Ismael Tablada was worried.

Ever since a big electric-company complex closed in 2015 next to where he works in San Francisco’s Mission District, the block had become thick with camps of homeless people. Then city leaders decided to turn the old complex at South Van Ness Avenue and Cesar Chavez Street into a Navigation Center homeless shelter.

Great, Tablada thought. Now we’ll be the new Skid Row.

What happened was just the opposite — the camps vanished soon after the Navigation Center opened three weeks ago. On Monday, Tablada got his first good look inside it and marveled at the change it has brought to the neighborhood where he has been a sales representative at the Auto Zone supply store for many years.

“I was wondering what happened to all those encampments that were all around this building just a month ago, and now I know,” Tablada said. “They came here, and it really looks like now they have a better shot at life. They really needed professional help.”

The 120-bed center opened June 29 after city Public Works crews rehabilitated the old McMillan Electric Co. at a cost of $600,000, and since then city street outreach counselors have brought in 89 people. Like the city’s other three Navigation Centers, this one is geared toward long-term chronically homeless people. They can come in with partners, pets and all their belongings, and they can come and go 24/7.

Clients, as they’re called, can stay at least 60 days while case managers work intensively toward getting them housed and connected with whatever counseling they need. The new center is being run on contract with the St. Vincent de Paul Society, which also operates the city’s biggest traditional shelter, the Multi-Service Center South at Fifth and Bryant streets. The Downtown Streets Team and Brilliant Corners nonprofits help with housing and job placements.

Inside, the reconstructed Navigation Center building is a study of muted colors, airy skylights — original, from the electric complex — and big, roomy common areas. It’s all designed to be an oasis of serenity and respite, said program Director Lessy Benedith, “a place where people can really work on moving forward.”

That serenity is now reflected outside, where there are no homeless camps for blocks around.

“It took us a little while to learn that we could actually stay inside like this after being outside so long, but now we really appreciate it,” said Betty Mowery, 50, who with her 45-year-old boyfriend, Matthew Billy, was among the first to move in. “It’s a very nice place to be, to figure things out.”

Mayor Ed Lee visited the center for the first time Monday to see how things were going, and when Mowery told him she was one semester short of a bachelor’s degree in sociology, he lit up.

“We want to help you any way we can, whether it’s training or housing,” he said. “I know on the streets survival is so challenging.”

Back to Gallery New Navigation Center opens; nearby tent camps dwindle 4 1 of 4 Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle 2 of 4 Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle 3 of 4 Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle 4 of 4 Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle







“I’m going to work hard on this,” Mowery said.

Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who represents the area and held several community meetings to field complaints about the new center before it opened, said she feels vindicated.

“I really wanted this center, and I think the proof is in the pudding,” she said as she toured the place with the mayor. “It’s working — amazingly. The streets right around here, for the first time in a long time, are free of tents and needles, and people are getting a break from the harsh reality of the streets.”

Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com