San Francisco could rezone SoMa office sites for housing

San Francisco could rezone parts of South of Market for homes instead of the current zoning for  unwanted office buildings.

Mayor London Breed has proposed an ordinance that would nix a requirement under the city’s Central SoMa Plan that six sites accommodate new office towers, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The legislation comes a week after the newspaper covered the legacy of the 2018 plan, which was supposed to usher in 8 million square feet of new offices for 32,000 workers. 

Instead, six of the eight large development sites are dormant, leaving blighted lots, closed businesses, empty streets and local shopkeepers struggling to survive, according to the Chronicle.

“We need to remove any and all impediments to building housing Downtown,” Breed said in a statement. “This is about creating more opportunities for new homes all across our city so we can be a city that is more affordable for everyone.”

The office vacancy in San Francisco just hit a record 37 percent, according to CBRE.  But it’s even worse in SoMa, where the portion of empty offices is 38.5 percent, according to the Chronicle.

Since 2020, Central SoMa office tenants have given up 1.8 million square feet more than they have leased, enough space for 8,000 workers.

Two of the key development sites at 88 Bluxome Street and 725 Harrison Street may be best suited for office-to-home conversions, city planners say.

Boston-based BXP, which owns the Harrison Street site approved for a 14-story office building, may be open to other options. The site contains a parking lot and a brick commercial building.

“We are certainly welcoming of any zoning flexibility we could have on our site,” Aaron Fenton, who heads up development on the West Coast for the mostly office developer once known as Boston Properties, told the Chronicle.

Fenton said BXP has done some preliminary studies looking at what could be built on a site city planners say could accommodate more than 1,000 homes.

“We are not in a position to revise our entitlements right now, given the economy and market conditions,” Fenton told the newspaper. “But if it becomes attractive in the future to modify our entitlements and pursue a larger multifamily project, that is something we are capable and willing to do.”

The city hatched the Central SoMa Plan, which took eight years to get approved, to extend Downtown’s skyline toward South of Market and down to the Caltrain terminal at Fourth and King streets. It allowed developers to build taller office towers in exchange for $2 billion in fees for new sidewalks, parks, affordable housing and transit.

Locally based Strada Investment Group is the only developer behind an active Central SoMa project, a 501-unit residential complex at 555 Bryant Street, now under construction. If successful, founding partner Jesse Blout said the project might convince other landlords to consider housing.

— Dana Bartholomew

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