How much is fair market value for the whole of Treasure Island?
The Navy has said $240 million, while in the effort to completely redevelop the former naval base as a sustainable pedestrian community, San Francisco says $11 million. And thus attempts to turn the island over to the City have stalled for years.
Now Mayor Gavin Newsom has flown to Washington D.C. to hammer out details with the Pentagon over a Treasure Island sale.
Hopes were raised after President Barack Obama was elected that the impasse would clear up, and that the president would simply gift San Francisco the naval base for the sake of moving the economy along. House Speaker and San Francisco resident Nancy Pelosi had even introduced a bill that would have required the government to hand over the island.
That didn't happen, but after the usual Washington to-and-fro, lawmakers ended up with a compromise idea: San Francisco would make a small payment up front and then pay the Navy more money later as profits from land sales and developments roll in.
Curbed SF contributed to this story.
