront is primarily residential — these sit in Dogpatch.
Restaurants
- Piccino · 1001 Minnesota St
- Long Bridge Pizza Co. · 2347 3rd St
Bars
- Standard Deviant Brewing (Pier 70, Building 12) · 1070 Maryland St
- Dogpatch Saloon · 2496 3rd St
Getting around and getting care
Transit. T-Third light rail runs on Third Street with the 20th Street (Dogpatch) and 23rd Street stops; Muni buses 22-Fillmore and 48 serve the area.
Nearest hospital. Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, 1001 Potrero Ave (about 1.5 mi)
Thinking about Central Waterfront?
Send me an address and I will come back with its sun, wind and fog, what is under it, and what has closed on the block.