A traditionally somnolent section of San Francisco could get a wakeup call if Mayor London Breeds succeeds in giving a residential builder help on the redevelopment of a couple of one-time medical sites.
The mayor wants the city to create an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District, or EIFD, in Laurel Heights, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Funds would flow to Prado Group to help pay for infrastructure needed to bring housing to the former Pacific Medical Center at 3700 California Street and the nearby former campus of the University of California-San Francisco, which specializes in health sciences.
Prado Group “greatly appreciates the city’s leadership in addressing San Francisco’s chronic housing undersupply and kick-starting family and senior housing,” CEO Dan Safier told the Chronicle.
Breed could see her plans go unappreciated among voters in the immediate area of the would-be developments, a risk she is running in the heat of her reelection campaign.
There hasn’t been any substantial residential development in Laurel Heights since the 1970s, due in large part to strident opposition from residents in the past.
Breed and San Francisco Supervisor Catherine Stefani, who represents the neighborhood, are nonetheless expected to push the special district as Prado Group pursues projects at the two sites. The developments would combine for 1,300 units, bringing thousands of new residents to the relatively high-priced enclave.
The special district would clear the developer to borrow against assumptions of tax revenue generated by the project to pay for infrastructure such as streets, sidewalks, street lights and public plazas.
Prado Group paid $51.5 million to get the sites from TMG Partners in 2022, based on pre-pandemic approvals for 744 new homes at 3333 California Street, and close to 600 more at 3700 California Street.
The latest push is a third try to use an EIFD to aid developers of big projects with eight- or nine-figure investments in infrastructure. The city created EIFDs for the Potrero Power Station and its 2,300 units of housing, and the planned redevelopment of Stonestown Galleria, which is expected to include 3,500 residences.
“The mayor has made it very clear to our team that we are to work on all the large (development agreement) projects and figure out how to get them unstuck,” Anne Taupier, who heads up development for Breed, told the Chronicle.
“We have heard that repeatedly from her — ‘Just figure it out.’”