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"The Fort Mason Foundation (FMF) and the National Park Service (NPS) are entering into a phased, 60-year lease that will shore up the historic landmark buildings at Fort Mason Center in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), add new space, and provide opportunity for new community programming," Foundation Executive Director Alexander Zwissler announced in November.
The first of its kind park-foundation partnership is designed
to provide a means to preserve and protect the 11 historic
landmark buildings on the 13-acre urban national park site,
but also provide an opportunity to revisit its purpose and
refashion its vision, the partners say. This is the longest
programmatic agreement that the NPS has entered into. It will
allow the diversity of programs offered by the foundation
to continue.
 "We are immensely proud of the success of the Fort Mason Foundation and how it serves the community. We’re equally excited about the promise of how the Fort Mason Center can even better serve visitors’ needs as we move into the future. This long-term lease provides the security of tenure needed for the National Park Service and the foundation to realize this potential and to do it in a financially sustainable manner," stated GGNRA Superintendent Brian O’Neill.
The foundation, created at the suggestion of two NPS citizens’ advisory commissions three decades ago, opened Fort Mason Center for public programming in 1977. The cooperative agreement between the newly formed GGNRA and the foundation was among the first successful conversions of a military base to peacetime use.
"This shows that a ‘post to park conversion’ can be done successfully and we are building upon that success," O’Neill said.
"The eventual success of this project and our 28-year relationship with the National Park Service," Zwissler pointed out, "was initially greeted with some skepticism, but over the years our partnership has provided affordable space for young and struggling nonprofit organizations, inexpensive performance and studio space for visiting nonprofit organizations, and wonderfully diverse programming for the Bay Area. Today, we are building on our founding spirit and ongoing success with a new partnership, just as unique, just as creative, and one that will be even more productive."
 Preservation
Most significant in the new phased-approach lease is that it allows the foundation to borrow and raise funds to protect and preserve the Center’s weather-beaten buildings, some of them built as long ago as 1911. The buildings require seismic retrofitting and a significant amount of exterior and interior work. While the substructures of the piers remain a federal responsibility in the new lease, the rest of the work, including seismic retrofitting of the building sheds, becomes the responsibility of the foundation.
This includes complete restoration of the unoccupied, two-story West Pier, which will provide nearly 55,000 square feet of new and dramatic program space, with the top floor having an open span and spectacular views of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Future
Throughout the summer, the foundation’s executive director and board members met with the Center’s resident organizations, Bay Area artists, producers, neighbors, and community leaders in a series of "vision sessions" to discuss a rich, new vision for Fort Mason Center.
 "We
are at a very exciting intersection in time," said Mark Johnson, Chair of the foundation’s board of directors. "We are taking a fresh look at what we can do with this incredible community resource. Our goal is to create an even more bustling campus, expand our programming, and better use our dramatic waterfront location."
"We are already working with the National Park Service, MUNI, Market Street Railway and others to bring the E-Line to Fort Mason Center," Zwissler said. "This would link historic transportation with an historic destination. More important, it would provide greater public access to Fort Mason Center."
Zwissler indicated that the foundation and the NPS will also look into the idea of ferry service and water taxis to bring visitors to the Center and to the City.
"We’ve received a number of great ideas from the community," Zwissler said, "and we invite suggestions. We’ve got the best of all possible worlds. We have the opportunity to make something really good into something even better."
To send an idea or suggestion about the Center’s future,
e-mail vision@fort mason.org.
Images: Fort Mason Center's West Pier, Photo Ron Tierney; Golden Gate National Recreation Area Superintendent Brian O’Neill; Fort Mason Foundation Executive Director Alexander Zwissler, Fort Mason Foundation Chair Mark Johnson, Photos Caroline Kopp
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