New building permits have been filed for the 100% affordable housing tower at 772 Pacific Avenue in San Francisco’s Chinatown. The 15-story proposal, named the New Asia project, aims to deliver 175 units for older residents of the neighborhood, with the upper floors above a newly built banquet hall. The developer, Chinatown Community Development Corporation, expects construction to start in February 2027.
In late September last year, the California Department of Housing and Community Development awarded $33.5 million to the partnership of CCDC and the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development. The City purchased 772 Pacific Avenue in 2017 with plans to transform the site into housing. CCDC purchased 758 Pacific Avenue in 2023 with support from MOHCD and will transfer ownership of the lot to the city to facilitate the lot merger before the construction loan closes.
772 Pacific Avenue preliminary massing area context, rendering by HCLA and Stan Teng Architectural Studio
The roughly 155-foot-tall structure is expected to yield around 166,630 square feet, including 175 apartments, a 13,500-square-foot banquet hall, and 3,300 square feet of usable open space. Unit types will vary with 124 studios, 50 one-bedrooms, and a two-bedroom manager unit. Amenities will include on-site laundry, a community room, and offices for residential services. The banquet hall will occupy the ground floor, with a double-height ceiling and mezzanine space.
Herman Coliver Locus Architecture and Stan Teng Architectural Studio are jointly responsible for the project. Renderings have yet to be shared, with an aerial massing illustration still remaining as the only insight available to the public for the future design. The illustration shows a generic massing overview, with some articulation and a sloped rooftop awning.
San Francisco’s Chinatown is the oldest such neighborhood in North America and one of the largest outside of Asia. The quarter-acre parcel is on a dense block bound by Pacific Avenue, Grant Avenue, Stockton Street, and Broadway. Potential residents at 772 Pacific Avenue will live directly across from one of three buildings within the Ping Yuen public housing projects run by CCDC. The tallest of the Ping Yuen buildings is a twelve-story structure across Stockton Street, built in 1961 with 200 units.
758-772 Pacific Avenue existing condition, image by author
Demolition will be required for two buildings, the 1919-built banquet hall, currently occupied by New Asia Restaurant, at 772 Pacific Avenue, and the two-story commercial infill at 758-760 Pacific Avenue, built in 1926. The project received final approval last January, with support from a Special Use District authorized by the Board of Supervisors in November 2024.
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Who could have expected this: A “neighborhood development” group in San Francisco proposing to develop a neighborhood. Will wonders never cease?
Chinatown is about 60 years behind the times, and given the location, it really should have gone vertical decades ago. Better late than never.