S.F.'s Biggest Developers Sound Off on Moratorium Rejection

Last night the Board of Supervisors rejected the proposed market rate housing moratorium in the Mission. And this morning at Bisnow's 2nd Annual S.F. Residential Real Estate Summit at the Intercontinental, developers were cheery over the decision but think it's nuts the city would ever try to hinder more units in the first place.

Panoramic Interests owner Patrick Kennedy says the only way to address the housing shortage is simply to create more. The stringent regulatory process needs vast improvement, he adds. At his micro-unit project on Mission, he's going after his 77th permit—and the project was unanimously approved after a 29-minute hearing.  

DM Development principal Mark MacDonald (center with Allen Matkins partner Lee Gotshall-Maxon on the left and Tishman Speyer senior managing director Carl Shannon on the right) has never seen this market in a state of oversupply. He also says our hyper-democracy and regulatory process, paired with the national problem of no funding mechanisms for middle income housing, feeds the problem. Mark says the city needs to get more comfortable with taller buildings in order to add more supply.

Carl told the 300-person real estate audience he has huge compassion for people who are angry about sky-high prices in S.F. Rents since the bottom of the cycle have more than doubled and chances are their income hasn't done the same. Carl says it's important for us to engage in the public process and work with City Hall. "If we stand in an ivory tower and take a confrontational approach, we will lose." Check back with us Friday for more on the controversial topic.