Build Inc. revises plan for 40-story tower in SF

A stalled 40-story condominium tower proposed by Build Inc. in Downtown San Francisco has taken wing as a 460-unit apartment project.

The city’s Planning Commission voted 4-3 to approve the revised project at 1500-1540 Market St. in Civic Center, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Other reports put the project at 1 Oak St.

What’s known as the One Oak project was approved in 2017 as a mixed-use, 304-unit tower containing 1,200 square-foot condominiums, with a curved glass facade and public plaza. But Build couldn’t get investors to bankroll it as construction costs rose faster than home prices.

The San Francisco-based developer now wants to build a 460-unit tower of mostly studio and one-bedroom apartments, averaging 800 square feet.

The new design shrinks the size of the public plaza and replaces the curved glass facade – which the developer said added to the cost of the tower – with a flatiron exterior.

The One Oak project, now shifted east toward Van Ness, would have 24 fewer parking spots and 1,500 square feet less space for shops and restaurants.

While the denser building makes more economic sense than the previous proposal, Build isn’t sure the changes would draw the capital to construct it.

“The world economic situation is not under my control so I can’t say whether this will be financeable,” Build Inc. partner Lou Vasquez. said. “Whether it is or not is a question we will address as soon as we get approvals.”

Two planning commissioners who voted against the project revision objected to its plan to pay $35.5 million to build affordable housing units offsite.

The 140 affordable units built elsewhere comes out to 31 percent of the project’s total apartments – and 50 more affordable units than Build would be required to include onsite, Vasquez said.

While some residents applauded the increase in project density and the change to rentable apartments, others objected to the new design, smaller plaza, ground-floor parking and what one commissioner called “a building that is reduced in its quality.”

In October, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors rejected plans by Build Inc. for a nearly 500-unit housing development in SoMa, handing a victory to an affordable housing group and drawing the ire of Mayor London Breed, who called it a “perfect example” of how the city became mired in a housing crisis.

– Dana Bartholomew

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