Port of San Francisco wants to reinvent Pier 29

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- With the city out of the running for the next America's Cup, the Port of San Francisco wants to reinvent Pier 29. The current recommendation would turn the pier into a marketplace similar to the world-renowned Ferry Building.

The clock tower's iconic, but millions of people flock to the Ferry Building for the food.

"It's great," one tourist said. "I come every time I'm in San Francisco,

Soon, customers might have another similar marketplace to explore at Pier 29.

The Port Commission wants to turn the currently empty pier into a new waterfront destination; capitalizing on visitors to Alcatraz landing at the soon-to-open cruise terminal.

"The waterfront's a great place," said one man. "It would be nice to have more stuff to go to down here."

Pier 29 is less than a mile away from the Ferry Building marketplace, and that poses some challenges.

"One of the questions they're going to have to answer is parking down here because the ferry building has no parking," said Bo Thompson, the general manager of the Ferry Building's wine merchant.

He supports the idea for a new marketplace, unless Pier 29 focuses on food.

"I'd like to think that we're going to have a lock on that so they're not going to do anything that's going to directly compete with what we're doing here," he said.

The port also owns the Ferry Building, so the planning director says there's strong incentive for Pier 29 to compliment rather than compete.

"We're hoping it's going to be additive," said Port of San Francisco Director Byron Rhett. "That's a goal and a challenge, but that's what we're trying to do."

A public information meeting to discuss Pier 29's future is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.