Barack Obama May Be Treasure Island's Only Hope

Not even a week into President-elect Barack Obama's, uh, president-electness, and his halo's already glowing over Treasure Island. While developer Wilson Meany Sullivan twiddles its thumbs waiting to build San Francisco's island eco-wonderland, the city's been hard at work negotiating with the federal government for a price to let the former Navy base go quietly. At the city's offer of about $40 million, plus 50 percent of future land profits, the feds aren't budging— thus dooming us to a neverending limbo of dragon boat races and the occasional concert. Enter the messiah president-elect, who will likely pounce on the opportunity to get the feds a few extra benjamins while putting the land into productive use to stimulate the economy. Said the city's economic development director: "It hasn’t been necessarily clear that the current administration’s priorities around closed military bases have been local economic development." Not necessarily, but... Yes! We! Can!
· City hoping for easier Treasure Island buy [SF Examiner]
· Treasure Island Revamp: A View From The Street [Curbed SF]
· Treasure Island Utopia Meets Real-World Bureaucracy [Curbed SF]
· Treasure Island Cops the Ferry Building's Style [Curbed SF]For more stories from Curbed SF, go to sf.curbed.com.