Pier 15 Facts of Interest

Basic Facts – Pier 15

• Opens Spring 2013




• 330,000 square feet of indoor/outdoor space




• Triples the exhibition space




• Doubles the number of classrooms




• Triples the capacity for teacher development




• Quadruples meeting space




• There are 1700 piles under Pier 15.




• Approximately 70 new steel pilings will be added, 30 of which are giant.




• Pier 15 was first built in 1915 and rebuilt in 1931.

Pier 17

• Built in 1912, Pier 17 is the third-oldest pier on the San Francisco waterfront.




• Pier 17, at approximately 110,000 square feet in footprint, provides 2.5 acres for future expansion.




• Pier 17 has the last remaining original fog horn.

The Pier 15 / 17 campus

• The total Pier 15/17 campus covers nine acres of waterfront.




• Raw space is almost five times larger than the Exploratorium’s current home at the Palace of Fine Arts.




• It is the length of one New York City block.




• The Exploratorium project will add 1.5 acres of publicly accessible open space to the waterfront.




• Over 8,000 square feet of income-generating space — a bayside and plaza-side café, as well as a publicly accessible Exploratorium store – will benefit the nonprofit museum.

Educational Impact

• Being at the hub of public transit increases Exploratorium accessibility and educational impact on teachers, kids and the community.




• Teacher capacity almost triples for regional and national teacher professional development programs — like the Teacher Institute.




• Classroom space doubles.




• A multi-purpose, 200-seat theater provides space for lectures, conferences, performances.




• Partnership with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), the first of many strategic partnerships, brings climate and ocean sciences to Exploratorium audiences in a new way.

Construction

• Rehabilitation is in compliance with the Secretary of Interior’s standards for historic buildings.




• The deck between Piers 15 and 17 is being demolished from east to west.




• Four to six barges 60 to 100 feet-long engaged in the construction effort.




• Is on time and on budget.

Project Team
EHDD

Wilson Meany Sullivan (WMS)

Nibbi Brothers General Contractors

KPM Consulting








Economic and Fiscal Impacts

• 900 jobs from construction over two years (direct, indirect, induced) – SF/ABAG Region
  
  
  
  • $300M short term economic impact from construction – SF/ABAG Region

  
  

  • $28M annual increase in permanent long-term economic impact to SF/CA

  
  

  • $1.4M net new total tax revenues to SF/CA

  
  

  
  

History

• San Francisco’s piers have served as centers of trade, transport and military logistics.




• Previous tenants included various shipping groups, steamship & navigation companies, tug & tow operators, industrial & office users, & a restaurant.




• During WWII, the piers were operated by the San Francisco Port of Embarkation (SFPE) for troops returning from the war.




• The SPFE was the principal U.S. Army operational center for the movement of supplies and soldiers to the Pacific theater during World War II.




• In 1955-56, Piers 15 and 17 were joined by a connecting wharf and adapted for the operation of trucking lines in addition to the Belt Railroad. (Exploratorium Pier 15 + 17 Reader, GLS Landscape Architecture, 11-24-04)




• Ghost graphic signs from Pier 15’s maritime history, uncovered in the construction, have been preserved in place on the eastern façade of Pier 15 – a portal to a bygone era.

Trivia

• There will be 35 types of glass.




• Planned number of carpet colors is 13.




• Planned number of paint colors is 41.




• Over six miles of dowels will connect the pier deck to the new concrete slab.




• Approximately 100 miles of rebar is being used in the construction.

See full press kit: Exploratorium Piers Construction Project and Sustainability Fact Sheet for additional information.