Mid-Market draws residents even as quality-of-life issues plague area

Open air drug-dealing? Check. Rows of shuttered shops? Yep. Empty office buildings? Yes again – yet none of that has deterred people who want to live on San Francisco’s Central Market Street.

Three Market Street buildings are reporting strong demand amid hopes that return-to-office mandates become the norm, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Prism, at 1028 Market St., leased 36 of 193 units in the six weeks since it opened. A 301-unit building at 50 Jones St. is 85 percent full. At the Serif condos at 950 Market Street, 50 of 242 units have sold.

“We are seeing a lot of people who are moving to San Francisco for the first time, whose companies are requiring them to come back to the office soon,” Olympic Residential Director Adam Tetenbaum told the newspaper. Olympic oversaw the development of Prism.

Rents dropped 25 percent in the first year of the pandemic, then rose 9 percent last year, according to CBRE. Local residents say life will only get better as the Covid era comes to an end.

“We are surrounded by countless companies and apartments with people working from home,” said William Deng, who recently moved into Prism. “Just imagine how different and safer the morning and evening commute will be with all those people on the street.”

Mayor London Breed declared a state of emergency in the Tenderloin in December , citing a drug crisis. The city plans to ramp up the police presence, arresting those who are openly dealing or using drugs and want to stay on the streets.

[San Francisco Chronicle] — Gabriel Poblete

Read more

San Francisco

Ferry to SF’s Treasure Island hits the bay

San Francisco

New public green space aims to revitalize troubled SF neighborhood