At Thursday’s Planning Commission Meeting, SF's seven commissioners gave the green light to a mixed use, multi-story building project perched at 3314 Cesar Chavez Street, next door to a Mobile gas station.

The commission unanimously approved a conditional-use permit for the six-story Mission project, after the developer made efforts to reach out to the local community, including the Calle 24 group, which has been advocating for more affordable housing in the neighborhood. As Mission Local reports, 11 of the building's 58 residential units will be designated affordable.

“The reason I want to develop this project is I feel like the building is being underutilized. We only share a small office there,” says property co-owner Sherman Chiu, per Mission Local. Chiu bought the property and its current structure in 2005 to use as headquarters for his building and engineering contracting company. Chiu and his business partner both plan to live in the new building, and keep their offices in a ground-floor space.

But, of course, this is San Francisco, so the process has been far from simple.

“It’s not been an easy project for us. We’re not developers,” Chiu said to the committee as well, nodding at the uphill battle he’s had with seeing the proposal to fruition.

In February of last year, Chiu and his developing team collaborated with community groups, who advocated for more affordable units, and murals.

Per SocketSite, the 65-foot-tall building will offer 53,000 square feet of residential space, a 3,000-square-foot ground-floor office space,  and a 31-space garage with enough room to store 57 bikes.

Photo: Etienne Girardet, via Unsplash