Harbor City Council voted 6-3 on Tuesday night to approve the Pier 9 redevelopment, ending an eighteen-month fight over what the last large parcel on the working waterfront should become. The vote came just after 11 p.m., after more than sixty residents spoke.
The plan, submitted by Tidewater Partners, calls for 340 apartments, a public market hall and a reconfigured ferry landing. What the council added at the last minute is the part developers did not want: a condition that at least 40 percent of the ground floor remain open to the public at no charge, enforceable through the city’s lease rather than a side agreement.
What changed overnight
Council member Dana Okafor, who had been counted as a no vote as recently as Monday, introduced the public access amendment and then voted yes. “If the pier is going to be private housing, the ground has to belong to everyone,” she said. Tidewater’s attorney called the condition “workable, if the city is reasonable about what counts as public.”
The deal returns to the council in April for a lease vote. Opponents, led by the Fishermen’s Cooperative, said they would use the time to push for a berth guarantee. Construction could begin as early as next fall.
