"When we needed it, it was there for the community," Bettina Cohen told Mission Local about the glass pavilion on the shore of Mission Creek. "And then suddenly, we couldn't use it anymore, and it was sitting empty most of the time."
That pavilion at 290 Channel St. is now Zócalo Coffee, open since Aug. 1, 2026. About five weeks later, Sergeant Ma opened a short walk down the water on the creek side of 185 Berry St. Neither opening needed a new building. Both went into rooms that had been ready for years, sometimes decades, waiting for enough people nearby to make them work. In the pavilion's case, it also took neighbors who refused to let it stay locked.
A café space that took 22 years to become a café
The pavilion was one of the first structures built after the Mission Bay redevelopment plan was finalized in 1998. A 2004 Landscape Architect article described its purpose as "a sanctuary from the elements on windy days while retaining a nice view over the creek and into the city skyline." Mission Local's reporting pieced together how it went from finished to open.
| Year | What happened at 290 Channel St. |
|---|---|
| 2001 | Building formalized in city inspection records |
| 2002 | Food and beverage handling license issued |
| 2003 | Certificate of completion issued |
| 2023 | Mission Bay open spaces handed to Rec and Park early; free community use ends |
| 2024 | Two site visits with Rec and Park, Supervisor Matt Dorsey's office and neighbors |
| Feb. 26, 2025 | Rec and Park issues a request for proposals to lease it as a café |
| April 2025 | Zócalo applies; approved later that year |
| Aug. 1, 2026 | Zócalo Coffee opens |
The building was licensed for food service more than twenty years before it ever sold a cup of coffee. Early on, there's no sign anyone even tried to lease it, and around 2003 there may have been little to lease it to: much of the land around the park was still vacant lots and construction sites.
In the meantime, the pavilion picked up a second life. Cohen, who moved to Mission Bay in 2011, remembers the Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure using it for storage. The park's management company still let local groups use it for free, and during the Great Backyard Bird Count each February it filled with birders drinking coffee and comparing tallies.
The fee schedule that sparked a campaign
The handoff to Rec and Park wasn't supposed to happen until 2046. In 2023, the redevelopment successor agency started the transfer early, and the pavilion became a rental-only space. Documents obtained by Mission Local put a four-hour event at a minimum of $484 plus a refundable $250 deposit. That total came from a $76 reservation fee, $102 an hour with a four-hour minimum, $50 for the patios and a $26 staffing fee. A Rec and Park spokesperson said the department regularly reduces or waives fees for nonprofits but still has to charge for staff time to open and close the building.
Cohen teamed up with Bill Holt, president of the Mission Creek Harbor Association, which had used the pavilion for its meetings. Rec and Park's own figures backed up their concern. Between July 2023 and February 2025, the building was rented 49 times, roughly two to three times a month, and brought in $29,980. The rest of the time it sat empty.
Holt took those numbers to Supervisor Dorsey. His aide Bryan Dahl searched for a compromise, and the answer was to lease the building as the café it had been designed to be. "If it wasn't for their advocacy, this never would have happened," Dahl said.
Zócalo, a San Leandro coffeehouse and roaster owned by Sara Ubelhart, saw the request for proposals. This is its first San Francisco location, and the menu runs to coffee plus house-made croissants and scones. The arrangement brought back some of the old community use. Zócalo hosted neighborhood meetings even before it opened, and Ubelhart's husband, Dan Grace, described the goal this way:
"We want to be a community facilitator, and be very inclusive and welcoming to diverse people from all walks of life. Whether they want to grab a coffee or pastry, hold meetings or presentations."
Rec and Park's July 30 announcement listed soft-opening hours of 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends. In early September, Grace said the café hopes to extend its hours and get a liquor license for evenings. Neither is confirmed, so check current hours before you walk over.
Down the creek, a 1922 freight building
Sergeant Ma's room has a longer back story. Southern Pacific Railroad built 185 Berry St. in 1922 as a shipping hub, and in 1925 Del Monte used it as a banana depot where freight cars unloaded their cargo. The restaurant took over office space that had been vacant for years.
Building it out took about four years. Hi Neighbor Hospitality Group's partners, Ryan Cole, Jason Halverson, Tai Ricci and Lucas Bierbower, built their reputation on smaller prix fixe restaurants like Trestle in North Beach and Mama in Oakland. This is their biggest project since they opened Stones Throw in 2013. "I can't tell you what a monster this has been to build out," Cole told SFGATE. The sound-absorbing ceiling tiles came in by barge.
The timing matches the vacant pavilion's story. The China Basin complex houses UCSF and Lyft, and AI startup Sierra has signed a lease for 300,000 square feet there. SFGATE describes it as one of several companies bringing workers and new residents to the area. Like the pavilion, the building was ready long before enough people were around to fill it.
Halverson named the restaurant after his mother, a Vietnamese immigrant known as "The Sergeant." The 17-item menu combines Northern California ingredients with Chinese and Vietnamese flavors. One example is duck pâté and liver mousse for $19, served with a warm pineapple bun. The deck has fire pits and overhead heaters, and Cole says the heaters let the glass doors stay open year-round. You can see the Oracle Park jumbotron from the couches.
For people who live nearby, the attached Waters Edge café may matter more. It serves breakfast and lunch until 3 p.m., and it has a pool table. Laptop users are welcome to stay as long as they like. "We don't have any time limits," Cole said. "We want this to be a place for the entire neighborhood to spend time." It's hard to find. From 185 Berry, go through two sets of doors, turn left at the boardwalk and walk until you see the white couches and yellow awnings.
The creek the new rooms face
Both openings join a creek that already had a lot going on. Most of it is close to Berry Street:
- The floating homes. The Mission Creek Harbor Association, whose roots it traces to 1959, manages 20 floating-home berths and 35 pleasure-boat berths.
- The boat launch at 451 Berry St. A low-float dock in Mission Creek Park is open during daylight year-round, with protected water for paddling toward McCovey Cove.
- The Mission Creek Boathouse at 401 Berry St. Dogpatch Paddle runs game-day launches and private groups by appointment. Its beginner route passes the houseboats and goes under both drawbridges.
- The dog run. There's an enclosed off-leash area at the park's Berry Street end, and dogs stay on leash everywhere else in the park.
- The February bird count. Mission Creek Conservancy volunteers have walked the creek every February for nearly a decade, collecting data for the Audubon Society's backyard bird count.
Those birders now have a place to warm up again, this time with a café counter.
What's next along the water, and what's still a plan
The next free event nearby is a Friday movie series on the China Basin Park Great Lawn at Mission Rock. Screenings run Oct. 9, 16, 23 and 30, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
The bigger change is still on paper. The Mission Creek Park South extension would add 5.7 acres west of the pavilion. It would complete the creekside park link and add walking and biking connections, gathering areas, public art and a community garden. The timeline has already moved. In August, Hoodline reported construction starting in mid-2026 and an opening in mid-2028. A September project tracker now lists construction starting in late 2026 or early 2027, with the opening date "TBD."
Two parts of the plan matter to longtime creek users. The Harbor Association has cared for a shoreline community garden since the 1980s, and Rec and Park lists its replacement as "Coming Soon" within the extension. The public art concept includes Rigo 23's proposed "The California Grizzlies of Mission Creek," a mother bear and cub, which the project documents describe as a concept for the extension.
If the pavilion is any guide, the extension's real test will come after construction, when the city decides who gets to use its spaces and on what terms.
If you own a condo near the creek and want to talk about how changes along the water affect what your home is worth, Patrick Carney is glad to go through it with you, at whatever pace suits you. Let's Connect.
