Perhaps pointing to the fact that moratorium on Mission development wasn't wholly necessary, there are a total of four fully below-market-rate developments now in the pipeline in the Mission in addition to the "Monster in the Mission" that will be 24 percent affordable and one of them is a particularly huge project on Folsom between 16th and 17th that will come along with a large new park. Mission Local reports on 2070 Folsom, whose non-profit developers last fall got awarded the go-ahead to build on the property, and which now could get taller as they're seeking to add an additional three stories above what is currently zoned for the area. The developers, a collaboration between the Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) and Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC), are seeking to add 25 percent more units (26 more, for a total of 127) with the additional height.
The proposal went before the Planning Commission today, and we'll update you if it gets approved.
This project sits next to a new park that's already broken ground, and one fifth of the units will be reserved for "transitional-aged youth," 16- to 24-year-olds who are moving out of foster or state care and into independent situations, sometimes with small children of their own.
This project joins three others in the works nearby that are also fully affordable: 1296 Shotwell Street (96 units), 1950 Mission Street (160 units), and 490 South Van Ness (72 units). A couple are seeking height bonuses in exchange for adding more affordable units, but some neighborhood activists are expected to fight the height-limit exceptions because they see the new construction as presaging further gentrification, even if it is all affordable.
