Strada Proposes Resi Tower in San Francisco’s SoMa

Strada Development Group has proposed a first-of-its-kind residential property in San Francisco.

The Financial District-based developer filed plans this week for 1,500 units across two towers at 88 Bluxome Street in the South of Market district, the San Francisco Business Times reported. Strada is the first firm to move to capitalize on new regulations allowing large-scale development projects in Central SoMa to shift from commercial to residential use.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities and TMG Partners were previously entitled to deliver a 1.1 million-square-foot mixed-use development including 775,000 square feet of offices. TMG departed the project last year, though Pasadena-based Alexandria remains the owner of the site.

The new plans for the 2.6-acre site call for 785 units in one 599-foot tower and 715 units in a smaller 528-foot building, both complying with the San Francisco Planning Commission’s 600-foot height limit for new housing projects.

The complex will also include 150 units for very low-income residents to qualify for the state’s density bonus program. Strada would make additional accommodations for affordable apartments down the line; the current plans propose splitting the property into three new parcels, one for each tower and a third reserved for a future affordable housing project.

The project would sit on land formerly occupied by the Bay Club’s 230,000-square-foot San Francisco Tennis Club, which Alexandria bought in 2017 for $140 million. At that time, the real estate investment trust assuaged community and club member fears by agreeing to build a 130,000-square foot replacement tennis facility in the basement at 88 Bluxome.

The pandemic downturn forced Alexandria and TMG to reconsider its office construction plans. Demolition of the tennis club was completed in 2021 before Alexandria went back on its pledge to build tennis facilities on site.

Strada’s proposal doesn’t include any tennis facilities. The Bay Club sued Alexandria last month accusing the REIT of leaving the San Francisco Tennis Club without a permanent home. That follows a 2023 lawsuit Alexandria settled with San Franciscans for Sports and Recreation over its abandonment of the tennis court plans.

TMG was originally charged with overseeing the project’s eventual construction. While Alexandria doesn’t appear poised to offload the property, the Business Times reported Strada’s application suggests it could either work out a deal with Alexandria on the site or take it over entirely.

— Chris Malone Méndez