Giants’ high-rise development plan wins easy victory

(L-R) Giants CEO Larry Baer, vice president Jack Bair and director of development Fran Weld talk about the proposed development for Lot A, Monday, May 4, 2015, in San Francisco, Calif. (L-R) Giants CEO Larry Baer, vice president Jack Bair and director of development Fran Weld talk about the proposed development for Lot A, Monday, May 4, 2015, in San Francisco, Calif. Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 24 Caption Close Giants’ high-rise development plan wins easy victory 1 / 24 Back to Gallery

The San Francisco Giants’ bid to build a high-rise district on a parking lot across McCovey Cove from AT&T Park received emphatic voter support on Tuesday.

Three towers will be allowed to rise 240 feet under Proposition D, compared with the one-story height limit that covers most of the 28-acre site. Buildings facing the bay will have a 120-foot height limit. There also will be eight acres of parks, mostly along Mission Creek, and the team has pledged to include space with below-market rents for nonprofit groups and arts organizations as well as conventional office and retail space.

Prop. D received 73.3 percent of all votes counted on election day, while 26.6 percent of voters opposed the measure.

The Giants were selected by the Port of San Francisco to develop the site, now largely a parking lot, in 2009. Heights were whittled back after last year’s Proposition B, which requires voter approval of all proposals on port land that involve changes to the height limits. The team has committed to pricing 40 percent of the project’s 1,500 or so apartments at levels affordable to lower- and middle-income residents, and renovating Pier 48 as a new facility for Anchor Brewing.

“People like the mix — Anchor Steam, parks, affordable housing,” said Jack Bair, the team executive who has led the development push for what the Giants call Mission Rock, next to the Mission Bay redevelopment district. “There’s height, but it fits in with the Mission Bay context.”

Bair called the results of Tuesday’s vote “beyond our expectations.”

The team’s campaign included tables at street fairs as well as visits to neighborhood groups and a whopping 14 pages of paid advertisements in the voter information pamphlet. “We’ve been all over town, really doing our best to be visible,” Bair said. “This gives us tremendous momentum.”

While voters approved the overall size of the project, specific buildings will need approval of the Port Commission. Bair estimated that it will take at least a year to complete the environmental impact report and seek approvals.

The only organized opposition to Prop. D came from the local chapter of the Sierra Club and a handful of neighborhood groups. Its supporters included former Mayor Art Agnos and former mayoral candidates Tom Ammiano and John Avalos — all leaders of the city’s progressive faction — as well as Mayor Ed Lee, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and the San Francisco Parks Alliance.

John King is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jking@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @johnkingSFchron