Giants and Tishman Speyer reveal Mission Rock’s first retail tenants

Emily Landes

One of the country’s best croissants is coming to the Mission Rock development in San Francisco.

Arsicault — whose flaky pastries received national acclaim when the Richmond District bakery got Bon Appetit’s “Best New Bakery” prize in 2016 and more recently was determined by Yelp to have one of the top five croissants in the country — will open its third location at the Mission Bay development across from Oracle Park. Owner Armando Lacayo said Mission Rock “represents the future of San Francisco,” and that in addition to the usual baked goods that bring customers to its original Richmond District location, and second Civic Center location, the new outpost will also be “a laboratory for new products.”

The San Francisco Giants, Tishman Speyer and the Port of San Francisco — the three entities behind the massive Mission Rock project — announced Arsicault as one of the first wave of retailers to take space at the San Francisco development, with openings set to begin in early 2024.

Also coming to Mission Rock is the 100th location of Ike’s Love & Sandwiches, another San Francisco-born eatery with a rabid following that has expanded to locations across the Western U.S.

Arsicault and Ike’s are part of a Bay Area-centric strategy for the first group of retailers at Mission Rock, according to Tishman Speyer Managing Director Maggie Kadin. The development opened its first apartment building, The Canyon, this summer, and is still an active construction site. Construction on Visa’s new corporate headquarters was recently completed and a life science office building and second apartment building will open in 2024.

Kadin said in an email that Arsicault and Ike’s, along with the other first-phase retailers “will encourage activation within the Mission Rock neighborhood.”

The only other food and beverage lease in the initial slate went to Proper Food, a grab-and-go sandwich, soup and salad spot with locations in both San Francisco and New York City. It will be in the base of the Visa building, while Arsicault will be on the ground floor of the second apartment tower, known as Building F, and Ike’s will be in the life sciences office building, known as Building B.

Building B will also host the third branch of Blades Co. Barbershop, which originally started in the North Financial District in 2015 and expanded to Walnut Creek in 2021, as well as the first brick-and-mortar location for LuxFit, which has until now been an outdoor gym.

LuxFit had been in “pursuit of an indoor brick-and-mortar location,” according to President Yotam Israeli, and plans to use Mission Rock’s waterfront location to its advantage. It will expand its open gym options and broaden the range of group fitness classes, as well as host “diverse events that cater to Mission Rock and the surrounding neighborhoods” like wellness workshops, outdoor yoga, charity fundraisers and family-friendly fitness get-togethers.

Kadin did not speak to specific incentives offered to these businesses to get them to sign on to a combined 11,000 square feet of leases in the current retail climate, but did say that the developers have “committed to a variety of structures that set them, as well as the neighborhood, up for collective success.” That includes “the technical expertise Tishman Speyer provides from a design and construction standpoint, combined with the opportunity to partner with and be within walking distance of the San Francisco Giants.”

The Giants haven’t yet “prescribed a formal relationship between the team and these new businesses,” according to the team’s Director of Public Space and Programming Yennga Khuong. “But expect a more organic relationship to grow between the SF Giants and Mission Rock retailers,” she added.

Kadin said more retail news was on the horizon, including “a park front restaurant or two.”