|
|
|
San Francisco, California
December 2009 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2299 Market Street Submitted Without Anchor Tenant
After an unsuccessful attempt this summer to reach a deal with Apple, plans for a commercial and residential development at a prominent Castro intersection are now moving forward without a commercial tenant. Designs for 2299 Market St., located at the intersection with Noe and 16th streets, were submitted to the San Francisco Planning Dept. on Oct. 6, detailing plans for a five-story, 50-foot high mixed-use building with 18 dwelling units, which have not been designated as either apartments or condos. The plans also include two different commercial spaces, one about 2,700 square feet and the other close to 1,600 square feet, neither of which have yet been filled by businesses. The property, a 7,000-plus square foot lot valued at over $3 million, is the site of the former Bethany United Methodist Church, which was set ablaze by an arsonist in the 1980s. San Francisco developers Angus McCarthy and Edward Duffy purchased it from the church in April 2007, although the lot has remained vacant. Since the early ‘90s, a host of development proposals have come and gone, leaving the lot physically unchanged. According to City Planner Michael Smith, the property lies just outside of Market/Octavia zoning area and cannot capitalize on relaxed regulations on density and parking spaces. The property will therefore need to conform to the design requirements of 1 dwelling space per 400 square feet and one parking space for each dwelling unit as opposed to just half a space for the Market/Octavia zone. “The problem is that the Market/Octavia zoning stops at 16th and Noe. So that leaves one whole block out of that zoning district, which means it’s under the standard neighborhood commercial zoning,” he said. “We legally can’t apply the Market/Octavia zoning at this time.” McCarthy did not respond to several attempts for comment on this article. “This is probably going to be a signature site; it’s one of the most visible locations in the whole Upper Market/Castro,” he said. “There hasn’t been any kind of major new development in the Upper Market in at least a decade or more. So in a lot of respects, this is going to be kind of historic in the sense that this is a precedent project at a super-busy intersection. So at a bottom line level, we really want to see it done to the highest quality standards.” Cohen said he worried of a “trend” of proposals for formula retailers. Proposition G, the "formula retail" ordinance approved by voters in 2006, requires that chain retailers operating 11 or more stores obtain a conditional use permit to open in a neighborhood commercial district. To approve the permit, the Planning Commission must determine that the tenant is both necessary and desirable. Cohen said the DTNA is not against formula retail on principle, but the willingness of the retailer to integrate their plans with the community input is paramount. “We want to see the ground floor cut up into two or three smaller spaces to encourage the kind of local, smaller businesses that most people enjoy about Upper Market, rather than having one single ground floor retail space that is kind of a monster, which can end up with the difficulties we’ve seen already with big leasers sitting vacant for a long time because they are really hard to lease up,” he said. A community meeting required for pre-applications is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 1650 Mission St. at 4:30 p.m. The property owners are responsible for sending out notice two weeks in advance to community organizations and landowners. “I’m sure there will be a large range of comments,” he said.
|
||||
|
|