New proposed plans have arrived for a 520-foot, 47-story mixed-use building on the site of a shorter, city-owned building (where a Walgreens lives) at the corner of Van Ness and Market. And even though the world feels like it's at a standstill and San Francisco doesn't need another tall luxury residential tower right now, things are spinning forward.

Plans for the 30 Van Ness project are headed before the Planning Commission at a virtually held meeting on May 21, and the developer is seeking exceptions for some decorative architectural features overhanging the sidewalk — part of the design of the 9-story podium office space — as well as the adoption of the findings of a shadow study.

The story with this development has been a twisted one, as Bay City Beacon reported back in 2017. The city set to sell the property to developer Related California for $80 million in 2015 with a guarantee of 15- to 20-percent affordable units. But in 2016, the Board of Supervisors rejected the sale, and Australian developer Lendlease waltzed in with a $70 million bid, agreeing to 25-percent affordable units.

And as Socketsite explains, the building now has a different mix of residential unit types over the 234,000 square feet of office space than it did when it was first proposed three years ago. Instead of 600 or so micro units that were initially planned, the plans now include 335 dwelling units — a mix of studios, one-, two-, and three-bedroom units — with 25 percent (84 units) designated affordable and below market rate.

Rendering by Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB) architects, via SF Planning
The Van Ness elevation. Rendering by Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB) architects, via SF Planning

This tower will, if things go according to plan, join others on two opposite corners of Van Ness and Market that are still in planning stages, as well as the nearly completed 1550 Mission Street a.k.a. Van Mission.

The long-delayed, 40-story tower directly across the street from 30 Van Ness, dubbed One Oak, was delayed again as we heard in January. Developer BUILD Inc. was looking to sell the project and its entitlements, at the time. The last we heard BUILD was "nearing a deal" with an investor and had gotten the project's entitlements extended.