Prado Group to double the number of homes at former SF hospital site

Company proposes 567 housing units at redeveloped California Pacific Medical Center

Prado Group to Double Number of Homes at Former SF Hospital

Prado Group CEO Dan Safier along with 3700 California Street in San Francisco (Getty, Prado Group)

Prado Group has doubled down on plans to build homes at the former California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco’s Presidio Heights.

Two months after the locally based developer led by Dan Safier tweaked its plans to add 230 homes for seniors, Prado has revised its plans again to build or retain 567 homes at the 5-acre campus at 3700 California Street, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

The developer’s latest proposal calls for 15 single-family homes, 477 condominiums and 75 assisted living and memory care apartments, plus 488 parking spots and open space.

That includes 157 units set aside as senior housing and the preservation of a nine-unit apartment building at 401 Cherry Street.

With the exception of the assisted living and memory care units, all of the housing will be for sale, Prado CEO Dan Safier told the Business Times. It’s not clear if that means the apartment building would be converted to for-sale condos.

Prado said the project would be built in phases, according to public documents, though it’s not clear when it will break ground. 

The new plans for the project, designed by BDE Architecture and Handel Architects, would double the approved homes at the former hospital campus.

Prado bought the 700,000-square-foot medical center at the end of 2022 for more than $50 million, or $71 per square foot.

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The seller of the vacant hospital was Sacramento-based Sutter Health, which in 2020 won approval to replace the 5-acre campus with 273 apartments and homes.

Locally based TMG Partners had worked to approve the former hospital site for redevelopment into 273 residential units, spread across 19 apartment buildings and 14 single-family homes. The approval process took five years.

To make way for the first large housing development in upscale Presidio Heights in 70 years, five of the hospital’s six buildings and a two-level parking garage would be razed.

After a year of planning, however, Prado didn’t think the project, as initially approved, would pencil out. Which meant it would have to add more homes.

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Despite the added homes, the height of the proposed buildings will stay at 80 feet and below, consistent with the project entitled by TMG in 2020.

In addition to its plans to redevelop the two-block hospital site, Prado is redeveloping the University of California, San Francisco’s former campus at 3333 California Street, less than a half-mile away, with 744 homes, 35,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, a child care center and 5 acres of open space.

Prado Group, founded in 2003, has bought or developed more than 80 residential, retail, office and mixed-use properties with a value of more than $1.38 billion, according to the company’s website.

— Dana Bartholomew