The Central SoMa area between the Moscone Center and the Giants' ballpark was supposed to boom thanks to an ambitious City Hall plan, but the pandemic made that go bust, so now officials are revising the plan with more of a focus on housing and retail.
Back in 2018, something called the Central SoMa Plan intended to supercharge that neighborhood with “nearly 16 million square feet for new housing and jobs, over $2B in public benefits.” Auto body shops were selling for tens of millions of dollars in anticipation of giant new tech company headquarters that would be built in the areas of Folsom, Harrison, Bryant and Brannan streets near these wonderful new things like the Central Subway and Chase Center that were on their way in.
“When we first approved [the Central SoMa Plan] we had such a shortage of available office space, we were down at a 3% vacancy rate,” SF Office of Economic and Workforce Development director of development Anne Taupier is quoted by the Examiner as saying. And the flatter skyline of Central SoMa seen elbow would tower as tall as the downtown area next door.
That didn’t happen. The overall office market was obliterated by the pandemic, and a good majority of the planned Central SoMa Plan projects have not yet even had a shovel put to ground. And other neighborhoods like Jackson Square and Mission Bay have since stolen the “It” buzz, while Central SoMa has racked up encampments on still-unstarted development projects.
“We were really banking on the Central SoMa plan when we purchased our property in 2017 — that was one of our selling points with the bank,” Brickhouse Bar & Grill owner Kim Kobasic told the Chronicle this past summer. “I do feel like our neighborhood has been a little forgotten.”
Because of this, the SF Board of Supervisors revised the Central SoMa Plan on Tuesday, as the SF Business Times reports. The new version of this plans for the area highlighted above removes a requirement that two-thirds of a project need to be devoted to office space, allowing for much more housing and retail, as those are considered stronger sectors.
This hopes to jumpstart some high-profile flame-outs. You might remember when a developer booted the SF Flower Mart to build an office complex that has gone nowhere, a deal they surely regret. The famed 88 Bluxome tennis courts did not become the giant Pinterest complex that they were supposed to. The former Creamery at Fourth and Townsend that was intended to be 1,000 apartments is still just a soon-to-be coffee shop that gets broken into a lot.
The new changes to the Central SoMa Plan may not be the silver bullet that city planners hope for, construction and high interest rates may continue to stall projects. But that can change as the years go on. And housing is seen as a better option than office space, because the housing sector will probably bounce back quicker, even if not quick enough for developers’ interests.
Image: SF.gov
