793 South Van Ness Site

Speaking of infilling South Van Ness Avenue in the Mission, bonus-sized plans for a seven-story building to rise on the long-shuttered gas station site on the northeast corner of 19th Street and South Van Ness Avenue could be approved by San Francisco’s Planning Commission in two weeks time.

Plans to redevelop the 793 South Van Ness site have been in the works since the gas station was shuttered in 2004 and plans for a five-story building, with 29 condos over 29 parking spaces and 4,600 square feet of ground-floor retail, commercial and/or PDR space, were approved back in 2008 but then waylaid by the economy.

While the corner site is only zoned for development up to 50 feet in height, the Toboni Group is planning to invoke California’s Density Bonus Law in order to entitle the parcel for a seven-story building as proposed, the development of which would rise to a height of 75 feet.

And as designed by Ian Birchall and Associates and rendered below, the bonus-sized development would yield 75 condos (45 one-bedrooms and 30 twos) over a garage for 38 cars, storage rooms for 77 bikes, and 4,500 square feet of ground floor retail space fronting South Van Ness and 19th.

14 thoughts on “Bonus-Sized Plans for Shuttered Gas Station Site Slated for Approval”
  1. That’s actually not a horrible design. And the size looks to be just right. On another note, I’ve always felt bad for that beautiful Victorian next door. It’s been sandwiched between a bland warehouse and a gas station for ages. At least now it has one respectable neighbor.

    1. It had light and air – albeit smelly air and noise – so an “open-faced sandwich”, if you will. It will now be a slice of mortadella

  2. Add this one to the list of Copy+Paste Architect’s wonders being slapped up all across town. ICON in the Castro, 1450 15th St., the thing across from Zeitgeist…

  3. copy & paste is OK, build it yesterday! vacant lot since 2004? can you imagine something like that happening in ____ (name your “world class” city)

    1. I assume you are using “world class city” in a sarcastic way. San Francisco is not a world class city. It’s no Paris, London, Tokyo or NYC. SF’s banal architecture keeps it from being a world class city – one of a number of things that do so. That is not to say every building put up in London or other world class cities is spectacular – it’s rather that virtually every building put up in SF is mediocre to the point where whole districts such as Central and Western SOMA are being Sunsetified.

      1. You should look at global city rankings Dave. There is a lot of criteria. No, it isn’t New York, London, or Tokyo. Nor is it Paris. It tends to fluctuate between the next rank down and the one below that. Your opinion of architecture, and the number of things that you don’t mention, are fine and dandy. For you. Other people study these things.

  4. I am so tired of people judging architecture by a 5″ x 6″ rendering online…Go to the SW corner of 17th and S Van Ness and see another project by the same architect and developer…extraordinarily good detailing and materials.

    A fine addition to the streetscape, in addition to converting an asphalt lot into badly needed housing. And do you want every new building in town to look totally different from every other new building? A formula for visual chaos.

    These are background buildings, not focal point buildings like City Hall, and should not be screaming for attention…just like every other era of San Francisco produced thousands of background buildings that line our streets. Or, try Paris….

  5. Why do think that is?
    Because NYC London and Paris dont have to engineer project to withstand 8.5 earthquakes. Tokyo notwithstanding.

  6. How in any way does this building speak to San Francisco’s regional character? It could be anywhere in the world. There’s no warmth, soul, or evidence of the human hand here. It’s harsh, rigid, industrial. We are creatures of nature, not of factories. While it doesn’t have to be a copy of a Victorian, this building could be beautiful and 100% San Francisco. That’s what we should demand.

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