{"id":139400,"date":"2026-01-18T22:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T22:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/139400\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T22:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T22:01:11","slug":"sausalito-seeks-business-to-revive-run-down-dock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/139400\/","title":{"rendered":"Sausalito seeks business to revive run-down dock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sausalito will soon be looking for an entrepreneur to upgrade a deteriorating bulkhead on the waterfront.<\/p>\n

The structure is a rundown dock and several decrepit slips in shallow water near the Turney Street dock, the city\u2019s only public access to Richardson Bay.<\/p>\n

At its meeting on Jan. 6, the City Council instructed city planners to draft a short-term request for proposals to remodel the bulkhead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is real interest in a pilot project,\u201d said Vice Mayor Melissa Blaustein. \u201cI\u2019m just wondering, is there a reason why we are attaching the overarching larger RFP to the pilot project?\u201d<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s consultants, Anchor QEA, are designing upgrades for the Turney Street dock and neighboring bulkhead. Officials hope to find a business willing to upgrade the bulkhead by summer. The preliminary improvements would be integrated into the overall project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis RFP represents what I call an innovative approach,\u201d said Brandon Phipps, planning director and assistant city manager. \u201cA public-private partnership where the selected party would fund the design, construction and operation of improvements while the city retains ownership and generates lease revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phipps said the project has three phases. The first phase is placing a business at the bulkhead. The second phase is incorporating the improvements into the overall redesign of the dock area.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhase three is a long-term business operation that aligns with the city\u2019s vision for maritime character, public access and environmental stewardship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To move ahead, Phipps said the council needs to pass a resolution declaring the shoreline property would only be used for a public purpose and decide on the duration of initial and long-term leases. The council \u201cshould more clearly articulate what the city expects in return, both financially and in terms of public benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilmember Jill Hoffman asked Phipps whether the owner of a neighboring marina has given up on long-discussed plans to remodel the bulkhead. He has, Phipps said.<\/p>\n

\"UnusedUnused docks float at the Humboldt bulkhead near Turney Street in Sausalito, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Alan Dep\/Marin Independent Journal)<\/p>\n

During the public comment period, local business interests praised the efforts to renovate the dock complex.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a great project,\u201d said Curtis Havel, Clipper Yacht Club harbormaster and Sausalito Sustainable Waterfront Association member. \u201cThis is a huge opportunity to spark that sense of business and commerce along the city\u2019s waterfront.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a difficult thing to do, but we could be bringing in people from all over the Bay Area into Sausalito,\u201d said Adrian Brinton. \u201cIt\u2019ll be a long process, but I\u2019m super excited this is getting started.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to see us move forward with the RFP, at least for the pilot,\u201d said Blaustein, opening the council discussion. She hoped the more limited RFP could be issued soon so a new business could open up this summer. \u201cAny new business that wants to be on the waterfront doesn\u2019t want to miss the peak season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilmember Joan Cox, a lawyer who specializes in government operations, took the lead on answering Phipps\u2019 technical questions. She endorsed city planners drafting the resolution, and suggested drafting an RFP for this summer and a longer-term one.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Ian Sobieski said including fewer demands in the pilot\u2019s RFP would make the site more attractive to entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we overly buttonhole it, then we might eliminate respondents,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mayor Steven Woodside said any RFP should acknowledge and preserve the city\u2019s property rights on land and under water.<\/p>\n

\u201cI prefer to see the RFP say no interference with the existing rights of way,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause someone is going to argue, hey, I should be able to hop out on the docks and jump across and get through that way, etc. I know there\u2019s sensitivity to the docks themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re all on the same page,\u201d Phipps said. \u201cThis has been excellent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA man gets in a dinghy from the Turney Street dock near the Humboldt bulkhead, background, in Sausalito, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Alan Dep\/Marin Independent Journal)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sausalito will soon be looking for an entrepreneur to upgrade a deteriorating bulkhead on the waterfront. The structure…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[7,181,23,992,100,180,993,266,101,103,102,3624,3625,104,106,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-139400","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-marin-county","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-newsletter","14":"tag-north-bay","15":"tag-northern-california","16":"tag-san-francisco","17":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","18":"tag-san-francisco-news","19":"tag-sausalito","20":"tag-sausalito-city-council","21":"tag-sf","22":"tag-sf-headlines","23":"tag-sf-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}