- By Allyson Aleksey | Examiner staff writer |
- Jun 16, 2023 Updated 17 hrs ago (SFExaminer.com)
The future of downtown is mixed-use.
City leaders are addressing downtown’s high office-vacancy rate and a slew of retail closures with legislation that will eliminate the red tape of zoning and make it easier to convert vacant spaces into housing and event venues. The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the legislative package Tuesday.
The legislation, a fundamental tenet of Mayor London Breed’s “Roadmap to Downtown San Francisco’s Future,” was initially introduced by the mayor and board president Aaron Peskin in March to confront an uncertain and desolate downtown.
According to CBRE’s first-quarter fiscal report released last month, The City’s office vacancy rate hovers just below 30% despite the fact that San Francisco saw solid employment growth. The office sector added 5,600 new jobs this year, increasing the total number of “office-using jobs” to 353,600, the report noted.
Tourism has also taken a hit. While San Francisco is seeing a year-over-year increase in visits since 2020, it is still a far cry from pre-pandemic levels.
“The challenges facing Downtown require us to reimagine what is possible and set the foundation for a stronger, more resilient future,” Breed said in a statement.
“We are creating more opportunities to fill empty storefronts and underutilized buildings, whether that’s by creating much-needed housing or trying out new ideas for businesses and event spaces that will invite people back downtown. We need to make the process easier for getting our buildings active and full.”
More housing and arts venues, as well as an increase in mom-and-pop and boutique shop stock, are top of mind for city leaders.
Space for the arts
The City’s plan will pave the way for more art spaces and venues that will occupy space left by retailers who ditched downtown.
“Downtown’s economic recovery has to include our vibrant arts and culture scene, local residents and neighborhood-serving businesses, and creative retail, dining and entertainment experiences, in addition to office workers and tourists,” said Sarah Dennis Phillips, executive director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development.
It’s a big win for artists who often say they struggle to survive in a city that has been more welcoming to tech and commerce than craft in recent years.
Drag perfomer Peaches Christ, who has lived in San Francisco since the mid-’90s, reflected on the current state of downtown.
“I’m watching the city at a rock bottom moment — the way an addict hits rock bottom,” she told The Examiner. “But the city’s not going anywhere. Downtown isn’t working, but we’ve got tons of space and an incredible city surrounded by natural beauty.
“So what would draw people to this city? What would continue to make it a destination for Bay Area residents to drive in? Well, let’s take that downtown and fill it with theaters and cabarets and coffee shops and restaurants and turn those office buildings into affordable housing, so that artists from wherever could see San Francisco as a viable place to live in, to come to and create beauty. There’s an upside to this.”
The City’s latest plan will also allow for more independent boutique shops as big chain stores abandon heavy commerce corridors. Last week, Breed and three supervisors introduced legislation to make it easier for small businesses to fill commercial vacancies.
The legislation reimagines vacant ground-level storefronts to allow for pop-up shops or temporary retail by allowing city staff to make changes to business signage and historic buildings without conducting public hearings.
Room for housing
This package puts a landmark mixed-use law signed last year into practice, which allows for joint housing and business developments.
The Planning Department and City officials anticipated that AB 2011 — signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in October — could have a major effect, enabling increased density and significantly faster approval times for housing developments along many of The City’s commercial and transit corridors.
The department’s preliminary maps indicate that many properties along the Market Street corridor could be eligible for streamlining under the law, confirmed Candace SooHoo, planning department digital communications manager.
Planning director Rich Hillis said this would be the first significant change to downtown’s zoning controls since the 1980s. The changes will help break the homogenous nature of retail in Union Square and offices in the Financial District and allow for thousands of new housing developments in the area.
“Retooling our code to encourage new downtown housing is a critical next step, and these changes to our zoning and permitting process pave the way forward,” he said.
Over the next few weeks, the planning department and Office of Economic and Workforce Development will be in conversation with downtown property owners and potential developers who are interested in converting vacant office buildings into housing.
