Looking For A New Site To Develop In San Francisco? Try These 5 Neighborhoods
San Francisco developers are running out of land to build. Lots are getting filled out in the Transbay District and South of Market, but San Francisco still has some new opportunities worth considering. From the waterfront to Central SoMa, these are the neighborhoods with land available and buildings to purchase.
Central SoMa
The biggest district to provide opportunities for developers is Central SoMa, a 230-acre neighborhood bounded by Market, Townsend, Second and Sixth streets. San Francisco city officials are working through a plan to upzone the area to allow for building heights of 130 feet compared to the current heights of 65 feet.
The new plan will accommodate space for 45,000 jobs and 7,500 housing units and will incorporate more light industrial, hotels, office and affordable housing units. The under-construction Central SoMA subway will connect the Bayview district to Chinatown and allow for additional transit into the neighborhood.
Developers have been working on several proposals already, including R.D. Olson Development’s plans for a 300-room hotel, Forest City’s 5M project and Kilroy Realty’s Flower Mart project.
Jackson Square
This neighborhood has a lot of retailers, but not a lot of new multifamily developments, Grosvenor Americas Senior Vice President Steve Buster said during a recent Bisnow event. The developer is working on a 33-unit boutique condo development at Pacific and Battery, which is expected to deliver in April. The seven-story building at 288 Pacific topped off in September. Grosvenor Americas also bought a 50K SF office building at 394 Pacific Ave. within the last few years. Shorenstein Co. purchased an office property at 901 Battery in September, and Newcastle Partners acquired an office at 900 Kearny St. in July.
The neighborhood has several cultural amenities and historic landmarks, many of which survived the 1906 earthquake and fire. The district is between North Beach, Chinatown and the Financial District and its main streets are Pacific, Sansome Street, Washington Street and Columbus Avenue.
Southeast Waterfront
While FivePoint and Build Inc. are working on or planning out large projects along San Francisco’s southeast waterfront, additional land that once held power plants is opening up in Hunters Point. The former Hunters Point Power Plant sits on 31 acres of waterfront and is part of San Francisco’s India Basin Shoreline Plan, which calls for offices, conference center, hotel and retail with housing on Evans Avenue and Hunters Point Boulevard.
Associate Capital also has submitted plans to develop the former Potrero Power Plant into a 5.3M SF mixed-use development with 2,700 residential units, a 220-room hotel, about 600K SF of office, over 645K SF of lab space and over 107K SF of retail. SingHaiyi Group / Ocean Landing also are pushing forward with a 4.8-acre, 600-unit multifamily project at Candlestick Point.
Embarcadero
Developers willing to go through potential hoops of renovating a pier along the Embarcadero have several new opportunities. The Port of San Francisco said earlier in October it was looking to partner with developers to renovate several piers into a variety of mixed-use options. The opportunities include Piers 19, 23, 29, 31, 26, 28, 38 and 40.
The Port will consider any financially viable options even if they are not trust-consistent, which typically does not allow housing or hotels. A public-private partnership led to the restoration of historic buildings at Historic Pier 70 with Orton Development as well as a development with Forest City at Pier 70 closer to the waterline.
Dogpatch
San Francisco’s once gritty Dogpatch neighborhood is fast becoming a creative hub for residents and small businesses. The neighborhood spans from the waterfront at Pier 70 to Indiana Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in the west and Mariposa and Cesar Chavez streets in the north and south.
Only a handful of new developments have been completed in the last 18 months, and residential units are in high demand. Trumark Urban’s recently completed Knox condo complex reported strong sales soon after opening in April. DM Development’s 69-unit condo complex at 815 Tennessee is expected to be completed in early 2018. Raintree Partners recently completed a 92-unit apartment complex called The Martin. AvalonBay Communities is working on a 326-unit apartment project that is expected to be completed in Q3 2018.
Find out more about the next big development opportunities at Bisnow’s San Francisco Re-Development & Re-Positioning Update event Nov. 15.
