Shopping center planned for Candlestick site

SAN FRANCISCO — Candlestick Park will become the site of a 500,000-square-foot "urban outlet" shopping center under a new agreement announced Monday between home builder Lennar Corp. and retail developer Macerich.

The mall, at an estimated cost of more than $200 million, will be designed as a pedestrian-friendly retail anchor for a $1 billion development that will eventually include 6,000 homes and create more than 3,000 jobs, the San Francisco Chronicle reported (http://bit.ly/1vkjPUC ).

The project would feature neighborhood retailers, restaurants, an African-diaspora-themed marketplace, movie theaters, a performance venue and a hotel. It also would include rental and for-sale homes, according to Lennar. Unlike most outlet centers, Candlestick Point will be dense, with underground parking, and housing and entertainment above the stores.

"It's a very urban kind of concept — rather different from a typical outlet center," said Kofi Bonner, president of Lennar's San Francisco division.

The retail center, slated to open in 2017, would serve the thousands of residences that are being built both at Candlestick Point and up the hill on the former Hunters Point Shipyard property. Between the two properties, the Shipyard and Candlestick Point, up to 12,000 housing units would be built over the next 10 to 20 years.

Candlestick Park — where the city's beloved Giants and 49ers celebrated some of their greatest triumphs — closed in August after more than 50 years.

Demolition of the storied venue is expected to begin this winter.

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Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com