The Central South of Market (SOMA) and Transbay areas could see a big increase in new housing if legislation put forward this week succeeds in removing certain zoning restrictions. On Tuesday, July 23, Mayor London Breed and District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey — whose district includes SOMA — along with the Planning Department and the Office of Economic & Workforce Development (OEWD) unveiled legislation that would expand the capacity for new housing in those areas by getting rid of zoning rules requiring minimum office space be included in mixed-use projects on large sites.
In the wake of the Covid pandemic and the dramatic shift to working from home for many businesses, San Francisco’s downtown area has suffered from high office vacancy rates and a dearth of foot traffic for area retail and restaurant establishments. In response to both of those effects, the city is hoping to increase the number of people who live downtown. In effect, their home office is the new office space.
According to the mayor’s office, “the proposed legislation responds to changes in demand for office space by removing a zoning provision that currently requires new projects in the Central SoMa and Transbay areas to provide a two-thirds commercial space to one-third residential ratio for the neighborhoods’ largest sites. This change would allow developments on those sites to be fully residential or significantly increase the amount of residential space provided in a mixed-use project.”
Breed, who wants to attract 30,000 new residents and students to the city’s downtown by 2030, said the changes represent “another step towards unlocking longtime barriers that have slowed us down and prevented progress.”
The legislation is the latest salvo from the mayor’s push for housing in the city and especially downtown in an attempt to meet the city’s state-mandated goal of 82,000 new housing units over the next eight years. She has called for removing “any and all impediments to building housing Downtown.”
OEWD’s director of development, Anne Taupier, said her office wants to help developers find creative solutions to get projects moving. “We look forward to seeing some of the larger development projects that were stalled due to pandemic economics finally get underway and for our vision of a sustainable and vibrant SOMA neighborhood where people live, work and play start to take shape.”
One developer, Strada Investment Group’s Founding Partner Jesse Blout, said his company is currently building 500 units in Central SOMA “and, with this change, we will certainly look to do more.”