The new nonprofit is asking a judge to stall a controversial 800-unit planned development ahead of a city vote on the project next month.
Sep 16, 2026
Updated 3:20 pm PT
The Safeway location in San Francisco’s Marina District on July 23, 2026. A housing nonprofit has filed a suit against San Francisco and PG&E over a planned development on the site of the grocery store. (Nina Glick/KQED)
Opponents of a high-rise housing and commercial building proposal on the footprint of the Marina District’s Safeway have filed a lawsuit against San Francisco, their latest effort to stop the controversial development.
The YesAND Foundation, a new housing nonprofit in the city, along with four Marina District residents, allege that the city is unlawfully pushing the proposal through a streamlined approval process under a state housing law, Assembly Bill 2011, that it is not eligible to use.
The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Federal Court last week, also contends that the city exempted the project’s developer, Align Real Estate, from performing hazardous-waste assessments on the site.
“Neighborhood organizations followed the established process first,” said Lori Brooke, a member of YesAND and NeighborsUnited SF, a coalition of neighborhood businesses and organizations that also joined the suit.
The Safeway at 15 Marina Blvd. in San Francisco, where developer Align Real Estate has proposed 848 apartments.
(Courtesy of Arquitectonica)
Brooke said that residents have written to the planning and public health departments, and they spent months asking for an environmental assessment, all without success.
They turned to a legal suit after the city decided in August that the building plans from Align could move forward for approval through a ministerial process that skirts public hearings and environmental reviews, as long as certain criteria are met.
“We were not asking for a veto,” she said. “We were asking for proper review and a meaningful opportunity to be heard. When both are denied, the courts become the only option left.”
Last December, Align applied to demolish the Safeway at 11 and 15 Marina Blvd. and replace it with a two-tower mixed-use commercial and housing development.
The proposal was met with swift opposition from neighbors and has split local officials, some of whom say it would tower over the surrounding neighborhood and could obstruct Bay views. The 18-plus-story glass towers, right on the waterline of the affluent Marina District, would be especially stark. Erin Roach, the president of the Marina Community Association, previously told KQED that the building would be “roughly six times taller than anything around it.”
PG&E trucks sit inside a Mission District facility owned by the utility. (Sheraz Sadiq/KQED)
The legal challenge also accuses the city and PG&E, which operated a manufactured gas plant and steam electric plant on the site, of creating a public nuisance. It furthermore alleges negligence for failing to fully investigate or remediate contamination as a result of its former facilities’ operations.
The suit names Align, the city’s Planning and Public Health departments, PG&E and Safeway parent company Albertson’s.
A spokesperson for the city attorney’s office said it would review the complaint and respond in court once the office was served.
PG&E said in a statement that it had not yet reviewed the lawsuit.
The city is expected to vote on whether to approve Align’s proposal next month.