Achieve Objectives and Success

San Francisco Cruise Terminal Public Outreach

A Comprehensive Public Outreach Strategy

San Francisco Cruise Terminal (SFCT) was a development team formed to compete for the rights to build a new Cruise Terminal complex on San Francisco Bay. The partnership’s $270 million proposal to the Port of San Francisco included a new cruise terminal, a hotel and an office/retail complex.

Alfred Williams Consultancy, LLC (AWC) was retained to help develop and implement a comprehensive public outreach strategy to build the public support crucial to winning the project.

As SFCT was not a San Francisco-based organization, they relied on AWC to identify key stakeholders and opinion leaders and initiate communication. Following AWC’s recommended strategy, SFCT used the information and insights gained in these conversations to shape their final project plans. As a result, a broad and diverse coalition of community residents enthusiastically embraced SFCT’s proposal.

In addition, because this was a public project, the selected developer would be required to award percentages of all contracts to local minority and women-owned businesses. AWC helped SFCT identify and recruit the best of those businesses onto the development team before proposals were submitted. Brought into the process early, these firms became advocates for the proposal and demonstrated SFCT’s commitment to satisfying all project requirements in a proactive manner.

Having this team in place and having the strong community support engendered by AWC’s effective public outreach were two key elements in SFCT’s successful bid for the San Francisco Cruise Terminal project.