Dogpatch's Waterfront Is Filling In Before Pier 70's Towers Do

What happens to 28 acres of shipyard waterfront when the apartments and offices planned for it are still years away? At the east end of Dogpatch, small local operators have moved in first.

Brookfield, the Pier 70 developer, has not built new housing or office space there since the pandemic. As of July, it hoped to break ground on its first apartment and office building in 2027. In the same report, the Chronicle said Brookfield was asking to raise the site's planned housing by about 28%, from 2,150 units to 2,750. Those numbers describe a future Pier 70. Today, the waterfront is filled by a bakery, a brewery, a history museum, a racquet club and an outdoor festival lot. Most of them sit under one roof, and their hours fit together into a full weekend.

The building that filled up while the site waited

Building 12 was long vacant. By July it was 90% leased, according to the Chronicle, which said cult-favorite baker Breadbelly and local brewer Standard Deviant were "drawing steady foot traffic." The Potrero View called it a football-field-sized former ship fabrication space. All of the businesses below share one address, 1070 Maryland Street.

The tenants are an unusual mix for a building waiting on a large development. Bay Padel runs indoor padel and pickleball courts. Pier 70's tenant directory lists an expansion "Coming Fall 2026" that adds four outdoor padel courts and seven pickleball courts next to the indoor club. The directory also marks 3rd Street Creative Artery as "Now Open" and describes it as a space for art, poetry, creativity and community. Two venture capital firms, Monograph and General Catalyst, have signed leases. General Catalyst will take the entire third floor in 2027.

The clearest sign of how the interim is working is the newest tenant in Suite 2.35.

A museum on a developer's discount

The Pier 70 Time Machine is a 4,000-square-foot history museum for Potrero Hill and Dogpatch. The Potrero View reported that it was "made possible by a below-market lease from Brookfield Properties." So the developer whose towers are on hold is subsidizing the neighborhood's archive in the building it already owns. The museum is a 50/50 partnership between the Bethlehem Shipyard Museum and the Potrero Hill Archives Project. Peter Linenthal of the Archives Project and Bill Perez of the Shipyard Museum announced it last fall at the 26th annual Potrero Hill & Dogpatch History Night. That event drew more than 350 people to Building 12, the largest crowd in its history.

The museum soft-opened in July and held its grand opening September 11 through 13. Inside are a 24-foot "10,000-Year History Wall," a Ramaytush Ohlone Cultural Display, an exhibit called Life and Death on Irish Hill, a Bob Hayes photographic retrospective, and archives on Union Iron Works and Bethlehem Steel. The museum also offers free private, curator-led tours outside public hours. Book them through [email protected].

The next big date is Potrero Hill History Night on November 7, 2026, in Building 12. The museum says the evening will include historical presentations, rare archival displays and community stories.

When the building is actually open

Building 12's tenants keep very different hours. Laid side by side, they show when the building has the most going on at once.

All four are open at the same time only from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. In that window you can buy a pastry before Breadbelly closes, spend an hour on the history wall, and still be at Standard Deviant with the whole afternoon left. Friday evening is the other overlap. The museum's 5-to-8 p.m. hours fall inside the brewery's Friday hours, so you can see the Bob Hayes photographs and get a pint in the same visit. Monday through Thursday the museum is closed for research and archive work, and the brewery doesn't open until Wednesday, so early weekdays are mostly bakery and courts.

The pier's other two edges

Building 12 is the middle of this waterfront. Two other spots fill in its north and south ends.

To the north, Chula Cafe opened Saturday, September 12, at 701 Illinois Street. It's in a newly renovated YMCA storefront facing Crane Cove Park. Owners Mayra Bracamontes and Adrian Betanzos serve coffee from her family's farm in Tapachula, Chiapas. Her great-grandfather shipped his first bag of beans from that farm to San Francisco in 1871. The couple sold their blends online and in local stores for several years before opening a shop. They roast at Ikon Coffee in Potrero Hill. The menu includes a cardamom-spiced Chula Latte and Mexican hot chocolate with toasted marshmallows. Among the blends is the Gentle, a varietal with 66 percent less caffeine than standard Arabica. Conchas are on the counter, and sandwiches come from Chiotras Grocery. Most seating is in a small concrete courtyard. Gazetteer SF visited on the cafe's fifth day and found the pavement already covered in chalk drawings from buckets left out for kids, with firefighters, new parents, founders and UCSF medical workers in a steady line. The owners told the paper they had spent many birthday parties at Crane Cove watching the YMCA renovation and hoping for a spot of their own there.

To the south, the land behind Pier 70's 22nd Street entrance is becoming Elevation Sky Park, an entertainment venue run by Sean Ahearn. The plan calls for three geodesic projection domes holding 200 to 1,250 guests each, with concerts, film screenings and shows inspired by the Beatles, Pink Floyd, the Grateful Dead and Daft Punk. The domes are behind schedule. Ahearn told the Chronicle that tariffs and the war in Iran made it too costly to build them in Europe and ship them over. Production moved to a manufacturer in Oregon, though some specialized parts still come from Europe. The venue held its first event anyway. On September 19, RASA World held Pier Play there, an all-day festival headlined by BLOND:ISH. In July, Ahearn's backup plan was to put immersive LED screens in tents if the domes weren't ready. We couldn't find any reporting on which setup was used or any announced date for a second event.

The Port of San Francisco is also making plans along this stretch. The Potrero View reported in July that the Port had hired GHD to prepare demolition plans for the damaged Eureka Drydock and Drydock No. 2 at Piers 68 to 70. That is still planning work, and nothing has been taken down.

Dates on the waterfront calendar

The next openings and milestones here run from next month to next year. Each was announced separately.

• November 7, 2026. Potrero Hill History Night in Building 12, hosted by the Pier 70 Time Machine.
• Fall 2026. Bay Padel's outdoor courts, as posted in the Pier 70 directory.
• Early 2027. Wrecking Ball Coffee founder Trish Rothgeb hopes to open a Dogpatch roasting facility, per the SF Standard. The address has not been announced.
• 2027. General Catalyst moves onto Building 12's third floor. In July, Brookfield said it hoped to break ground on Pier 70's first apartment and office building the same year.

The last item would change the waterfront the most, and its date is the least certain. Until then, the waterfront at the end of 22nd Street is open daily from 8 a.m. at Breadbelly, and from noon to 4 p.m. on weekends at the Time Machine.

How Pier 70's next phase settles in will shape the blocks around Crane Cove and Building 12 for years. If you'd like to talk through what this waterfront means for a home you own nearby, The Golden Gate Group would be glad to help. Schedule a 15-minute consultation.