Mission Bay, possibly the least-loved neighborhood in San Francisco, just got a brand-new amenity across McCovey Cove from Oracle Park: a five-acre green space called China Basin Park.
A project some 15 years in the making, it’s the focal point of a larger redevelopment effort that’s gradually transforming former parking lots into a mixed-use project called Mission Rock.
At the mouth of Mission Creek, China Basin’s hilly lawn rises to 16 feet above the bike-and-pedestrian path that now hugs the shoreline of San Francisco Bay, connecting downtown and the South of Market neighborhoods with Mission Bay and Dogpatch. The relocated statue of power-hitting first-baseman Willie McCovey, who played with the San Francisco Giants for 19 seasons, stands beside the park’s freshly laid sand beach.
In the company of dignitaries—and McCovey’s daughter—at the ceremonial ribbon-cutting on Thursday morning, Mayor London Breed touted the renaissance of a neighborhood that was once a derelict railyard and which many observers have derided as relatively soulless—ugly, even.
Mission Rock is increasingly full of new residents and new restaurants, Breed said. "It's rapidly becoming the hippest, hottest, coolest neighborhood in San Francisco.”
Noting how long it took to complete the project, the mayor referenced her wild youth at Kelly’s Mission Rock, now the oyster-centric Mission Rock Resort.
“That used to be the place we used to party when I first turned 21,” the mayor added. “So that just shows you how far back I go with this area.”
Port of San Francisco Director Elaine Forbes called the park’s creation a “very complicated land-use deal,” owing to the public-private partnership behind it. China Basin is not under the jurisdiction of the city’s Recreation and Park Department but rather grew out of a collaboration between the port, the Giants and real-estate firm Tishman Speyer. Additionally, financial services giant Visa is set to move into its new headquarters next to the park later this year.
Larry Goldzband, head of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, said the park’s design is ecologically advanced, providing the maximum feasible public access to the bay. Conceived by the urban design studio SCAPE, it’s meant to be flexible, accommodating raucous game day crowds, picnickers and people looking for a little peace and quiet.
China Basin is only the latest in a long string of green spaces that have opened in San Francisco over the past few years. In 2022, the rigorously landscaped Tunnel Tops was unveiled in the Presidio, giving visitors to that former military base expansive views of the Golden Gate Bridge, while in Russian Hill, Francisco Park turned an old reservoir into a 4.5-acre jewel.
About a mile south of China Basin, the forthcoming India Basin Waterfront Park will reclaim another stretch of the city’s Central Waterfront when it opens in 2026.
None of those urban oases can boast an amenity unique to China Basin Park, however. “We have something that the neighborhoods of North Beach and South Beach do not have,” San Francisco Giants Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer Jack Bair said. “A beach.”
Correction: This story was updated with the proper spelling of San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission Executive Director Larry Goldzband and San Francisco Giants Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer Jack Bair's names.