New SF hotels, WeWork-backed waterfront school among ideas for historic piers

New ferry docks are under construction at the Ferry Building in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Aug. 31, 2018. The docks are raised significantly higher than the existing ones to compensate for rising sea levels. less New ferry docks are under construction at the Ferry Building in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Aug. 31, 2018. The docks are raised significantly higher than the existing ones to compensate for rising sea ... more Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle 2018 Buy photo Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle 2018 Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close New SF hotels, WeWork-backed waterfront school among ideas for historic piers 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

Developer Simon Snellgrove has an idea: A new 65-room boutique hotel just south of the Ferry Building.

The problem: Hotels are illegal on Port of San Francisco land unless voters authorize them.

Snellgrove’s concept is one of 52 responses received by the port to revitalize 13 historic waterfront piers that dot the city’s scenic Embarcadero.

For the past three years, the port has sought public uses to bring new life for the piers, some of which were built over a century ago. The projects have big financial hurdles, requiring millions of dollars in renovations to withstand future earthquakes and sea level rise. But previous projects like the renovated Ferry Building and AT&T Park are a testament to the public’s love — and the lucrative business — of waterfront development.

The port received a diverse mix of ideas, including basketball and tennis courts, art galleries, an Italian Innovation Hub, and an International House of Prayer For Children. Boston Properties, the city’s biggest office owner and majority owner of Salesforce Tower, said it was open to operating nonprofit, maker and research space.

“I think the port’s doing a really good job here,” said Snellgrove, a principal at Pacific Waterfront Partners. “They’ve had a three-year update of the waterfront plan. They’ve engaged the community in a series of thorough meetings.”

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Pacific Waterfront Partners and Portman Holdings have pitched a one-story glass addition and renovation of the former U.S. Agriculture Building at 101 The Embarcadero. The result would be a small hotel with a direct view of the Bay Bridge that would be steps from BART and ferry service. An alternate plan calls for 60,000 square feet of office space that includes a glass addition.

Snellgrove estimates that the hotel project would cost $100 million to $150 million, a staggering cost of $1.5 million or more per room. Those expenses include raising the Agriculture Building by eight feet to protect against sea level rise.

Snellgrove said another building at One Ferry Plaza could be converted to a conference area and help subsidize the hotel. Snellgrove’s design team includes the prominent architecture firm Foster + Partners.

Separately, Chicago hospitality firm AJ Capital Partners has submitted a concept that includes hotel rooms, restaurants, event and maker space, and a spa spanning seven piers.

Both hotels projects would require ballot measure approval, and opposition is already gathering.

Political activist Jon Golinger ran a 2013 campaign that killed Snellgrove’s 8 Washington townhome project, burying it with a ballot measure and lawsuits. The 13-story housing project would have created a “Wall on the Waterfront,” opponents said.

Golinger said Tuesday that Snellgrove's hotel project was also incompatible with the port’s goals, and he would wage another campaign to kill the project if it moves forward.

“What is critical is that thoughtful planning, the waterfront's needs and what will serve the public best drive what projects are selected by the port — not just which developers have the most political juice, the best-connected lobbyists or promise the port the most money as has been too often the case with the port in the past,” Golinger said.

The port also has concerns over hotels.

“We did not ask for hotel use,” said Rebecca Benassini, the port’s assistant deputy director of waterfront development. “It has a significant additional hurdle that other uses don’t have.”

Snellgrove said he wasn’t committed to the hotel.

“We’re not proposing a hotel. We’re saying these are ideas. We’re trying to get consensus now from the neighbors and the stakeholders.”

Snellgrove had an easier time at Piers 1½, 3 and 5, which brought in tenants like Bloomberg LP and the restaurant Hard Water after renovations began in 2001. Pacific Waterfront Partners sold control of the project for $103 million in 2016.

Pacific Waterfront Partners and Portman Holdings also have a $400 million concept for Piers 15 to 12. The mixed-use project calls for a 230,000-square-foot educational center, 16,000 square feet of cultural facilities for nonprofit theaters and dance groups, 20,000 square feet of dining and retail space, and a 6,000-foot workforce training center

“This is part of retraining people from the blue-collar industries to help them advance,” Snellgrove said. “This is very much aimed at affirmative action to help underserved communities enter the tech world.”

The co-working behemoth WeWork has agreed to manage the facilties. WeWork declined to comment, citing the early stage of the concept.

The port will hold public hearings on the ideas over next two months. It plans to start issuing request for qualifications, which will lead to the selection of partners, in the second quarter of 2019, Benassini said.

“They’re key sites,” Benassini said. “There’s so much public interest.”

Roland Li is a Chronicle staff writer. Email: roland.li@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rolandlisf