The San Francisco Board of Supervisors, as expected, formally approved the 700-acre Hunters Point Shipyard-Candlestick Point redevelopment phase 2 project by a vote of 10-1.

According to Kofi Bonner, regional vice president of Lennar, the developer, the next step is to deal with any �legal issues and challenges.�

Following that, Bonner says steps will include continuing the entitlement process through state and regional agencies, significant amount of planning and engineering work still needs to be done to execute the approved plan, go to capital markets to seek the necessary funds for the project, oversee the Navy�s cleanup efforts before transferring parcels to the city beginning in August 2011 and working with the residents of Alice Griffith and the Housing Authority to submit the appropriate documentation to HUD to seek approval of the rebuilding project.

�Now that we have an approved project, we are focused on the development�s capital needs,� says Bonner. �After more than a decade of debate, we are moving forward to make this vision a reality.�

�This is a proud and historic day for all San Francisco and for all who have worked for years to achieve this milestone,� says Mayor Gavin Newsom. �After more than a decade of exhaustive planning, extensive cleanup and hundreds of public hearings, together we have secured a critical engine for our city�s economic future and embraced a new vision of jobs, housing and hope for the Bayview-Hunters Point community. Now we can truly begin the work of transforming an environmental blight into a new center of thousands of permanent and construction jobs, green technology investment, affordable housing and parks for our city.�

The development project is designed to provide 10,500 residential units�32% of which will be offered at below-market rates � more than 300 acres of parks and open space, including a new �Crissy Field� of the Southeast, approximately 700,000 sq ft of destination retail and entertainment space and over 2.5 million sq ft of commercial space oriented around a �green� science and technology campus. The project can also accommodate an optional site for a world-class football stadium for the San Francisco 49ers.