40-Story Tower In San Francisco Moves Forward With Latest Approvals
Build Inc.’s One Oak Street project in San Francisco’s Market and Van Ness corridor is a step closer to breaking ground. San Francisco’s planning commission certified the final environmental impact report Thursday. The planning commission also approved various other measures, including a controversial conditional use authorization to provide a parking ratio of 0.45 spaces per dwelling unit, the equivalent of 136 for the 304-unit condo tower.
The project has been met with significant backlash from some community organizations over the amount of parking. Project opponents said the transit-rich corridor should have a 0.25-to-1 parking ratio and Build’s project is creating more parking than necessary, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The planning commission also adopted a provision that if the tower were to be converted to apartments, the parking ratio would be lowered.
The developer said due to the 40-story height, the project would need to be underwritten as condos with 136 spaces to receive financial backing. The $400M tower would not be economically feasible as apartments and would end up costing renters nearly $8/SF, or $8K for a 1K SF unit. This project would have some of the lowest parking ratios of a high-rise residential tower. 181 Fremont, for example, has a parking ratio of 1.25 per unit.
Build’s tower will include 4,110 SF of ground-floor retail, 11,056 SF of private, common and open space and 366 bike parking spaces. If all goes well, the project could break ground in 2018 and be completed during 2021, Build partner Michael Yarne said during the planning commission meeting.
