ARCHIVE
Golden Gate National Recreation Area &
Fort Mason Foundation
November 9, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ron Tierney (415)
345-7540
Rich Weideman (415)
561-4730
“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
today.
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 and many diverse communities to continue to receive
these programs.
“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.”
For more information about Fort Mason Center, visit www.fortmason.org.
To send an idea or suggestion about the Center’s future,
e-mail vision@fortmason.org.
Located on 13 waterfront acres in San Francisco’s
Marina District and near the Golden Gate Bridge, Fort Mason
Center is a successfully converted military base that is both
an historic landmark and an ever-changing reflection of the
dynamic Bay Area community. The Center, located in the Golden
Gate National Recreation Area and operated by the Fort Mason
Foundation, houses 30 permanent nonprofit residents, including
three museums, six theaters, and City College of San Francisco’s
Art Campus. More than 15,000 events take place here each year,
and more than 1.5 million people visit annually.
-END-
F O R T M A S O N F O U N D A T I
O N
Landmark Building A, Fort Mason Center
San Francisco, CA 94123-1382
(415) 345-7540, fax (415) 441-3405
www.fortmason.org
EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA
The National Park Service cares for special places saved by
the American people so that all may experience our heritage.
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