Building a town: Teens recruited for construction jobs amid SF development boom

San Francisco is experiencing one of its biggest development waves since The City rebuilt itself after the 1906 earthquake and fire, and industry experts are reaching out to teens interested in construction about potential career-related paths.

Recently, 45 high school students primarily from Bayview-Hunters Point gathered at a first-of-its-kind construction and trades exposition at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard for a glimpse into The Citys largest private development project that will ultimately revitalize the area into residential, retail and park space.

Construction jobs are bouncing back in San Francisco with full force after unemployment hovered around 30 percent in the Great Recession, due in part to the technology boom and more trade workers retiring.

We have a real need in the building trades to replenish our workforce, said Mike Theriault, secretary-treasurer at the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council, citing an aging labor pool and recent development surge. Were going to need folks to step in and take our places and build this town.

Theriault was one of about a dozen trade union representatives who encouraged the 14- to 17-year-old students to explore careers as painters, pile drivers, engineers, sheet metal workers, plumbers, pipefitters and ironworkers, among others.

It is a career. Its a good-paying job [that offers] immediate gratification, Chris Fallon, lead painting instructor at Glaziers Training, said of entering work as a painter, dry wall finisher, glazier or floor cover craftsman.

When you walk out of that building at the end of the day, youre able to look over your shoulder and say with pride, I did that, Fallon said.

Raynesha Mims, 16, is only a sophomore at Balboa High School, but she said she already has a goal of building a company from the ground up literally.

I want to be able to manage and build my own building, said Mims, who has taken a particular interest in seismic safety. I find that really interesting in how to make safer structures, so people ... dont have to worry about earthquakes and floods.

Mims enthusiasm is precisely why Lennar Urban, the development firm leading the shipyard effort, and Young Community Developers, which provides training and support opportunities for Bayview-Hunters Point residents, teamed up to offer the workshop to students, Lennar Urban spokeswoman LaShon Walker said.

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Building a town: Teens recruited for construction jobs amid SF development boom