More than a decade after sparking a squabble over housing in the Mission District, an affordable residential development is moving forward in the neighborhood.
On Wednesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee unanimously approved $60 million in revenue bonds for La Maravilla, a three-building, 350-unit supportive housing complex developed by the Mission Economic Development Agency and Mission Housing, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The $110 million La Maravilla project is set to rise over the 16th Street BART station. Developer Maximus Real Estate Partners acquired the site on the northeast corner of 16th and Mission in 2013 and proposed building 330 market-rate apartments — an idea that became known as “The Monster in the Mission” by opponents in the area.
Neighborhood activists formed the Plaza 16 Coalition to advocate for affordable housing in the area to avoid the displacement of locals. In response, the city’s planning department put a temporary moratorium on market-rate housing in the Mission District. Eventually, the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development acquired the 16th Street BART site from Maximus.
At the same time, several affordable housing projects began sprouting up. This included 168 units at 1515 South Van Ness Avenue, 81 units at 490 South Van Ness Avenue, 157 units at 1950 Mission Street and 127 units at 2060 Folsom Street. In total, approximately 800 affordable apartments have been built and another 600 are in the pipeline.
Those developments came about thanks to the work of the Plaza 16 Coalition, according to Sam Moss, executive director of Mission Housing.
“One of the most important aspects of the Maravilla is that it is being developed by Mission community orgs for the Mission community,” Moss told the Chronicle. “The developer fees, the resources, the financing — it’s all staying in the Mission.”
Demolition at the 16th and Mission site for December and construction will begin in January.
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