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Marina District, San Francisco: Homes, Fill History & Real Estate

By Matthew Martinez, Founder, CEO & Managing Broker, Diamond Real Estate Group. California DRE #01869679.

The Marina is the flat, bayfront neighborhood at the top of San Francisco, running from Van Ness Avenue and Fort Mason west to Lyon Street and the Presidio, and from Lombard Street north to the water. Its land was created by filling a shallow cove between the late 1860s and 1912, it hosted the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and it was built out as a residential district in the 1920s. That made ground, more than the homes on it, is what sets the Marina apart from the rest of the city’s northside.

In the San Francisco Association of Realtors’ MLS map the Marina is subdistrict 7A, one of four neighborhoods in SF District 7 and one of dozens covered in our San Francisco neighborhood guide. This guide covers how the land was made, what the 1989 earthquake did and did not show, the state liquefaction zone, the housing and zoning, transit, and what a seller should have ready. For prices and days on market, use the market report on this page rather than any number you read elsewhere.

Marina homes for sale

Marina market report

Where the Marina begins and ends

Van Ness Avenue and Fort Mason form the eastern edge. Lyon Street and the Presidio form the western edge, Lombard Street and Cow Hollow sit to the south, and the north side is open shoreline along Marina Boulevard and the Marina Green.

The ground is close to level from end to end, which is unusual for San Francisco and is part of the appeal: walking, cycling and parking a car in a garage at street grade are all easier here than on the hills just to the south. East of Van Ness the grid climbs into the North Waterfront and Russian Hill.

How the land was made

The U.S. Geological Survey’s study of the Marina after the 1989 earthquake traced the filling in detail. Geologist M.G. Bonilla found that “artificial filling of a cove at the site of the Marina District proceeded gradually from the late 1860’s to 1912,” and that in 1912 “large hydraulic fills were placed in the central part of the Marina and in adjacent parts of the Presidio” ahead of the exposition.

A popular story says the Marina sits on rubble from 1906. The USGS account is more careful: Bonilla wrote that “probably, at least a small amount of 1906 debris is in the fills,” and most of the material was dredged sand and bay mud. The distinction matters because the hydraulic sand fill is what behaved worst in 1989.

After the 1915 fair closed, nearly all of its buildings were taken down and the site was developed as a residential neighborhood, largely complete by the end of the 1920s. The Palace of Fine Arts at 3301 Lyon Street, City Landmark No. 88, is the exposition building still standing where it was built.

What the 1989 earthquake showed

The Loma Prieta earthquake struck on October 17, 1989. The Marina was about 100 km (60 miles) from the epicenter, yet it became one of the most studied damage areas in the region, and USGS Professional Paper 1551-F is devoted to it.

The damage was concentrated. USGS reported that nearly all of it fell within about 0.75 square kilometers bounded by the Bay and Baker, Chestnut and Buchanan Streets, out of a district of about 4 square kilometers.
Building type mattered. The most severe damage was in four-story, wood-frame corner buildings.
The ground mattered. Sand boils, the surface sign of liquefaction, were most conspicuous where hydraulic fill lies underneath.
Water supply mattered. With mains broken, the city’s Portable Water Supply System, drawing water from the Bay, stopped the Marina fire.

For a buyer, the lesson is narrower than “the Marina is risky.” Two homes a block apart can sit on different fill, have different foundations and have very different retrofit histories, so the building file matters more than the neighborhood name.

The state liquefaction zone, in practice

Under the 1990 Seismic Hazards Mapping Act, the California Geological Survey maps “zones of required investigation.” A liquefaction zone marks where “the stability of foundation soils must be investigated” before certain new construction, and sellers and their agents must disclose at sale that a property lies inside one.

San Francisco Planning carries the state zone in its own map data, and the Chestnut Street blocks fall inside it. Planning’s project screening for the zone asks whether a proposal involves new building construction or certain additions, which can mean a geotechnical report for a rebuild or a large addition.

Look up the parcel on the California Geological Survey’s EQ Zapp or Planning’s Property Information Map.
Read the Natural Hazard Disclosure report in the seller’s packet; it states whether the parcel is in the zone.
If you plan to rebuild or add on, budget for a geotechnical engineer before you remove contingencies.

Our San Francisco hazard maps guide explains the other city and federal maps that come up in a Marina disclosure packet.

Houses, flats and corner apartment buildings

Because the neighborhood was built in a short span after the exposition, the Marina reads as one period: one- and two-story houses over street-level garages, two-unit flats, and larger apartment buildings that often take the corners. The neighborhood has changed little in outline since that build-out, even where interiors have been redone several times.

The Assessor’s 2024 roll, which uses the same 7A code as the MLS, shows the mix in parcel terms: about 640 single dwellings, about 510 flats-and-duplex parcels, about 1,120 condominium parcels and roughly 350 apartment buildings of five or more units. Each condo unit is its own parcel, so the count overstates condos relative to buildings, but it shows how much of the Marina is shared ownership.

That stock brings three city programs into play:

Soft-story retrofits. The city’s Mandatory Soft Story Program covers wood-frame buildings of three or more stories, or two stories over a basement or underfloor area, with five or more units, where the construction permit was applied for before January 1, 1978. The Department of Building Inspection names the Marina District as one of the places these buildings are common.
Rent control. Most multifamily buildings built before June 1979 are covered by the Rent Ordinance, so a buyer of a Marina apartment building or a flat with a tenant should assume controlled rents until the leases and permit history show otherwise.
Condo and TIC ownership. Many two-unit and corner buildings are owned as condominiums or tenancies in common; see our guides to San Francisco condos and TIC ownership before you compare one with a house.

Zoning on the flat

Planning’s zoning layer shows a mix in the Marina: RH-1, RH-2 and RH-3 house districts, RM-1 through RM-4 mixed residential districts for the apartment blocks, P (public) for the parks and waterfront, and RTO-C transit-oriented parcels. Chestnut Street is mapped NC-2, a small-scale neighborhood commercial district, and one shopping-center parcel is mapped NC-S.

The Article 10 Blackstone Court Historic District, five properties dating from 1849 to 1906 and adopted in 1987, is the only Article 10 district that Planning’s data labels as Marina. Other city landmarks include the Marina Branch Library at 1890 Chestnut Street (No. 262), the former San Francisco Gas Light Company building at 3640 Buchanan Street (No. 58), and the Ladies’ Protection and Relief Society building at 3400 Laguna Street (No. 320).

The Family Zoning Plan took effect on January 12, 2026. Planning says it concentrates new capacity on major transit and commercial streets, with mid-rise buildings of six to eight stories possible there, while most residential blocks keep their existing height limits. Check the exact parcel before you assume a corner lot or a Lombard Street frontage carries the same rules as the block behind it.

Chestnut Street, the Green and the Presidio edge

Chestnut Street, starting at Fillmore Street and running west for several blocks, is the neighborhood’s main street of shops, restaurants and cafes. Lombard Street, the southern edge, carries U.S. 101 traffic toward the Golden Gate Bridge and is lined with motels and other businesses that serve that traffic.

Along the water are the Marina Green, the municipal small-craft harbor that gave the neighborhood its name, and Fort Mason to the east. To the west, Crissy Field and the Presidio begin at Lyon Street.

Buses, bikes and the bridge

There is no BART station or Muni Metro line in the Marina; it is a bus neighborhood. Several Muni routes end here, which helps with getting a seat:

22 Fillmore starts at Fillmore and Bay and climbs through Cow Hollow and Pacific Heights toward the Western Addition, the Mission and Mission Bay. SFMTA lists it as running 24 hours.
30 Stockton runs along Chestnut Street between Van Ness Avenue and Divisadero Street toward North Beach, Chinatown and the Caltrain depot; SFMTA extends daytime trips to the Crissy Field terminal.
43 Masonic ends near Buchanan Street and Marina Boulevard by Fort Mason and runs by way of Lombard Street and the Presidio to Presidio Avenue and on toward the Haight and the Excelsior.
45 Union/Stockton has its Marina terminal at Lyon and Greenwich and runs east on Union Street to North Beach, downtown and the Caltrain depot.

Drivers reach the Golden Gate Bridge directly from Lombard Street, which is part of the U.S. 101 corridor with Van Ness Avenue. The flat streets make the Marina one of the easier parts of the city to cycle, and the waterfront path runs along the Marina Green toward Crissy Field.

Storm and shoreline flood maps

Two different flood maps apply in San Francisco, and a Marina disclosure packet may mention both. The SFPUC’s 100-Year Storm Flood Risk Map shows parcels likely to see deep flooding from stormwater runoff in a 100-year storm; it does not show flooding from the Bay. Since 2019, Article 51 of the Police Code has required a seller of a property in that zone to tell the buyer in writing before the sales contract or transfer of title.

Flooding from the Bay itself is FEMA’s subject. Planning’s copy of the FEMA flood maps for this stretch of shoreline, effective March 2021, includes VE coastal high-hazard and AE zones as well as lower-risk X zones, so whether a given lot is in a special flood hazard area is a parcel question. Check the address on both maps; a lender will ask about the FEMA one.

Selling a home in the Marina

Marina buyers spend more time on the building file than buyers on the hills do, because they have read about 1989. A seller who answers the structural questions up front avoids a long renegotiation after inspections.

Retrofit evidence. Permits, engineer’s drawings and final sign-offs for foundation bolting, shear walls or a soft-story retrofit, plus any compliance letter from the Department of Building Inspection. Describe the work exactly; “retrofitted” covers everything from a few anchor bolts to a full engineered upgrade.
Reports on the ground. Any geotechnical or structural reports from past projects, and the Natural Hazard Disclosure showing the liquefaction zone.
City documents. The 3R report, the energy and water inspection and the transfer tax are covered in our San Francisco seller requirements guide.
Units and tenants. For flats and small buildings, leases, rent history and any buyout or eviction filings, and for condos the HOA’s budget, reserve study and minutes.

Seismic retrofit work may be excluded from property tax reassessment under state law; the city’s soft-story program page says owners must keep records and submit the exclusion form within 30 days of completing construction. Buyers weighing a Marina flat against a house up the hill will also compare it with Pacific Heights and Cow Hollow listings, so price against the right ownership type, not only the zip code.

Questions people ask

Is the Marina built on rubble from the 1906 earthquake?

Mostly not. The USGS found that the cove was filled gradually from the late 1860s to 1912, largely with dredged sand and mud, and that the fill “probably” contains at least a small amount of 1906 debris.

Is the whole Marina in a liquefaction zone?

Much of the filled ground is mapped, including the Chestnut Street blocks, but zone lines follow geology, not neighborhood names. Check the specific parcel on the state’s EQ Zapp or Planning’s Property Information Map.

Does being in the zone stop me from remodeling?

No. The zone triggers a soils investigation for certain projects, such as new construction and some additions, and a disclosure at sale. Interior remodels are handled through the normal permit process.

Where was the 1989 damage worst?

USGS placed nearly all of it within about 0.75 square kilometers bounded by the Bay and Baker, Chestnut and Buchanan Streets, with the worst damage in four-story wood-frame corner buildings.

Are Marina apartment buildings rent-controlled?

Most multifamily buildings built before June 1979 are covered by the Rent Ordinance, and many Marina buildings date from the 1920s and 1930s. Confirm unit by unit with the leases and the Rent Board’s rules.

Is there BART in the Marina?

No. The Marina is served by Muni buses, and BART and Caltrain are reached by bus or car.

If you own in the Marina and want to know where your home stands against current sales, start with a home valuation; we’ll review the building file with you before any price is set. For homes at the top of the market, see our notes on San Francisco luxury homes.

Sources & notes

Last reviewed October 2026 by Matthew Martinez.