Ferry service part of infrastructure improvements coming to SF's Treasure Island
SAN FRANCISCO - In just a matter of months a new ferry service will be launching, taking passengers to and from Treasure Island. This is just part of the major changes coming to the island in the next few years.
For those who haven't been on the island recently, there are a lot of changes; including a new ferry landing and new homes under construction.
San Francisco's newest neighborhood is a work in progress. Already Treasure Island, in the middle of the Bay, boasts a new ferry landing, and soon regular service will get underway.
"January 1st, 17 round trips a day, start here," said Chris Meany from Wilson Meany and the Treasure Island Community Development. "We think it's going to be a game-changer both for keeping Treasure Island a special place but for continuing our great city's connection to the Bay."
The new ferry service is just one part of the infrastructure already being built like new roads, a new sewer system, and geotechnical work aimed at protecting the island against global warming.
$600 million so far, with a lot more work to go.
"It is important to us that we provide housing of all different types, over all different income levels, that there is a rich network of public transportation and parks," said Meany. "It's those things together that are going to make this the greatest new neighborhood in San Francisco."
Final plans seen in artist renderings call for more than 300 acres of open space and in the years to come the island will boast more than 8,000 new homes.
The first market rate homes on Yerba Buena Island are set to open next year, as is an affordable housing with more than 100 units set aside for veterans.
"So, this building is going to be affordable for homeless veterans, low income veterans," said Sherry Williams from One Treasure Island. "So, it has the moral imperative of being a former military base serving homeless veterans."
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Twenty more parcels are already under development for market-rate and below market-rate housing. The mayor says reviving Treasure Island, adding new homes and transit options like ferry service, will play a critical role in easing San Francisco's housing crisis.
"It's just amazing to see what this place is going to become for people, and how this place is going to really become alive again," said San Francisco Mayor London Breed.
Developers confirmed that the more than 2,000 people living on the island currently will be moved into the new housing as it's created. Eventually developers say there will be 18,000 people living on this island in just a matter of years.