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Still Very Tall Building Proposed for Sloat Boulevard Site

The Outer Sunset could still end up with a very tall, somewhat out-of-scale new residential development on the site of Sloat Garden Center, where a previous developer had proposed an insanely tall, 50-story tower.

Lurie Hires Former Twitter CFO Ned Segal to Be ‘Policy Chief’ of Housing and Economic Development

A former Twitter executive who’s suing Elon Musk over unpaid severance is now taking over SF’s housing and economic recovery response under the Daniel Lurie administration, as Ned Segal has been named Chief of Housing and Economic Development.

Business & Tech

SF Revokes Approval for $700-a-Month Sleeping Pod Complex, Ironically, Because It Doesn’t Have Affordable Housing

That embattled $700-a-month sleeping pod complex has lost its City Hall approval, because the SF Planning Department says it doesn't comply with the city’s affordable housing rules, among other permit violations.

Massive Hilton Hotel Near Union Square Could Become Housing, After Sale Goes Through

San Francisco's largest hotel, which is also one of the country's largest hotels outside of Las Vegas, the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, is headed for auction. And there are some hints that a buyer could convert it into apartment housing.

Judge Strikes Down SF’s ‘Empty Homes Tax’ After Property Owners Sued

Though San Francisco voters approved the residential vacancy tax known popularly as the “Empty Homes Tax” in 2022, the landlords lawyered up, and that tax on vacant rental units was just tossed out by an SF Superior Court judge.

Here Is the Affordable Housing Project Slated to Rise on the Site of Oakland’s Ghost Ship Fire

Nearly eight years after the Ghost Ship fire killed 36 people, we have our first look at the plans for the two-building, five-story affordable housing complex being built to replace it in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood, and it will have an on-site memorial.

A New Group of Silicon Valley Techies Are Now Trying to Build A North Bay Village

The project, named Esmeralda, says it is completely separate from the similar "California Forever" proposal from Solano County.

SF Billionaire's 17-Story Condo Proposal Appears Dead In the Water, Which Partly Explains His Feud With Aaron Peskin

SF Standard owner Michael Moritz trashed Supervisor Aaron Peskin in the NY Times yesterday. Today we get some insight into why, as a Telegraph Hill condo project Moritz is backing just had its applications canceled, though mostly because of a missed deadline.

Breed Proposes Yet Another Incentive to Convert Offices to Housing, as No One’s Been Jumping on Previous Incentives

Mayor Breed is pushing a new proposal to eliminate an estimated $70,000 and $90,000 per unit in costs to convert downtown office space to housing, as developers aren’t really biting on previous conversion incentives.

$20 Billion Bay Area Affordable Housing Bond Killed Off at Last Minute, As It Seemed Unlikely to Pass

What would have been the biggest housing bond in California history has already been yanked off the ballot three months before the election, and Bay Area voters will not be voting on a $20 billion affordable housing bond in November’s elections.

SF Forced by State to Streamline Housing Approvals After Missing 2023 Production Goals

State Senator Scott Wiener’s bill intended to eliminate reviews and challenges to housing proposals has now done just that, as the state just forced San Francisco to streamline approvals and massively speed up housing production.

Project to Redevelop Divisadero Car Wash Site Looks Alive Again, With 203-Unit Building Proposed

The same day that we hear about signs of life at a large residential project at Van Ness and Market, another long-stalled, presumed-dead development project on Divisadero appears to be stirring awake as well.

State Auditors Step Into Housing Element Mandate Mess, Question Whether Regulators are Doing Enough to Help Cities

California cities are scrambling to comply with state-mandated housing element goals, and they may be scrambling too hard, as a state committee is going to audit whether the goals are too demanding and the penalties too harsh.

Some Anonymous Donor Just Gave $100 Million to Build Affordable Housing for Artists on Market Street

We may be losing the McRoskey Mattress store at Market and Gough streets, but we’d be getting about 100 affordable housing units for artists in a slick new building, thanks to a cool $100 million from an anonymous benefactor.

Latest, Greatest Version of Ambitious Stonestown Development Gets Approval, With Even More Housing

The grandiose plan to turn Stonestown Galleria and its parking lot into a vibrant housing village with new parks was approved by the SF Planning Commission, and it’s been souped up from 2,900 housing units to now 3,500 units.

Infamous Nordstrom Parking Lot Will Remain a Parking Lot Five More Years, City Hall Not Happy About It

The notoriously rejected 27-story residential tower in a SoMa parking lot had its Plan B version approved, but now the developer is putting the project on ice, and a highly frustrated Planning Commission approved letting it remain a parking lot for another five years.

Report: More Than 80% of Middle-Income 'Below Market Rate’ Housing Units Sitting Vacant In SF, Partly Thanks to Red Tape

It’s great that San Francisco developers are given incentives to set aside housing for middle-income families that can’t afford the pricier units. It’s not so great that a large percentage of these units are sitting empty because of bureaucracy and the state of the housing market.

Ambitious Potrero Bus Yard Affordable Housing Project Might Get Slashed From 500 Units to 100 Units

As the SFMTA proceeds with their grand plan to modernize the 109-year-old Potrero Yard bus facility and build 500 units of affordable housing on top of it, we receive word that they may reduce that affordable housing component to barely 100 units.

Supervisors Override Breed’s Veto of Peskin’s Density Limit Legislation, In Big Win for Peskin

With two supervisors likely running for mayor, the SF Board of Supervisors flexed a supermajority and shot down Mayor Breed’s veto of their measure to limit large towers along parts of the city’s northern waterfront.

SF’s Former Biggest Landlord Veritas, Now Defaulting to the Tune of $1 Billion, Selling 762 More SF Apartments

The local downfall of SF’s one-time biggest residential landlord Veritas Investments continues unabated, as they’re selling off more San Francisco properties, this time 23 buildings with 762 rent-controlled apartments.

Long-Vacant Mid-Market Condo Building Gets City Hall OK To Switch to Apartments Instead

Mohammed Nuru bribery complications left a 12-story, 109-unit residential building empty for nearly three years, but that building known as The Oak just got the OK to convert from condos to apartments under a new owner who does not have any bribery charges.

Concord Is On Track to Get Rent Control, More Bay Area Cities May Follow

Rent control is going beyond Oakland and San Francisco, as Concord is on the verge of implementing it, and a handful of other Bay Area cities also have rent control ballot measures in the works.

Former Mission-Bernal Big Lots Slated to Become 70 Units of Affordable Senior Housing

The big lot that used to house Big Lots on Mission Street may soon be home to an affordable senior housing complex, from the same nonprofit that’s rebuilding the burnt remains of the 3300 Club across the street.

This Market Street Office Building Is Slated to Become 120 Apartments By Next Year

An office-to-residential conversion, the second major one to move forward on Market Street, is in the works at 785 Market, a.k.a. the Humboldt Bank Building, and the developer has plans to turn the building into 120 apartments for middle-income residents.

Fillmore Safeway to Close to Make Way for Housing, Depriving Neighborhood of Its Only Grocery Store

A long troubled but still very active and popular Safeway location in the Fillmore neighborhood is slated to close in early March, with the site being sold to a residential developer.