Supervisors review Lennar–49ers concept for Candlestick Point; 49ers say plan “does not work”

SAN FRANCISCO — The Board of Supervisors on Nov. 21 heard a public rollout of a conceptual mixed‑use plan for Candlestick Point that would center a new San Francisco 49ers stadium inside a large development of housing, parks, retail and infrastructure paid for by a private developer.

City negotiator Michael Cohen and Kofi Bonner, president of Lennar’s area division, led a multi‑firm team that described a plan including new parkland to replace existing stadium lots, roughly 6,500 housing units in mixed forms, a transit hub and a large multi‑level parking structure that would connect to the stadium. The city and Lennar presented the concept as a way to finance the parks, roads, utilities and affordable housing without using city general‑fund debt; the team said environmental review under California law would be needed before entitlements.

The concept matters because it ties a long‑standing promise of redevelopment and new parks in the Bayview to the 49ers’ future in the city. The plan’s scope would affect affordable housing, park access and traffic in southeastern San Francisco and could shape a multi‑decade development program in the Southern Waterfront.

City staff framed the plan and next steps

Michael Cohen, who led city negotiations, told the supervisors the Office of Economic and Workforce Development had worked with the 49ers for more than a year to frame a project that would keep the team in San Francisco while paying for necessary infrastructure through private development. “Our role was simple and direct,” Cohen said: “to help them formulate a feasible development project that would keep the 40 niners in San Francisco in a world class new stadium, but in a manner that was fiscally prudent to the city and that delivers on decades of promises of economic development and community benefits to the Bayview.”

Cohen and Planning Director Dean Macris emphasized the concept was an early, flexible planning document, not a finalized entitlement. Macris urged supervisors to view the plan “as an…