{"id":270810,"date":"2026-04-16T14:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T14:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/270810\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T14:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T14:15:09","slug":"plans-for-nearly-4000-homes-over-safeways-divide-bay-area-residents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/270810\/","title":{"rendered":"Plans for nearly 4,000 homes over Safeways divide Bay Area residents"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mock-up shows a curved, U-shaped tower<\/a> reaching 297 feet at points, with tiered terraces and a ground-floor grocery store. There are glass windows fronting the building, which is topped by a green wall and large deck with a smattering of trees. The colossus faces a cove filled with floating docks for boats. These are all parts of a redesigned\u00a0Marina District Safeway<\/a> that was proposed late last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The renderings are among the latest of five, massive mixed-use Safeway redevelopments trying to take root in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

The possibility of these projects coming to fruition is causing anxiety among residents, who are concerned the proposals are outsized and out of step with their surrounding neighborhoods. One local journalist called the Marina project \u201cinconceivable even to sci-fi futurists.<\/a>\u201d Mayor Daniel Lurie and city supervisors have spoken out against the development<\/a>\u00a0as well.<\/p>\n

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\"Cars<\/p>\n

Cars are parked outside the Safeway in San Francisco\u2019s Marina neighborhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image via Google Street View<\/p>\n

These sentiments were palpable on April 1 when a couple dozen residents lined the sidewalk in front of the comparatively quaint Marina Safeway\u2019s parking lot to protest the proposal to level the 67-year-old grocery store<\/a> and build the 25-story behemoth, which would graze the state\u2019s height limit<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prominent local developer Align Real Estate<\/a> is sponsoring the redevelopment. Through a partnership with Safeway, it aims to bring 790 apartments, retail and an underground parking garage to the affluent waterfront neighborhood. The project recently cleared an important hurdle when the city deemed it eligible<\/a> for streamlined approval amid a statewide housing affordability crisis<\/a>. The city has to make a final decision on the development by August.<\/p>\n

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Neighbors like Erin Roach, the vice president of the Marina Community Association<\/a>, are worried about the environmental impacts of such a high-density project, given known hazards in the area<\/a> such as a liquefaction zone, toxic soil and already failing infrastructure. She is troubled by the lack of oversight that\u2019s coming as a result of the state\u2019s pressure on cities to fast-track many new housing projects.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A rendering of the 11-15 Marina Boulevard project in San Francisco.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Courtesy of SF Planning\/Rendering by Arquitectonica<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re asking them [Align and Safeway] to do is just scale this down,\u201d Roach, who has lived in the Marina for 35 years, said in a phone interview with\u00a0SFGATE. She also takes issue with it being a luxury building. \u201cIt\u2019s like if people are hungry in San Francisco and someone comes to them with wagon loads of wagyu beef … and some people can qualify for getting that beef, but by and large, most people can\u2019t either afford it or they won\u2019t qualify for it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Safeway\u2019s housing push<\/p>\n

Safeway has made an aggressive push into real estate in the last several months after being previously reluctant<\/a> to build out its valuable land holdings. A past attempt<\/a> by Safeway to develop housing alongside a new grocery store in the Outer Mission failed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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In a December 2025 interview with the San Francisco Standard<\/a>, Align\u2019s founders wouldn\u2019t elaborate on how it swayed Safeway to develop the sites, but emphasized that their \u201crecord of financing and completing complex mixed-use housing projects sets them apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

In San Francisco alone, Align has introduced plans to build nearly 3,500 units of housing in the Marina, Bernal Heights, the Outer Richmond and the Fillmore District. To the south in San Mateo, Align submitted plans in early March to transform a Safeway along El Camino Real into a seven-story building with nearly 400 units of housing<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re proud to bring thousands of new homes to the Bay Area, including hundreds of affordable homes in neighborhoods that haven\u2019t seen affordable housing built in decades,\u201d said Align Principal David Balducci in a statement. \u201cHousing like this makes it possible for families, seniors, and young people to live in great neighborhoods close to jobs, transit, and opportunity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/p>\n

A rendering of the 11-15 Marina Boulevard project in San Francisco.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Courtesy of SF Planning\/Rendering by Arquitectonica<\/p>\n

Align did not answer SFGATE\u2019s questions about costs of projects, when construction could begin on any of the developments and more. Align has redeveloped other spaces for housing in San Francisco and in the Bay Area, including the Landing in Dogpatch<\/a> and Chorus<\/a> on Market Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Safeway could not be reached for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the city of San Mateo identified a Safeway at 1655 S. El Camino Real as a potential location for new housing, Lisa Taner of Concerned Citizens of San Mateo<\/a> never imagined it would actually be developed. But in March, Align filed an application to build a new ground-floor Safeway store, 396 multifamily residential units on the top floors and 643 parking spaces at the location. Some 55 of the units would be designated as affordable.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe jig is up,\u201d Taner told SFGATE in a phone interview. \u201cThe state of California is railroading multiuse, and we\u2019re all getting the shaft. … Our quality of life is going down the drain.\u201d<\/p>\n

She noted that it would be particularly painful to lose a grocery store, at least temporarily, since other grocers \u2014 Draeger\u2019s Market<\/a>,\u00a0Trag\u2019s Market<\/a> and\u00a0Mollie Stone\u2019s Markets \u2014 have closed for redevelopment in recent years. Zachary\u00a0Dahl, San Mateo\u2019s director of community development, said it is \u201creally important\u201d to the city that a grocery store remain at that location.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dahl noted that developers must next hold a community meeting with property owners who are within 1,000 feet of the site, then submit a formal application. San Mateo city staffers have yet to determine if the application will need to go through just the Planning Commission or if it\u2019ll need to go to the City Council for review as well.<\/p>\n

Support for developments<\/p>\n

Not everyone opposes the projects.<\/p>\n

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San Francisco YIMBY<\/a> started a letter campaign called \u201cThe Marina Safeway Proposal is Cool<\/a>\u201d to support the Marina project.<\/p>\n

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An exterior view of the Safeway in San Francisco\u2019s Marina neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Image via Yelp user Adam S. <\/p>\n

A March 4 poll<\/a> by FM3 Research of 411 residents in District 2, which includes the Marina, found that a slight majority (58%) support the Marina Safeway redevelopment. This is a small sample size though, as the district has roughly 35,000 residents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Leora Tanjuatco Ross, the California director for YIMBY Action<\/a>, said the Safeway projects are \u201can incredible testament to the power of state housing law to deliver for our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cCommercial corridors are the perfect place to build new housing, and to build a lot of it,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cThanks to years of advocacy at the state level to pass laws like AB 2011, housing proposals like these will bring thousands of homes to the Bay Area and make it easier and more affordable for people to live here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roach of the Marina pointed out that it\u2019s unfortunate that the conversation around building housing has become \u201cso black and white.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEither you\u2019re for every kind of housing, no matter what\u2026 or you\u2019re just anti-housing,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just silly.\u201d<\/p>\n

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