{"id":36479,"date":"2024-09-27T12:24:31","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T19:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=36479"},"modified":"2024-09-27T12:24:31","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T19:24:31","slug":"breed-proposes-yet-another-incentive-to-convert-offices-to-housing-as-no-ones-been-jumping-on-previous-incentives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/09\/27\/breed-proposes-yet-another-incentive-to-convert-offices-to-housing-as-no-ones-been-jumping-on-previous-incentives\/","title":{"rendered":"Breed Proposes Yet Another Incentive to Convert Offices to Housing, as No One\u2019s Been Jumping on Previous Incentives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

26 SEPTEMBER 2024\/SF NEWS<\/a>\/JOE KUKURA<\/a> (SFist.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mayor Breed is pushing a new proposal to eliminate an estimated $70,000 and $90,000 per unit in costs to convert downtown office space to housing, as developers aren\u2019t really biting on previous conversion incentives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the simultaneous San Francisco problems of way too much vacant office space<\/a> and not enough housing<\/a> to meet rigorous new state mandates<\/a>, City Hall has tried to entice developers to convert office space to housing<\/a>. The problem is that developers just aren\u2019t taking the bait. The Chronicle points out today<\/a> that \u201cSo far the pay off for all the effort has been stingy \u2014 just two significant conversion project applications totaling 164 units have been submitted. Construction hasn\u2019t started on either.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Mayor Breed is trying to get more proactive on this in the downtown neighborhoods. The SF Business Times reports on a new Breed proposal to spur downtown office-to-housing conversions<\/a>, this time by eliminating affordable housing requirements and impact fees that she estimates would save $70,000 to $90,000 per converted unit. The lax new rules would only apply to downtown spaces.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Business Times says that Supervisor Matt Dorsey \u201cplanned to introduce legislation Tuesday,\u201d presumably at the Board of Supervisors meeting. Dorsey made no mention of this at Tuesday\u2019s meeting, so apparently he will introduce it this coming Tuesday, October 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Breed put out a press release today<\/a> touting the plan, and tying it to her \u201c30 x 30\u201d plan to bring 30,000 new residents downtown by the year 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSan Francisco is changing to a City of Yes where we remove all the barriers and obstructions that get in the way of what\u2019s possible,\u201d Breed said in the release. \u201cBy eliminating these fees we are saying yes to change, yes to housing, and yes to turning Downtown into a 24\/7 neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, we\u2019re certainly a \u201cCity of Yes\u201d when it comes to nonprofits who want to spend taxpayer dollars on first-class flights, luxury dinners and liquor<\/a>! We\u2019ll see if Breed can transfer this \u201cCity of Yes\u201d philosophy to housing, because thus far, it\u2019s been the developers saying No to the current existing incentives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Per the Business Times, this proposal comes straight from a set of recommendations from a developer called the Emerald Fund, which successfully converted 100 Van Ness from office space to housing back around 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mayor and the supervisors passed relaxed rules for office-to-housing conversions<\/a> in 2023, but only one project has gotten financing and is ready to go from those new rules (the Humboldt Bank building at 785 Market Street<\/a>). That 2023 legislation would sunset after five years, but Breed and Dorsey\u2019s new proposal would eliminate that sunset date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for all this legislation, it may be more significant that interest rates were just cut<\/a>, which may have more effect on housing development than anything SF City Hall might do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, it should be noted, the intricacies and complications with converting office buildings to residential are many, as the New York Times explored<\/a> in an extensive piece last year. San Francisco does not have a ton of large, pre-World War II office towers that East Coast cities like New York and Philadelphia have. Those are actually much easier to convert than more modern towers, which have deep floor plates that were intended to be lit by electricity alone. A case in point here in SF is that one office-to-residential conversion now underway at 785 Market Street<\/a> is just such a building, constructed in 1906, with plenty of windows on each floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Related: <\/strong>This Market Street Office Building Is Slated to Become 120 Apartments By Next Year [SFist]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image: @LondonBreed <\/em>via Twitter<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

26 SEPTEMBER 2024\/SF NEWS\/JOE KUKURA (SFist.com) Mayor Breed is pushing a new proposal to eliminate an estimated $70,000 and $90,000 per unit in costs to convert downtown office space to housing, as developers aren\u2019t really biting on previous conversion incentives. With the simultaneous San Francisco problems of way too much vacant… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36479"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36479"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36481,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36479\/revisions\/36481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}