Insights
Publications

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

May 9, 2023 Articles

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 Into Housing

The first ordinance, proposed by Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Aaron Peskin, incentivizes the conversion of vacant office and commercial buildings into housing while also broadening the types of uses permitted by-right in commercial zones.

As endorsed by the Planning Commission, the ordinance would require eligible projects to:

  1. be located in commercial zones in the Downtown, South of Market Street, and Union Square neighborhoods,
  2. not utilize density bonus incentives,
  3. limit building floor area expansions to no more than 33 percent, and
  4. not add more than one vertical story.

Under the draft ordinance, office- or commercial-to-residential conversions would not be subject to any density maximums and waivers would be available for various Planning Code requirements, including rear yard setbacks, open space, unit mix, and transportation demand management plans. To streamline the entitlement process, public hearings for these projects will only be required if a project proposes a building taller than 120 feet. Similarly, certain landmark and historic preservation procedures will be approved administratively rather than at a public hearing. The San Francisco Fire Department and Department of Building Inspection are working on administrative bulletins that will outline their procedures and requirements for these conversions.

To help diversify the commercial uses in these areas, the legislation also proposes to expand the list of allowed uses to include laboratories, life science, light manufacturing, animal hospitals, senior housing and residential care facilities, outdoor entertainment, open recreation areas, and trade schools. Temporary use authorizations or “pop ups” would be permitted for up to one year and may include retail, art, and entertainment uses. In addition, intermediate length occupancies (ILOs) and live-work spaces would be principally permitted in reuse projects.

Impact Fees Waiver

The second ordinance, introduced by Supervisors Matt Dorsey and Ahsha Safai, would reduce impact fees for commercial to residential conversion projects by eliminating all development impact fees, with the exception of inclusionary housing fees, if applicable. The eligibility criteria under the impact fees waiver ordinance are identical to those proposed under the adaptive reuse ordinance described above.

Before this legislation goes into effect, it must be approved by the Board of Supervisors.

For more information on this topic, see the article "Office-to-Housing Conversion: Legislation – California’s Next Frontier" on AB 1532 and view the recording of a Farella panel discussion on office conversions, "San Francisco’s Downtown: What Does the Future Hold?"

Firm Highlights

Publication

How New Climate Change CEQA Thresholds Will Impact Bay Area Development Projects

Farella's CJ Higley and Donald Sobelman with guest speakers, Michael Keinath from Ramboll and Tania Sheyner from City and County of San Francisco, discuss "How New Climate Change CEQA Thresholds Will Impact Bay Area Development...

Read More
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...

Read More
News

Lawdragon Names 7 Farella Partners Among “Leaders in Environmental Law”

Northern California legal powerhouse Farella Braun + Martel is pleased to announce that seven partners were selected to the 2023 Lawdragon Green 500: Leaders in Environmental Law Guide. Selected for inclusion are: Sarah Bell &ndash...

Read More
Publication

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

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...

Read More
Publication

A Year in Review: SB 9 Slow to Gain Traction

A year since the approval of Senate Bill 9 (SB 9), it appears few Californians have taken advantage of the new legislation that aims to streamline small-scale housing development. The bill allows for the...

Read More
Publication

Office-to-Housing Conversion: Legislation – California’s Next Frontier

In an effort to spur the conversion of office-to-housing as one way to revitalize California’s struggling urban downtown areas, Assemblyman (and former San Francisco Supervisor) Matt Haney has introduced AB 1532, dubbed the “Office...

Read More
Publication

Controversial New Law Opens Door To More Residential Development In California

It has been praised as a long-overdue step to address California’s chronic housing shortage, while others have called it the “worst bill of the year.” But regardless of public opinion, the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs...

Read More
News

Farella Braun + Martel Announces 2023 New Partner Class

Read More
News

Planning Commission OKs Bella Union Winery at Former Provenance Facility in Rutherford

Katherine Philippakis was quoted in the Wine Business article, "Planning Commission OKs Bella Union Winery at Former Provenance Facility in Rutherford."  The goal for the “foreseeable future” is for Bella Union to produce 110,000...

Read More
Publication

State Minimum Fire Safe Regulations Go Into Effect April 1, 2023

The State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection has been actively pursuing comprehensive new wildfire protection standards for development in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones and State Responsibility Areas where the State of...

Read More