A developer with plenty of experience with SF's boom and bust cycles is betting big on a new tower near the Transamerica Pyramid that would include a 24-story office component.

We've been hearing from brokers for a couple years now that the San Francisco office market isn't completely dead — it's just the market for sub-par office space that is in the crapper. Companies are reportedly still clamoring for Class-A, luxe office space with views, and one developer, Related California, is hoping to cash in on that demand with a newly proposed project.

As the Chronicle first reported this week, Related has been in talks with the city for several years to redevelop the site of Fire Station 13 at 530 Sansome Street. And their latest proposal seeks to double the height of their proposed tower, which was originally entitled back in 2021 as a 19-story mixed-use project that was primarily a hotel.

Veteran developer Matt Witte, a principal at Related, says they are designing the 41-story, 575-foot tower, to put on emphasis on bespoke offices on the upper floors, with a 15-story luxury hotel below it as well as two floors of amenities in between. Witte says they are gearing the office component to "very specific types of tenants that historically have been interested in smaller floor plates with views."

The proposed tower, to the left of the Transamerica building. Rendering by SOM

Seeking entitlements for a doubly high project is something Related has done elsewhere in SF in recent years, amid sky-high construction costs that have stalled a number of other projects. As we reported in 2022, Related went back to the Board of Supervisors to seek more height for their project at 98 Franklin Street — a 38-story tower that will house the San Francisco International School, and have 385 market-rate units above.

Last summer, the board unanimously approved the project, with the caveat that Related must kick in $1 million toward a stalled affordable project on Parcel K in Hayes Valley (better known as Proxy), and that they will build a 100%-affordable project on a parcel at 600 McAllister Street, bringing the total number of new units in the neighborhood to 671. Supervisor Dean Preston, who represents the district, called this a "quadruple win" for the city.

The new plan for 530 Sansome also includes the construction of a new Fire Station 13, estimated to cost $40 million, on an adjacent parcel, 447 Battery Street, that Related is in contract to purchase out of foreclosure. And Related has agreed to throw $4.5 million toward an affordable project in Chinatown.

The Chronicle notes that the new tower would be competing for the same type of high-end office seekers that developer Michael Shvo is seeking to lure into the renovated Transamerica Pyramid.