They saved likely the most controversial for last. Align Real Estate, the SF-based firm that is seeking to redevelop three other Safeway properties in the city into large mixed-use developments, also has a very ambitious plan for the waterfront-adjacent Marina Safeway.

Last we heard in mid-November, Align Real Estate was announcing its plan to turn the Mission/Bernal Safeway at 3350 Mission Street into a six-story, 370-unit residential complex, with a new Safeway store in its base. This announcement came one day after the developer announced a similar plan to redevelop the Ocean Beach Safeway property, turning it into 556 dwelling units with a new Safeway store there as well.

Align is also the developer behind the even more ambitious plan to turn the former Fillmore Safeway property, with its parking lot, into an 1,800-unit complex. And when they last gave an update on that project, Align hinted that they had plans to build a total of 3,500 total residential units across multiple sites in the city — and, we quickly surmised, these were all going to be Safeway sites.

On Thursday they revealed where the other 800 units are planned, and it's the (arguably iconic) Marina Safeway property, which is sure to stir up some pushback — with the loudest coming from anyone nearby whose views of the water are likely to be impacted.

Align released the striking renderings below, with a curvilinear design for a double-towered structure, with a new Safeway store in its base. The design is clearly the most ambitious and architecturally significant that the developer has shown us so far among these projects — and the architecture firm handling the project is Arquitectonica.

The design appears to mimic the mid-century, arched structure of the existing Safeway store. And Arquitectonica's Raymond Fort says in a statement that the design, which puts the bulk of the units on lower floors with towers that taper upward, will preserve some views for Marina neighbors behind the property — already anticipating the objections here.

"By concentrating residential density in larger floorplates at the base and tapering to smaller floorplates above, the tower’s massing diminishes as it rises — preserving key view corridors and shaping a unique geometric expression," Fort says.

As the Chronicle reports, the plan is for 790 housing units, with 86 designated affordable/below market rate. This would also include 473 residential and 164 commercial parking spots, with a new Safeway location that would be 57% larger than the one that is there now. The unit mix would be 485 one-bedroom apartments, 88 studios, 132 two-bedroom units, and 85 three-bedroom units.

"Even as the city’s housing and affordability crisis priced out a generation of San Francisco families, this neighborhood has largely failed to provide new housing opportunities for those who need it most,” says David Balducci, principal with Align, in a statement. "With new housing like this, we can change that."

Per the Chronicle, Mayor Daniel Lurie has already gone on record opposing this project, and he declined to comment on the previous announcements about the Bernal Heights and Ocean Beach proposals.

Align Real Estate will now have the significant task of getting all four of these enormous projects through the city approvals process — though the mayor and Board of Supervisors will be somewhat limited in how strongly they can voice their objections. With the state expecting the city to approve 82,000 new housing units in the next six years, pushing back too hard against a developer who now plans to build over 3,500 units might prove difficult. But we'll see!

Supervisor Jackie Fielder already expressed her displeasure with the Bernal plan, telling the Chronicle three weeks ago that the site "has been eyed by affordable housing developers and the local community for a while, so it’s disappointing that an entity with more capital and less affordability offerings has gobbled it up."

Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, meanwhile, expressed some approval for the much larger Fillmore redevelopment plan in his district, saying that as long as a new grocery store (likely not Safeway at this point) is included, he's on board.

Related: Yet Another Safeway Site, In Mission/Bernal, Slated For Possible Redevelopment With Housing