Holy moly
No way that’s happening as shown lol
3 Likes
I wonder if they’re going with the “pitch 50 stories so we can build the 20 we actually want” strategy.
2 Likes
I don’t know what their strategy is, but their public-facing position is they want to build this roughly as proposed. As public opinion represents, the odds are heavily against them. Truthfully, I hope the density gets built regardless of height, so if we end up with the 20-story bulky infill that’d be wonderful too
1 Like
IIRC, the original proposal was for a modest (~5-6 story) multifamily building, taking into consideration the character of the surrounding neighborhood. That plan was completely shot down by NIMBYs, so they came back with this proposal, which they can build as of right. Hilarity ensues
1 Like
3 Likes
I’m surprised the developer didn’t response to LA Times’ request for comment, they were very responsive for me. Also, the SF Planning Department calling this a “downtown-style building” really illustrates the mentality that city officials have that will keep SF stuck in its housing crisis
1 Like
We’ve got an exclusive reveal of 2700 Sloat Boulevard again! The renderings for this one really are something else.
7 Likes
Nothing surprising there. The developers are desperate for publicity from a pro-development blog; but they didn’t want to engage with a publication that may be skeptical of this type of development in a very low-rise area such as the Outer Sunset (such as the Los Angeles Times).
In any case, this probably won’t be built at anywhere at this scale. That said, the oceanfront in San Francisco is woefully underbuilt. Driving along Great Highway one notices strange choices in land use and some decay as well - cheap motels, gas stations, dated condo complexes hidden behind fences, colorful stucco rowhouses with paved front yards leading to garages - and a few decrepit facades thrown in here and there. Something needs to be done. This is prime land in one of the nation’s wealthiest cities.
2 Likes
Says KRON4 News last month:
Currently, zoning laws in the Sunset limit structures to 100 feet and about 10 stories, at the maximum. The 600-foot tower proposed for the Sloat site would be six times what’s allowed by current law.
I consider myself to be pretty moderate on this issue. 100 feet (or 10 stories) is plenty for this neighborhood and nothing should reach any higher. What is currently proposed amounts to a middle finger—sheer spite directed towards local residents.
My hope is that this design is laughed out of court and they settle for the 100-foot structure, bringing us right up to the legal limit. I wouldn’t mind a similar development on the underutilized Safeway lot in the Outer Richmond as well.
1 Like
Sunset tower isn’t out of scale — S.F.’s housing crisis is
The two aren’t mutually exclusive.
This district allows buildings up to 100ft. A building that tall occupying an entire block is already beyond plenty. Erect more buildings like that in the area, not one that’s a skyscraper on sand dunes serving mostly as a middle finger to the western half of the city.
1 Like
State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) introduced a bill — Senate Bill 951 — in mid-January that aims to remove urban San Francisco from the protections of the California Coastal Commission. He said his bill would “aid cities’ efforts to meet state housing goals by refining the commission’s role in housing approvals and permitting. Removing San Francisco from the commission’s tight regulations is about making it easier to build affordable housing in the city when dealing with a housing crisis.”
…
Wiener said he introduced the bill to make sure the city gets ahead of looming housing affordability issues.
“We should be able to have new housing in this area without giving a tool to anti-housing obstructionists so that they can abuse the Coastal Commission process to try to kill new housing,” he said.
…
Board President Aaron Peskin said Wiener overstepped and didn’t have “any idea that there would be this kind of a backlash.”
“The danger here goes far beyond a boundary adjustment in San Francisco County,” he said. “It just signals to developers that they can go to their state senator and start chopping apart one of California’s most cherished pieces of law. The precedent is dangerous and scary, and it’s got to be stopped now.”
While Wiener says the bill is about creating affordable housing, Peskin believes Wiener’s bill is about permitting a 50-story high-rise planned for the Outer Sunset.
“Senator Wiener wants to take that property out of the coastal zone,” he said. “The Coastal Commission hasn’t opposed that project but has the right to review that project. I think he wants to be able to pursue any kind of development along the Pacific Ocean.”
Wiener refutes this, saying the Sunset and Richmond neighborhoods are not zoned for high-rise development and “the bill doesn’t touch zoning.” Development in these neighborhoods is a “strategy to reduce emissions and fight climate change.”
…
For Richmond neighborhood resident Jean Barish, who started going to Ocean Beach in high school decades ago, stopping Wiener’s bill is about preserving access to the coast.
“My experience at the beach would significantly change if there were 15- and 20-story high-rises lining the ocean,” she said. “There would be a lot more traffic because those people would be coming in and going out. It just wouldn’t have the quiet, peaceful quality I came to love.”