A few notes about the UCSF project that I *think* Socketsite is misunderstanding:
- There are 130 parking spaces in the project, but NONE of them are available for residents' cars. 95 of them are to accommodate existing office workers at UCSF's office building next door at 654 Minnesota. Some of their parking will be going away with the residential project, and UCSF is also trying to reduce the number parking on the street. The remainder of the spaces in the residential project will be loading/unloading/service use and ride sharing vehicles.
This housing is for UCSF students...most don't have cars and don't need them. UCSF did something similar but much smaller at 130 Irving by the Parnassus campus. No onsite parking and residents are not allowed to apply for residential permits. It appears to be a successful model for this demographic. UCSF surveyed its target student demographic for the Minnesota Street project and 84% said they'd be willing to live there even if they weren't allowed to have a car.
- I have not seen in any UCSF documentation that they are funding community parking lots in Dogpatch. What they have said is they are creating two new surface parking lots on their existing campus acreage (one on the main "North" campus and one on the upcoming "East" campus across Third from the hospital) to help accommodate growing demand from all of their projects. These are TEMPORARY lots that will eventually be replaced by garages as the land becomes needed for buildings. UCSF's Mission Bay campus is a ~40 year buildout, so it's understandable they have been and will continue to use low-cost surface parking where possible until they start running out of space. They briefly mention possible off-site parking near Crane Cove if needed in the 2020 timeframe, but this would appear to be a temporary situation as well.
- As for the buildings themselves, UCSF would probably like to go taller, but they are maxing out the zoned heights on those sites. As a state entity, UCSF technically isn't bound by those restrictions but they always try to follow them in an effort to be a good neighbor and minimize potential difficulties. The renderings being shown are a work in progress and at this stage appear to be mostly massing renderings, as facade designs are still being considered. The project includes 4500 square feet of neighborhood-serving retail, intended to be a small grocery store that Dogpatch residents have been clamoring for.
(More info on all of this is in
UCSF's presentation from earlier this week.)