This story aired in the May 7, 2026 episode of Crosscurrents.
Treasure Island redevelopment is underway. For months, construction crews have been building new housing, parks, and roads, transforming the island from a quiet, low-income community into one of San Francisco’s biggest new neighborhoods.
The city hopes to bring thousands of new residents to the Island /as part of its plan to expand housing across San Francisco. Today, we go to the island to hear about the progress on one of the new developments: a training facility for Bay FC, the Bay Area’s newest professional women’s soccer team.
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Story Transcript:
Sound of construction, machinery, wind
REPORTER: Right now, Treasure Island is a big work in progress.
Sound of water
REPORTER: You may not be able to see it from San Francisco or Oakland, but the island is in the middle of a massive redevelopment — cranes building brand-new housing, modern parks, new restaurants, and construction everywhere.
I came here to see what that change looks like on the ground — and what it means for the people who already live here.
Sound of construction fades into wind and water
REPORTER:I meet my tour guide, Nella Goncalves, outside one of the oldest buildings on Treasure Island — a crescent-shaped Art Deco hall. Goncalves is the executive director of One Treasure Island, a nonprofit that works with low-income residents. She seems to know everyone on the island.
NELLA GONCALVES: Hey Sed. Hi Nella. How you doing? Good. Good, good.
GONCALVES:It’s a very calm place. It has a small-town feel in a big city.
REPORTER: Goncalves drives me around the island, pointing out what’s changed — and what’s still under construction.
GONCALVES: So let’s stop right here and let me give you — so you can start to see the redevelopment from here.
Sound of car engine, wind, distant construction
REPORTER: The northern side looks much like it did 20 years ago — family-style public housing with garages, lawns, mailboxes, a small local grocery store, and a YMCA.
Treasure Island has been here for a while. It was built in the middle of the Bay on landfill for the 1937 World’s Fair. The island later became a Navy base.
After the Navy left, the government repurposed the island, turning naval housing into public housing. Most of it hadn’t been updated since then, despite concerns about toxic chemicals left behind. For decades, fewer than 3,000 people lived here. Now, the city plans to grow that number to 20,000.
On the southern side, you can see that progress — sleek skyscrapers, landscaped parks, and new development.
Sound of car door closes, wind, open park
REPORTER: We stop at the newly landscaped Panorama Park — a small viewpoint near the steepest part of the island that offers a 360-degree view of the Bay Area.
GONCALVES: It feels like I’m on vacation a lot of the times when I’m here because look at the view. It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? Spectacular. Look, you can see the Golden Gate Bridge. It is spectacular.
REPORTER: From here, you can see another big part of the new Treasure Island — something Goncalves is especially excited about: the future site of a permanent training facility for Bay FC.
GONCALVES: This is the Bay FC site. So this is the site. We had a grand opening here a few weeks ago.
Sound of archival game
REPORTER: For the past two seasons, the team has been training near San Jose, where they play their games. But as their popularity grows, they’ve been looking for a permanent home.
Sound of construction
REPORTER: Right now, it’s a giant dirt pit covering acres in the middle of the island. But by 2027, it’s expected to include three practice fields and state-of-the-art training facilities designed specifically for women athletes.
Bay FC says Treasure Island stood out for a number of reasons. The team represents all nine counties of the Bay Area — and the island sits right in the middle.
LISA GOODWIN-SCHARFF: One of the things I find super fascinating is that the study said that it actually is the best climate for professional sports and for working out.
REPORTER: Lisa Goodwin-Scharff is Bay FC’s Executive Vice President of Communications. She says demand for women’s soccer in the Bay is growing — and the team needed a base closer to San Francisco.
GOODWIN-SCHARFF: Women’s soccer has been so strong in the Bay for so many years… there’s been a need and a want for it. This will be a dedicated space for us and our athletes. They deserve that, right? They’re professional athletes who are the best at what they do.
REPORTER: For people who live on the island, the facility could mean more than just professional sports.
REPORTER: Goncalves says she’s already seen Bay FC begin to connect with the community.
GONCALVES: They gave us tickets and we went with a nice crowd of people… and so many people were like, oh, I didn’t realize soccer could be that fun… or, you know, I wanna go again or I’d like to get my kid involved.
REPORTER: She’s also noticed the team helping address a lack of local resources.
GONCALVES: The fields that are here… the baseball field, the soccer fields… are for leagues and teams that are not based on Treasure Island.
REPORTER: That leaves Life Learning Academy — the island’s only high school — with few athletic options beyond the YMCA.
REPORTER: The new facility could change that. Bay FC plans to partner with the school, giving students access to fields, training spaces, and even internship opportunities.
DAVID CATTIVERA: And hopefully we’ll hook our young people into, you know, a future career… a pathway that allows them to stay in the Bay Area.
REPORTER: David Cattivera is Life Learning Academy’s development director.
CATTIVERA: We’re written into the master redevelopment plan… planning to be here for another 30 years… and we think as more people come onto the island, there’ll be more opportunities… right now… there’s no gas station, no services… there’s just not a lot.
Sound of construction gets louder
REPORTER: But not everyone is excited about the changes.
Anthony, a student at Life Learning Academy, says the constant construction makes the island feel unfinished.
ANTHONY: It really makes it feel just undone… you can’t really enjoy it to the fullest if there’s a lot of construction going on.
REPORTER: As more people visit, there are also concerns about traffic. Treasure Island has one main way in and out — the Bay Bridge.
TRAVIS CHOYCE: I think it’s gonna be a beautiful thing to bring a soccer team here… but as far as the traffic, it’s gonna be bad… if you’ve ever been here during Fleet Week… you’re basically stuck.
REPORTER: The city had planned a $20 million transit program — including a new shuttle, improved bus service, and an electric ferry terminal — but federal funding fell through, leaving the project in limbo.
Still, for Goncalves, even the downsides signal something bigger.
GONCALVES: New streets, new street names. Lighting. We got our first stoplight ever… since I’ve been here 25 years. To be part of intentionally creating a mixed-income community in a place as beautiful as this — there’s no better feeling for me.
Note: Grace McCarty originally reported this story as a student in the audio concentration at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.