{"id":23801,"date":"2022-10-18T12:27:36","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T19:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=23801"},"modified":"2022-10-18T12:27:38","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T19:27:38","slug":"yes-s-f-could-turn-empty-downtown-offices-into-housing-heres-what-it-would-take","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/10\/18\/yes-s-f-could-turn-empty-downtown-offices-into-housing-heres-what-it-would-take\/","title":{"rendered":"Yes, S.F. could turn empty downtown offices into housing. Here\u2019s what it would take"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Amber Bracken \/ for The Globe and Mail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

NOAH ARROYO<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oct. 17, 2022 Updated: Oct. 18, 2022 (SFChronicle.com)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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San Francisco\u2019s downtown<\/a> economic core has been struggling since the start of the pandemic, and there is one idea to help it that just won\u2019t die: Convert empty office buildings into housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city\u2019s center is dominated by commercial space that remains hollowed out by the ongoing switch to remote work, landing San Francisco at the bottom of metrics for post-pandemic recovery of downtowns nationwide. An influx of people living there, urban planners say, could foster a walkable community with a more sustainable economic ecosystem of new grocery stores, pharmacies and other retail stores in place of businesses that shuttered during the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if creating housing from office space is such a good idea, then why hasn\u2019t it happened? Local developers generally say it\u2019s too expensive and difficult here \u2014 even though it can cost less than bottom-up construction in some cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also looked too expensive and difficult in Calgary, Alberta, until the government did something about it. Canadian officials responded to the long-term decline of its business district with a 10-year, $1 billion initiative \u2014 equivalent to about $721 million U.S. dollars \u2014 to transform the area into a diverse, thriving neighborhood, in large part by funding and fast-tracking projects that convert offices to housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar strategies could help conversions pencil out in San Francisco, local builders say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs it stands today, these projects are unfeasible,\u201d speculated Strachan Forgan, principal at SCB, the architecture and design firm for one of the city\u2019s few recent conversions<\/a> at 100 Van Ness, a 28-story, glass covered building that yielded 418 housing units near City Hall when it was completed in 2015. Projects like that could become more possible if \u201cconstruction prices fall off a cliff because of the recession \u2014 or if the government changes policies\u201d to make them cost less, he said. Efforts to make projects more doable would need to survive the city\u2019s fractious politics, and factor in the major costs to developers of satisfying the city\u2019s affordable-housing requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco officials have begun openly discussing the possibility of repurposing buildings, though housing is just one potential new use, they say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Office conversions are gaining traction in many other cities, including Cleveland and Atlanta, thanks to their potential to breathe life into downtown areas hobbled by the pandemic. In Washington, D.C., the mayor is considering tax and other incentives to make them more feasible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In New York City, conversions added thousands of residents to lower Manhattan in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, making it the city\u2019s fastest-growing neighborhood.<\/a> Today office buildings in the Big Apple are once again transforming into homes<\/a> and a task force is exploring how to make that work easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco\u2019s downtown should follow suit, becoming more than a place where people go to work, said Karen Chapple, director of the School of Cities at the University of Toronto. Along with colleagues in Toronto and at UC Berkeley, Chapple recently studied cell phone data to measure downtown recoveries in more than 60 North American cities and found San Francisco to be the slowest.<\/a> Though the streets show signs of renewed life as tourism gradually recovers, recent data shows that San Francisco\u2019s office vacancies have climbed to record highs.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the end, San Francisco is going to have to figure out why people should come there,\u201d Chapple said, \u201cand that means rethinking itself entirely, probably.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work \u201ccan\u2019t be building by building,\u201d Chapple said. Instead, the time is right for a broad initiative that converts buildings, she said, as society learns to live with COVID-19 \u2014 an idea endorsed by other urban thinkers and economists.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between office workers and tourists, San Francisco\u2019s downtown was doing well enough right up to COVID-19\u2019s arrival, though its relative lack of housing made it much less vibrant outside working hours. Many have wondered whether it would bounce back as the threat of the virus receded, but new factors indicate that it won\u2019t. Recent bids for office buildings have been far below seller expectations,<\/a> and other properties\u2019 owners are applying to have their values adjusted downward, portending widespread drops in the tax revenue that funds public services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In coming years, the city could find itself in a similar position to Calgary, making the Canadian city\u2019s choices potentially instructive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The need to be creative<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Unlike in San Francisco, Calgary\u2019s downtown was long in decline. Energy companies departed after oil prices crashed in 2014, and, when the pandemic spurred remote work, it became clearer that the area would not recover. Falling real estate values meant that if the government didn\u2019t spend money on a long-term solution, it would keep losing tax revenue anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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