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Thompson Builders buying abandoned SF’s SoMa site for condos

Contractor pays undisclosed price for water-filled hole, subject of public nuisance lawsuit

Thompson Builders buys abandoned site approved 127 condominiums in SF’s SoMa
Thompson Builders' Paul Thompson and a rendering of plans for 360 5th Street, San Francisco (LinkedIn, KTGY)

Thompson Builders is in contract to buy a water-filled eyesore in San Francisco’s South of Market with approved plans to build 127 condominium units for an undisclosed price.

The locally based contractor purchased the troubled building site, while filing revised plans for  115 condo units at 360 5th Street, the San Francisco Chronicle and SFYimby reported. 

In the fall, City Attorney David Chiu accused locally based Leap Development in a public nuisance lawsuit of abandoning the partially excavated development site. An affiliate of Leap — led by Xiangxi “Terry” Song — allegedly owed more than $1 million in fines.

The eight-story, $111 million condo project on nearly two-thirds of an acre, excavated in 2019 and approved for 127 homes, was never built. In May, Leap defaulted on a $10 million loan secured by the property, from Los Angeles-based Lone Oak Fund, which filed a foreclosure lawsuit this fall.

Leap’s contractor, Thompson Builder, had filed a lawsuit claiming that Leap owed $5.8 million for its work. The developer denied the claim.

For the last several weeks, Thompson Builders has dumped 260 truckloads of dirt into the massive water hole, which once contained garbage and mosquitos, workers on the site told the Chronicle.

Company President Paul Thompson last week fired off a letter to the Planning Department outlining plans for the abandoned property, which included updates to the initial plans.

Thompson said he’s “in a unique position to return the site to a safe condition” and has been working with city agencies to “facilitate the site’s successful remediation,” the Chronicle reported.

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“The former developer … failed to maintain the site adequately, resulting in significant deterioration,” Thompson said. “Following foreclosure proceedings, we are now in contract to acquire the property, including all associated plans and entitlements.”

Thompson has filed revised plans for 115 condominiums, with no ground-floor shops and restaurants. 

The revised project, redesigned by New York-based Handel Architects, would include 31 studios, 31 one-bedroom, 36 two-bedroom and 17 three-bedroom apartments, according to SFYimby.

Plans would keep many of the design elements first drafted by Los Angeles-based KTGY, but with a simpler facade, and parking for 63 cars, instead of 31, plus 123 bicycles.

A cost and timeline for the revived project were not disclosed.

There’s another excavated building site with a water-filled pit a half block away at 254 Clara Street, approved for 24 residential units, according to the Chronicle.

Dana Bartholomew

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