Entitlement extension has been requested for the 27-story residential proposal at 469 Stevenson Street in SoMa, San Francisco. The project was given a three-year entitlement approval in April of 2023, but construction never started, and the lot remains a surface parking lot. Build Inc is the project sponsor.
The planning process for the 27-story proposal began with the filing of initial applications nearly a decade ago in 2017. The project was approved in 2021, but an appeal filed by TODCO was upheld, and the process stalled. The Board of Supervisors granted approval again in 2023 with expectations of imminent construction, but the project stalled, with the developer publicly citing rising construction costs. In 2024, the city extended the conditional use authorization for public parking for another five years.
469 Stevenson Street, image via Google Street View
469 Stevenson Street aerial view, rendering by Solomon Cordwell Buenz
Managing Partner at Build Inc., Scott Eschelman, writes in the extension request that, “the need for an extension is due to the challenging San Francisco housing market compounded by restrictive financing conditions…”
The entitlement extension seeks to reduce the on-site inclusionary affordable housing from 19% down to 15%. The reduced quantity would still exceed the city’s requirement of just 12%. That is the only modification to the 2023 entitlement requested by Build Inc.
If built, the 290-foot-tall structure is expected to yield around 535,000 square feet with 425,640 square feet for housing, 3,990 square feet for retail, and 30,000 square feet of open space. Unit sizes will vary, with 192 studios, 149 one-bedrooms, 96 two-bedrooms, 50 three-bedrooms, and eight five-bedroom units. Parking is included for 178 cars and 227 bicycles. Bicycle parking will be included on the basement level, accessible from the garage or the lobby.
469 Stevenson Street street-level activity, rendering by Solomon Cordwell Buenz
469 Stevenson Street design inspiration, rendering by Solomon Cordwell Buenz
SCB is the project architect, with landscape architecture by The Miller Company. The facade material takes inspiration from the copper rivets in Levi’s denim jeans. The building is clad with copper-tone metal panels between floor-to-ceiling windows.
The 0.66-acre property is located along Stevenson Street between 5th Street and 6th Street, and across from the IKEA-anchored mall. Construction is expected to cost over $200 million and last around 36 months from groundbreaking, though an estimated date for that has not yet been established. If approved, the updated entitlement would be valid until May 2029.
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If not for the regressive BOS from years ago this project would have been completed already, people would be living in that area, patronizing local businesses and helping to uplift the neighborhood and sustain businesses. Instead we have an empty parking lot, and businesses closing. We should never revert back to having a BOS with such ridiculous stances on housing.
If the YIMBY useful idiots and the “pro housing activists” were serious about housing affordability, they’d be funding lawsuits to put a stop to tactics like this and speaking up loudly against entitlement extensions.
The developer had an approved project almost three years ago, did NOT request building nor demolition permits for the project when the approval was in hand, and now are back requesting continued operation of a surface-level parking lot. What’s to say they don’t wait another three years and then request another extension? Is a magic construction fairy going to appear and lower construction costs to the level of the developer’s liking?
YIMBYs need to be intellectually honest and admit that this tower is not being delayed due to San Francisco’s supposed arduous planning process. It wasn’t delayed due to the political power of organized incumbent homeowners coming to the dias at Planning Commission meetings, pounding the table saying “don’t build a 290-foot-tall tower in my back yard.”
It was delayed due to the developer’s own lethargy and inability to proceed with necessary haste.