Renovation Plans Filed For Storied 2100 Jackson Street, San Francisco

Permits have been filed for renovations at 2100 Jackson Street in Pacific Heights, San Francisco. The proposal would reintroduce the 12 vacant apartments to the market after the late Maurice Kanbar, creator of Skyy Vodka, evicted all tenants at the turn of the millennium in a high-profile move to convert the complex into his personal residence. Emerald Fund is the new owner responsible for the application.

OpenScope Studio is the project architect, with IMEG Corporation working as the structural engineer. The application itself is fairly straightforward, proposing no major expansion or changes in unit capacity to the 10-story building. The developer is seeking to split the ground-floor unit into two apartments and combine the penthouse with a top-floor studio unit. Improvements are also expected to the rooftop deck and windows.

2100 Jackson Street, image via Google Satellite

The project will require structural retrofitting to mitigate issues presented by the non-ductile concrete process used by the original builders. In the conditional use authorization application published by the city, the unnamed authors describe the project as “San Francisco’s proverbial canary in the coal mine as a model for structural rehabilitation for this dangerous category of building. The 12-unit building is extremely important as a role model in helping design a successful solution to the life-safety problem that effects the housing for tens of thousands of San Francisco residents.”

Late last month, Emerald Fund withdrew its 2024-filed plans to add four floors to the 1924-built detached garage, which would have added four more apartments and a new structure overlooking Laguna Street. OpenScope Studio was responsible for the design.

2100 Jackson Street garage, image by author

Withdrawn plans for expansion of the detached garage at 2100 Jackson Street, rendering by OpenScope Studio

The apartment complex was built in 1923, in a Beaux-Arts style designed by Conrad A. Meussdorffer for Joseph Levin. Meussdorffer, son of German immigrants who moved to the city in 1853, is best remembered as the architect of choice for the wealthy elite in early 20th-century San Francisco, having designed St. Regis Apartments in Lafayette Park, 2006 Washington Street, and 2500 Steiner Street.

Maurice Kanbar purchased 2100 Jackson Street in 1996 for $4.6 million, and later invoked the Ellis Act to evict all rental tenants from the site in a highly publicized and controversial move to transform the small apartment tower into an individual residence. Reporting at the time, Emily Gurnon of the San Francisco Examiner wrote, “Given the fact that a nearby single-family residence recently sold for $15 million, Kanbar said, ‘I don’t consider this to be terribly extravagant.’”

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