Six months after news broke of a proposed eight-story, 35-unit housing complex at 24th and Capp streets, developers filed a formal planning application late last week with two fewer stories and 15 fewer units.
The project at 3230 24th St. will turn a wedge-shaped parking lot into a wedge-shaped contemporary-looking apartment building.
Contrary to initial plans, which proposed an eight-story, 35-unit housing complex, the application filed to the Planning Department on June 25 now proposes a six-story building with 20 units.
Two of those are deemed affordable for people making 60 percent of the area’s median income ($68,050 for an individual and $87,550 for a family of three) and 18 market rate.
“Following productive discussions with Calle 24 and other community members, we reduced the building’s scale from eight-stories to six-stories to better align with the surrounding scale of the neighborhood,” wrote Peter Logan, who leads the LLC, Trigona LLC, that owns the property with his mom, Marcy Wong.
Logan said the project was reduced by 25 percent in size and that the drop of 15 units (43 percent of the initial unit count) is due to the increase in size of many of the other units.
“The conversations are still ongoing,” said Susana Rojas, executive director of Calle 24. “We’d like to see a meeting in the community for people to have an opportunity to weigh in on the design of the project.”
Logan and Wong are also partners at Wong Logan Architects, the architectural firm designing the project.
The proposed 66-foot-tall building would be composed of 10 studio units, five two-bedroom units and five three-bedroom units. This is another change from the initial proposal, which included 14 one-bedroom apartments.
When asked what prompted dropping the one-bedroom units from the latest plan, Logan said that the change will allow more families to live in the building. One of the three-bedroom apartments and one studio are expected to be the affordable units.
The building will not have on-site parking, but it will have 18 bicycle spaces and 1,207 square feet of retail space. One of the two commercial spaces will likely be occupied by Juanita’s Flowers, one the businesses currently operating out of the parking lot.
It is unclear what would happen to the other business, a food truck called Birrieria Lucas.
“We feel good about it [the project] and being able to occupy one of the commercial spaces,” said Jose Barajas, who, along with his wife, co-owns Juanita’s Flowers.
“But, it’ll affect us if we can’t sell during all that time. We still haven’t found an alternative site yet.”
A spokesperson for the Planning Department confirmed the project does not require a public hearing and that the agency does not anticipate the proposal coming before the planning commissioners.
In 2017, the lot’s previous owners, the Galu family, proposed a five-story, 17-unit building on the site. That stalled after Mission residents showed discontent with the proposal because it would’ve only offered two affordable units.
The project has an estimated cost of $10 million.
Timelines have not been established yet, but the earliest start to construction would be 12 months, according to Logan.
We appreciate everyone’ comments regarding this development in the gateway of the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District. Based on many of these comments we encourage anyone to contact us to ask questions, raise concerns and/or to learn about Calle 24 and the Mission’s History and its goals. Our work is based on the deep lived experience and history of the Missions working class, Chicano, Mayan and Latino community going back to the 1940’s. Lifting its contributions and cementing its history, its cultural assets and protections.
We along with our allies across the Mission (generations deep) have worked diligently to advocate for 100 percent affordable housing contributing to over 2000 units of housing badly needed for our families, seniors, blue collar workers, non-profit workers and teachers, and we need more to strengthen the Mission.
Like many market-rate developments, the previous project did not move forward because of economic conditions, and these challenges are likely to continue for years. From our community’s history and struggles—including the Mission’s fight against redevelopment in the late 1960s—we have learned that there is no single solution. A “build, build, build” approach, regardless of context, is not grounded in the lived realities of our community and does not effectively stabilize the Mission over the long term. Locally grounded economic strategies that prioritize 100% affordable housing have been central to our progress and remain essential to keeping San Francisco diverse, rooted, and accessible to the families, seniors, workers, educators, and cultural communities who call it home.
Calle 24 Latino Cultural District
No parking at all?
Literally one block from BART
BART doesn’t go everywhere that people want to go. Many of these residents will have cars.
If you need a car once in a while you can share, rent one. If you need to drive every day this may not be the apartment for you!
Calle 24’s greatest achievement is obstructing housing supply.
Aside from the reduction in units, I think the larger bedroom count and design changes on the facade since the last version are tasteful. Kudos to the architect and developer for making the best of a constant mess of opinions and armchair neighborhood planners.
20 years in the Mish doth an an armchair neighborhood planner make. Muevete…
Before anyone slams me, I am almost always supportive of new housing, but there is *always* going to be pushback from the neighborhood, why don’t architechs and investors make even a vauge attempt at making the building fit in…. like, even a little bit. There was one in north beach, where a gazillion people come to SF to spend a pile of money, just to see the quaint “little italy”, and they wanted to put in a 12 story CHROME plated building? I went from all excited to “DUDE???? WTF???” and, of course, a ton of residents were against it and got all vocal. This one isn’t *as* ugly, but it sure as f doesn’t fit in at all.
Why do they do that? Is it intentional? Is it so much cheaper? I mean, I know they tack on extra floors just to so they can “compromise”, but do architecs just put the building in its own little platform and say, “Oh, it’s beautiful” and put it in a scale model and say, “Wow. That doesn’t fit in at all. We’re going to have a fight on our hands. Better call the lawyers and get some funding for them”
After 1906, SF built many beautiful residential buildings over 8 stories tall. They are rare in the Outer Mission but common in the Tenderloin. Outer Mission Street boomed during that time with businesses that relocated there. The Mission’s history is as importance as downtown’s. I’m sorry that these architect-developers ignore it, but appreciate that a more nuanced facade would require more effort to design and make the building more expensive to construct.
The building – a raised middle finger to the working class neighborhood – is physical, permanent class war. Even if the ones waging it aren’t aware of it, classism is insinuated in their (the developers, architects, financiers, etc) social function, training, and economic mode.
A long-time resident can sell a house for millions of dollars in tax-free profit. You don’t think that’s class war.
I subscribe SF Yimby, out of curiosity. That’s how I learned about the taller proposal for this site. It was a cousin of the crazy tall tower proposed out by the zoo.
I have lived 1/2 block away for decades, but had no way to know Calle 24 was negotiating with the developer. I wish Calle 24 had reached out to include nearby neighbors.
I’ve always thought that if new buildings were allowed by right to be 2 stories taller than their neighbors, cities could grow more organically.
I assume the flower stand migrated to 24th & Capp to get away from the distressing scene at 24th & Mission. I love walking through the flower stand (they are on both sides of the sidewalk) & well, smelling the flowers.
Yup some folks just don’t know how to smell the roses… Blessings to you.
We need to somehow stop neighborhood groups from banning new residents due to “neighborhood character” concerns. I don’t see how Calle24 is substantially different in their anti-housing stances than Marina residents fighting the Safeway site.
Good job Calle 24 eliminating 15 homes! 🙃
Calle 24 and reducing housing options in the Mission.
“ We’d like to see a meeting in the community for people to have an opportunity to weigh in on the design of the project”
In other words, they aren’t done yet! Jesus.
“Following productive discussions with Calle 24 and other community members, we reduced the building’s scale from eight-stories to six-stories to better align with the surrounding scale of the neighborhood,”
Calle 24… how is 16th and Mission Different? Shameful.
So the developer somehow managed make the project pencil out without building a 20 story micro unit only box.
Calle 24 is still around? LOL
Feels like a better negotiator could have gotten three of those 15 additional housing units affordable. What a shame. Half block from Bart and the 14 and 49. A short walk to caltrain. Now that real estate will be locked up for 50 years minimum. So fricken short sighted I cannot believe it.
So, years ago, there was a plan for a building that got scraped because it only had two affordable units.
A new plan would have had more than two affordable units.
And then Calle 24 got involved and the result was that the design went back to two affordable units.
It’s nonsense like this that helps make housing unaffordable. I hope this building gets up fast and the units get on the market ASAP. Calle 24 is part of the problem.
Huge shoutout to Calle 24 for looking out for us local property owners yet again! Dropping 15 units and two whole stories at 24th and Capp is exactly the kind of supply suppression my home equity needed. Thanks to your tireless efforts to keep the Mission ‘scale’ perfectly frozen in time, my property value just took another beautiful leap. I’m looking at HELOC rates today—St. Barts is lovely this time of year, and I have your neighborhood activism to thank for funding it. Keep up the great work blocking the next generation of residents! 🥂✈️
Calle 24 are bullies. Why are you even involving them in the design process?
Calle 24 is unelected and unaccountable. Why do they matter?
Why are YIMBY not raking the developer over the coals for downsizing the building and consigning a tech worker or two to a more expensive apartment?
Once again, the NIMBYs are not who you think they are.
Hey Calle 24 – this community member says add the 2 stories back – the project is literally feet away from BART!