Developments in Development is a “weekly” column recapping real estate, housing, planning, zoning and construction news. With Mexico City still reeling, though working valiantly to recover, from the September 19 earthquake, there’s been no shortage of local what-iffery. And I’m going to join in, because now is as good a time as any to grapple with the unpleasant possibility: We...
Maximus Real Estate has poured $363K and counting into a “grassroots” effort to push the so-called “Monster in the Mission” proposal. San Francisco is a city in which a man in a three-piece suit can often induce more of a double-take than a bearded dude wearing a sarong and beating a conga drum — but, by any standard, the ads...
A laundromat and parking lot one block away from a major transit hub probably seems, to many, like an absolute no-brainer location for building a big chunk of housing. Nothing is ever so simple. “I know that the folks in the Mission want to say, ‘we’re special, you gotta reject this project because we’re special.’ But the truth is, this...
I guess it’s that time of year again — when various polls come out revealing how sick people are of the housing crisis, and respondents bluster about how we’re all going to just up and leave this horrible place. This time, it’s the city Controller’s Office that looked at move-out plans. Thirty-one percent of residents reached by the Controller indicated...
A handful of neighbors gathered in front of the pit at 3310 Mission St., formerly home to Cole Hardware, on Wednesday evening to hear plans for a four-story building with eight condos, commercial space and a basement with parking and storage. Cole Hardware may yet return to the space, as business owner Rick Karp said in June, but nothing is...
The future of an abandoned former gas station at 19th Street and South Van Ness Avenue seems to be getting clearer, as a proposal for 69 units of rental housing — 10 of them below-market-rate — moves through the permitting process. A hearing before the Planning Commission is expected later this year. A Shell gas station at the site shut...
Job alert: The Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco is looking for someone to fill the Subsidized Housing Advocate position. From the Committee: “Are you passionate about helping low-income tenants understand their rights? Are you dedicated to fighting to keep San Franciscans in their homes? HRCSF Housing Advocates play a crucial role in educating and counseling Public Housing and Section...
Developments in Development is a “weekly” column recapping real estate, housing, planning, zoning and construction news. Well, what do you know? It seems the federal government, too, has caught wind of the fact that the country has a problem with housing affordability. Interestingly, in its look at “worst-case needs” renters (those who make less than half of their region’s median...
Business owners who arrived at the Mission Language and Vocational School Thursday evening to attend a social event organized by the developer of 1979 Mission St. were met by a group of about 30 chanting protesters who reiterated demands that the site be dedicated to affordable housing. “No more monster in the Mission,” sang the protesters from the Plaza 16...
For the crowd of around 100 people who filled the auditorium of the Mission Language and Vocational School Wednesday night to hear the plans for an 130-unit affordable housing building, it couldn’t arrive fast enough. This kind of community input meeting, where developers pitch their proposed building, usually draws small groups of immediate neighbors who critique the height of the...
Nearly two months after a new Navigation Center opened on 26th and South Van Ness streets, residents who were worried about a growing tent encampment nearby are reassured by the currently tentless streets. The Navigation Center at 26th Street and South Van Ness is one of four centers aimed at long-term help for homeless individuals. This one has 120 beds...
Developments in Development is a “weekly” column recapping real estate, housing, planning, zoning and construction news. Turns out New York City and San Francisco, for all their differences, have remarkably similar housing crises. At least that’s my take on this New York Review of Books piece sent my way by a reader this week. Clearly opinionated throughout, Michael Greenberg nonetheless...
Maybe it’s the fresh blue paint that makes 2072 Mission stand out from its less-kept-up neighbors on the busy block between 16th and 17th streets. Or maybe it’s the gallery space at ground level that, a couple years ago, once belonged to the struggling Milan Pizza. Before Starcity, a communal living development, opened last spring, 2072 Mission St. was a hotel...
Developments in Development is a “weekly” column recapping real estate, housing, planning, zoning and construction news. Bubblewatch: VCs are apparently throwing money at an app that pays people to drive tanker trucks to big parking lots and pump gas for car owners who believe their time is more valuable. So…that’s where we’re at. Meanwhile I got several reminders this week...
The idea for property owner Robert Tillman to strike a deal with the city was first floated publicly at a community meeting in 2016. He was pitching 55-unit development on his property at 2918 Mission St., currently home to a laundromat, and neighbors didn’t take kindly to it. Amidst the angry exchanges in the meeting, there was one that might...
