Companies aim to start building new Treasure Island marina in 2026

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A long-stalled plan to build a new marina at San Francisco’s Treasure Island has gained momentum with the formation of a partnership that will provide capital for the $25 million project, according to the companies involved.

Interest in modernizing and expanding the moorings at Clipper Cove dates to the 1990s, when the city acquired development rights from the U.S. Navy. Negotiations with the Navy over the transfer, an environmental review and the COVID-19 pandemic all dragged the project into the present yet to be started.

On Wednesday, the company leading the project, Kenwood Investments, announced a partnership with the current marina’s manager, Suntex Marina Investors, which will provide the money needed to get the project started by next June.

The new marina will replace 108 slips resting on wooden support pilings with 168 wider berths supported by steel pilings wrapped with high-density polyethylene to fight corrosion. A public dock for visitors will accommodate about 10 boats, according to planning documents from the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, which is involved in the permit process.

Boaters leasing slips at the current marina will have the first opportunity to secure new spaces. About 10% of the slips will be reserved for people living aboard their vessels. The spots will range in size from 45 to 80 feet, according to the developers.

Construction starting in June is expected to take two years. Work can only be done between June and November because of environmental restrictions. Kenwood Investments’ affiliate, Treasure Island Enterprises LLC, was granted a 66-year lease in 2019 to rebuild and operate the marina upon a unanimous vote by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, shortly before the pandemic derailed the previous timeline for getting it done.

Questions about paying for the project were raised over the past year that brought further doubt about the timeline for getting the marina built. But at a meeting of the Treasure Island Development Authority’s Board of Directors on Wednesday, Kenwood Investments representative Jay Wallace said the company’s proposal to partner with Dallas-based Suntex brought clarity to how the project would be funded.

Suntex senior investment manager Hampus Idsater told the development authority’s board the company was “honored” to be a partner on the project. The company said it is the largest marina operator in the country, with 95 under management, including 17 in California, four of them in Oakland. V. Fei Tsen, the president of the development authority’s board, said she was looking forward to seeing the project move forward and asked for a work schedule that would be amenable to the developers.

She said it was important to maintain public access to the marina and hoped the nonprofit Treasure Island Sailing Center would be accommodated at the new facility.

While acknowledging that the developers were investing significant money, Fei Tsen said the public was also contributing to the marina’s feasibility.

“The public — we — have invested several hundred million in the infrastructure that is on the landside that can also really make this marina possible,” she said. “We’ve got an incredible, beautiful promenade that we’re building for you.”

Fei Tsen said the public-private partnership could build new space for businesses, residences, arts and parks. The marina is considered a major component of the master redevelopment plan of Treasure Island. It calls for building 8,000 new residences, hundreds of thousands of square feet for retail space, and more than 300 acres of open space.

The developers are securing building permits for the project and will seek final approval from the development authority in coming months, according to a spokesperson for the companies.

“This will be an incredible addition to the recreational features that are an integral part of the plan to make Treasure Island a true treasure in the bay,” said Darius Anderson, Kenwood Investments’ chief executive officer, in a statement.

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