San Francisco Car Wash Poised for Housing Redevelopment

The long-floated redevelopment of a car wash in Lower Haight seems like it could finally start bubbling up.

San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood has introduced legislation that would allow buildings to follow the code at the time a proposal application was initially filed, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Irvine-based developer 4Terra Investments got approval on its planned 203-unit project at 400 Divisadero Street in 2017.

“The original approvals were based on the building code standards of 2016,” Mahmood told the Chronicle. “They have to keep going back and changing the project.”

Under current regulations, San Francisco’s building code requires projects to adhere to the building code in place when they break ground, rather than when the application was filed. The Touchless Car Wash project has been stalled for nine years, and the building codes change every three. As a result, 4Terra has had to redesign its plans.

In the years since then, codes related to mechanical, electrical, plumbing, structural and energy have made projects such as these less feasible, tacking on an additional 5 percent to 7 percent of costs, according to the Chronicle. By using the regulations in place in 2016, the developer would save approximately $4 million on the project.

“We wanted to see if we could solve the housing death spiral in which each delay results in other delays, compounding the problem,” Mahmood said.

The project calls for 203 units to be built in six stories on the Touchless Car Wash site, including approximately 20 set aside for affordable housing. Mahmood’s proposed legislation would reduce hurdles to getting shovels into dirt.

“At a minimum what it does is gives us a little bit of relief in lower construction costs,” 4Terra partner Amir Massih told the Chronicle. “Having somebody in City Hall advocating on your behalf is a welcome change from the past.”

Uncertainty still remains a factor as tariffs could threaten to increase already high construction costs and equity partners are wary of investing in housing projects. But if the stars align and Mahmood’s legislation allows the project to stick to its original application plans, groundbreaking on the project could happen next year, Massih told the Chronicle.

— Chris Malone Méndez