Events

San Francisco’s Downtown: What Does the Future Hold?

Real Estate Education Series
February 28, 2023 at 8:30am9:30am (PDT)

Farella's CJ Higley with guest speakers, Marc Babsin with Emerald Fund, Jim Hakes with Handel Architects, Sujata Srivastava with SPUR, and Anne Taupier with San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development, discuss "San Francisco’s Downtown: What Does the Future Hold?"

As work habits continue to transition from office space to work from home, sparsely populated downtown office towers are proving to be a barrier to the City’s goal of repopulating the traditional financial district. Enter the appeal to convert properties built and used for commercial purposes into residential dwellings.

But gutting a high-rise and rebuilding the inside as housing can be difficult, expensive, and may require more than changing the carpet and moving some walls. Are there opportunities for residential conversions despite the challenges? Are there other uses that may contribute to a re-imagined downtown? Or will the office come back if we’re just patient?

The panel discusses the following:

  • Effects of zoning laws on building conversion, and potential regulatory incentives to facilitate conversions
  • Physical constraints on office to residential conversions 
  • Downtown as a destination for arts & entertainment
  • Educational opportunities: the urban campus
  • The future of office work (and workers)

Resources

Firm Highlights

Publication

Downtown San Francisco Adaptive Reuse Legislation Slated To Go Into Effect

As we alerted you on May 9 , legislation to incentivize office and commercial building conversions to housing had begun working its way through the Board of Supervisors after approval by the San Francisco...

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Publication

San Francisco Planning Commission Endorses Ordinances to Incentivize Adaptive Reuse in Downtown

The San Francisco Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval on May 4 of two ordinances aimed at revitalizing the City’s Downtown, South of Market Street, and Union Square districts. Vacant Office and Commercial Building Conversion...

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Publication

Housing Fee Reform Legislation

San Francisco officials have introduced a number of new policies they hope will jump start the construction of new housing in San Francisco, which has largely stalled due to high construction costs, rising interest...

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Publication

AB 1633: The Housing Accountability Act

The Housing Accountability Act (HAA) requires local agencies to approve housing projects that meet objective zoning, general plan, subdivision, and design standards unless there is a specific, adverse impact upon public health and safety...

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Publication

Office-to-Housing Conversion: State and Local Efforts to Revitalize the Downtown

Originally published in The Registry . As office vacancies soar in traditional downtown areas like San Francisco’s Financial District, state and local officials are moving quickly to adopt incentives they hope will bring people...

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Publication

San Francisco Board of Supervisors Passes Housing Fee Reform Legislation

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors took the first of two votes to approve housing fee reform legislation last week. The legislation reduces by as much as a third the affordable housing fees and...

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News

Affordable Housing Outlook: What Challenges Will 2024 Pose?

Real estate partner CJ Higley provided expert commentary in the Multi-Housing News article "Affordable Housing Outlook: What Challenges Will 2024 Pose?" The article is available here .

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Publication

California Court Issues First Decision Addressing Builder’s Remedy; Decision on Related Lawsuit Pending

The first California court decision to issue declaratory relief to a developer under the “builder’s remedy” appears to be on the horizon. The builder’s remedy has garnered significant attention over the past two years...

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