San Francisco Salvation Army Site for Sale for $58 Million

The Salvation Army is searching for a buyer for property in the Mission District that it has owned for the better part of a century.

The organization is looking to sell two adjoining parcels on a 1.9-acre site at the corner of Valencia Street and Cesar Chavez Street for $58 million, the San Francisco Standard reported.

The nonprofit purchased the site in 1955 and a three-story, 65,000-square-foot building was built there the following year. That structure is now used as a warehouse for donations. An adjacent property currently housing recovering addicts is also part of the listing.

The for-sale property has attracted interest from developers after a week on the market. The site is zoned for construction up to 65 feet high, though a builder could go higher by utilizing state and city density bonuses due to its location on a transit corridor. The site is a few blocks away from the 24th Street Mission BART stop. A nonprofit that is interested in building a community center is among those that have been inquiring about the property, the Standard reported, citing information from Douglas Elliman agent Catherine Marcus Bassick.

The nonprofit’s 15,000-square-foot, 96-bed Joseph McFee Center at 3500 Cesar Chavez Street houses the Salvation Army’s “The Way Out” addiction recovery program. The larger warehouse and parking lot is located next door at 1500 Valencia Street. The Salvation Army owns two other properties across the street on Valencia, including a thrift store at 1501 Valencia, but these are not for sale.

Last year, the nonprofit won at least two contracts from the city to run treatment centers in Nob Hill and the Marina. The Salvation Army’s San Francisco branch runs the city’s only sober shelter, as well as another emergency shelter, three permanent housing complexes, six addiction recovery and transition housing operations, various family services offices and other community, nutrition and activity centers. — Chris Malone Méndez