Preliminary permits have been filed for a 24-story mixed-use tower at 924 3rd Street in Downtown San Rafael, Marin County. The application is now the tallest proposal in the county, looking to add several hundred apartments and a market hall in the heart of the city. Berkeley-based Goldstone Management is responsible for the development as the property owner.
The 260-foot-tall structure is expected to yield just over half a million square feet of housing, 24,950 square feet of commercial retail space in the market hall, and a 350-car garage. The development is expected to produce 345 dwelling units. The application also calls for 52 affordable housing units, half for very-low-income households and half for moderate-income households.
924 3rd Street east elevation, illustration by Studio KDA
924 3rd Street site map, illustration by Studio KDA
The affordable housing inclusion allows the developer to invoke Assembly Bill 1287 and the State Density Bonus law to achieve a 100% bonus above base zoning. The developer is also seeking to use Assembly Bill 130 to receive an exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act.
Studio KDA is responsible for the design. Vertical elevations provide insight into the potential project, including different exterior styles for the 3rd Street and 4th Street facades. The building will be clad with metal panels, brick veneer, and ornamental tiles. The 4th Street streetwall will be articulated to appear like several smaller buildings built above the uniform ground-floor retail glass wall.
924 3rd Street overlooking 4th Street, illustration by Studio KDA
The southern podium facade overlooking 4th Street resembles the front of a movie theater, though there are no plans for a theater on-site. The ground floor includes a double-height glass lobby entrance capped by a thirty-foot-high kinetic wall. The residential tower is wrapped in glass-railing balconies and a copper-clad Art Deco feature.
The structure will be carved by various setbacks to complement neighboring buildings, with the 4th Street component rising 10 floors with a sixth-floor setback, and the tower rising 24 stories above 3rd Street with a 10th-floor setback. The tower will also include a 10th-floor cantilever over the podium annex.
924 3rd Street west elevation, illustration by Studio KDA
924 3rd Street site plan, illustration by Studio KDA
Demolition is required for the six existing low-slung commercial structures and surface parking. The new structure will include 345 apartment units and around 25,000 square feet of commercial space. The roughly 1.4-acre property extends from 3rd Street to 4th Street on a block bound by A Street and Lootens Place.
Rhoades Planning Group is the planning consultant responsible for the application. The estimated cost and timeline for construction have not yet been shared.
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Lol this is awesome. The Zoning board meetings will be comedy
“How could this happen?!?!” screech the people who spent decades vetoing anything over 2 levels.
This. 😅
We love this for San Rafael
This is awesome. Marin needs this housing!
We LOVE this for San Rafael.
24 stories. Too much for Marin and bad precedent
I did not move here to live in a concrete jungle
If several dozen towers like this start popping up in your neighborhood I’d understand the discomfort of living in a concrete jungle you didn’t choose. But this is one of only a few taller proposals around downtown San Rafael. Assuming you don’t live in downtown San Rafael (based on you saying it’s too much for Marin), I’m not sure how significantly this proposal will alter your experience of Marin County as a whole. Not to mention, 24 stories would not be considered tall in most major ‘concrete jungles.’
It’s right downtown three blocks from an eight lane freeway. It’s not the middle of the countryside or even suburbia, or probably within miles of where you live. Grow up.
If not downtown San Rafael, where in Marin County would a building of this scale be acceptable? Marin County is losing population and people who provide your services have to commute in from Stockton. San Rafael is the county seat and the most urban community in the county. It also has good freeway and transit access.
If you are going to go up in Marin County, this is the place to do it.
But could we get a better design please?
Tallest and ugliest! Lol
That is an understatement.
The design is really ugly and not in keeping with the San Rafael vibe. The traffic is going to get even worse than it is a,ready.
The caption for the views overlooking 3rd and 4th streets are reversed. The tower will overlook 3rd St, which is the reason I assume they are using that address rather than 4th. I think that layout makes sense as 3rd is a traffic sewer and the proposed design for 4th is a much better fit.
Agreed that the tower needs work, but I think the 4th St facade is pretty good. Honestly, it looks like they put some thought into the 4th St building and then just threw a massing diagram in for the tower. Weird that they would give the most prominent part of the proposal almost zero thought so far. Hopefully, the tower design changes considerably.
By San Rafael Vibe do you mean the aging strip commercial along Red Hill? The mediocre 1960s snout houses? The collection of ugly auto-oriented commercial near the freeway? The ridiculous mega mansions tucked away in the hills. Come on…San Rafael is NOT Paris or Florence. Or even Berkeley