The center sits on a parking lot owned by the Port of San Francisco, near Beale Street and the Embarcadero.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed recently led a tour of the new facility, which she sees as a major win in the city's ongoing battle against homelessness.
"This is a huge victory that should be celebrated, because we're talking about 200 people that we're going to be able to help exit homelessness," she said. "Getting access to land to build housing or a natigation center in this city right now is very challenging."
San Francisco homeless director Jeff Kositsky said the center will waste little time getting down to work once its doors are open.
"Initially, [we'll have> 130 people indoors right away, within 10 days after the facility opens, then we'll be ramping up to the full capacity of 200 over the next six months," he said.
Outside, the shelter looks like rows of military tents erected side by side. Inside, there are beds, a communal area, restrooms and an administrative area.
The center is not a drop-in facility. Instead, people will be brought to the site by homeless outreach teams, Kositsky explained.
There has been a significant amount of concern about safety among the center's neighbors, who waged a losing legal battle to keep the city from building the navigation center at the waterfront site.
But the city has a plan to help keep the area safe for all waterfront residents, according to San Francisco Deputy Police Chief Greg McEachern.
"We've provided four additional officers to the station here that polices the area," he said. "We pledged that we would have initial resources here to address any crime and disorder that the neighborhood had."
The center is considered an important part of Breed's plan to have 1,000 homeless people sheltered by the end of next year.
As they're putting the final touches on the Embarcadero shelter, Supervisor Matt Haney is introducing legislation that would see a navigation center opened in each of the 11 supervisors' districts of the city, even those areas that don't have a sizable homeless population. His plan would also offer one-on-one client management services to homeless residents.
Haney told the San Francisco Chronicle that City Hall needs a push to address the crisis adequately.