Smaller Office Projects Seek To Avoid S.F.'s Prop M Cap
Some new San Francisco office projects are finding a way to avoid the tightest restrictions of the Prop M cap, which limits the amount of office space that can be built. Instead, some developers are pitching new projects at a size just below the cap.
That includes Lion Enterprises, which wants to convert around a third of its building at 2525 16th St (above) for up to 49,999 SF of new office space.
Under Prop M, the city limits office development to 875k SF each year for new office buildings 50k SF or larger. For buildings between 25k SF and 49,999 SF, the limit is 75k SF. Any unused amount is applied to the next year, according to the San Francisco Business Times.
There are applications for projects totaling nearly twice as much as the available space for projects 50k SF and larger (and pre-applications far exceed that amount, in part in anticipation of rezoning in Central SoMa to encourage more office development). Meanwhile, applications for smaller projects have been slower to come in, leaving around 1M SF of available space under the cap.
That provides an opportunity for some developers. Other smaller projects seeking approval include Digital Realty's 360 Spear St, Sierra Maestra Properties' 462 Bryant St and Trumark Urban's 598 Bryant St. [SFBT]
