Posted Mar 20, 2009, 2:54 PM
|
|
BANNED
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: San Francisco & Tucson
Posts: 24,088
|
|
Quote:
Friday, March 20, 2009
Developers emerge for new San Francisco housing
San Francisco Business Times - by J.K. Dineen
The deep freeze that has halted all stages of housing development across San Francisco for more than a year is showing signs of thawing, as residential builders push new projects in Rincon Hill, the Dogpatch and South of Market.
On Rincon Hill, the Emerald Fund is proposing to build 308 units at 333 Harrison St., a project that would include two neighborhood parks. At 430 Main St. and 429 Beale St., a narrow lot sandwiched between the Baycrest condos and a Caltrans yard, Portland-Pacific is proposing to build 113 apartments. The Martin Building Co., meanwhile, is scrambling to put together financing to go forward on two apartment complexes: 179 units at 2235 Third St. and 85 units at 178 Townsend St.
While developers are by nature optimists, the increase in entitlement activity does not seem to be a reflection of a recovering real estate market. Data shows that absorption of housing is still way down, inventory continues to rise and demand is tepid. Inventory of active residential listings on the market in San Francisco (condos, single-family homes and tenancy-in-common units) is 80 percent higher than it was in 2006 and 24 percent higher than a year ago, according to an analysis by the online real estate publication Socketsite. On the demand side, volume is off 20 percent on a year-over-year basis, Socketsite said.
Instead, the flurry of entitlement activity is an effort to get projects lined up to take advantage of the next cycle, when it does arrive. And unlike the crop of glassy deluxe condos built between 2005 through 2007 — each one touted as more luxurious than the last — the new projects tend to be more modest, mid-rise buildings with creative financing, using a combination of public and private money. Deluxe highrise condos like the second phase of One Rincon Hill and Turnberry Tower at 45 Lansing St. are unlikely to begin until prices start climbing again.
“People are working very hard to get things entitled so when the recovery comes they can start construction,” said Oz Erickson of Emerald Fund.
For 333 Harrison, Erickson said his firm has applied for grant money from Proposition 1C, a state bond measure designed to stimulate transit-oriented housing. The bond money would pay for 15 percent of the project costs — enough to fund the two parks and infrastructure for the project. If the grant comes through, 30 percent of the housing units would be far below market rate, and no city money would be needed, Erickson said.
The site Emerald Fund has under contract at 333 Harrison is owned by the California Department of Transportation and is being used as a staging area for Bay Bridge construction. If Emerald Fund gets approvals and bond money, Caltrans has agreed to donate another site as a dog-friendly park on the corner of Bryant and Beale streets. Another park would be built on the Harrison Street side of the property.
“It’s not a slam dunk at all, but it would be great for the city and great for us,” said Erickson.
Martin Building Co., on the other hand, is redesigning its two entitled projects to take advantage of a Department of Housing and Urban Development funds available for rental housing. The Martin Building Co. declined to comment. The two projects are being designed by HKS.
“We are excited — it’s residential projects at a time when nobody is doing anything on the residential side,” said Brendan Dunnigan, vice president and manager of the San Francisco office of HKS.
Meanwhile, the proposed project at 430 Main St. and 429 Beale St., is causing a neighborhood controversy and is opposed by residents in the abutting 288-unit Baycrest development, according to Jamie Whitaker, vice president of the Rincon Hill Neighborhood Association and Baycrest resident. He said the Portland-Pacific project, which comes before the Planning Commission on March 26, is too close to the Baycrest. He said his building “would be looking at a big wall blocking our open space.” In a petition, he says “don’t let a selfish developer cast over 400 neighbors into darkness.”
Christopher Zupsic of Portland-Pacific said they had moved the project back three feet from the lot line out of consideration to the neighbors.
“This is a great high-density project that complies with the Rincon Hill plan approved by the city,” said Zupsic. “The neighbors were aware their views could some day be blocked, and it’s recorded in their own property deeds that the windows on that side could someday be closed in.”
The Housing Action Coalition, which advocates for transit-oriented housing development, has finally seen an influx of new projects, after canceling several of its monthly project review meetings, according to Executive Director Tim Colen.
“There was nothing new — the cupboards were bare,” said Colen. “Now we see project sponsors calling us up again. It’s evidence that people are scheming for when the credit markets unfreeze.”
jkdineen@bizjournals.com / (415) 288-4971
|
Source: http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/...23/story1.html
|
Prev
My post 2108 above contains a lot more about 430 Main/429 Beale. I have the feeling this one will only get built if severely modified the way BayCrest residents want.
Linear Mode
