The fate of Trinity Plaza now rests in the hands of the full Board of Supervisors as the proposal for 1,900 new housing units unanimously passed yesterday’s Land Use Committee meeting after four years of political wrangling.
After Supervisor Chris Daly announced that the developer (Angelo Sangiacamo) has agreed to some last-minute amendments, the committee gave the project the green light. Supervisor Jake McGoldrick decided not to press with his additional amendments, allowing the project to finally go to a full Board meeting on April 10th.
The terms of the approved proposal calls for 1,900 units of which 360 will be deed restricted rent-controlled (and offered to the current Trinity Plaza residents) and an additional 231 will be designated below market rate (BMR).
At the same time, a condo map will be approved for the project (“after the developer pointed out the 40% increase in construction costs”) but will not extend to the 360 rent-controlled units.
∙ (More) Political Wrangling Over The Development Of Trinity Plaza [SocketSite]
∙ Trinity Plaza – FINALLY! – Gets Out of Land Use Committee [BeyondChron]
∙ JustQuotes: Trinity Plaza – One Meeting, Two Takes, One Truth [SocketSite]
Good, good, good. Between this, the 10th & Market project, Soma Grand and all proposals for a new retail corridor on Market between 6th-8th, we may see a resurrgence of this area sooner than expected.
I was just looking on skyscraperpage and looked at San Diego’s numbers of high-rise condos either under development or approval stage and it honestly puts SF to shame. If a city like SD, which is more sprawled out and far less cosmopolitan than SF can handle that sheer number of new high rises, I’m sure that SF could handle a ton more. We just need developers to keep pushing and for the city councilpeople to stop putting up roadblocks.
I just saw in today’s Chronicle the article about Newsom’s plan for 8,500 units in the Hunters Point and Candlestick area…..hopefully that’ll do something to appease McGoldrick and Maxwell, who demand more affordable housing. Tis a great time to be living in the city.
I’m glad you brought up Newsom’s Niner’s plan. I think it’s brilliant. It’s what is needed for that area. He had better make it happen!
“For the tenants who have lived at Trinity Plaza during this time and struggled to move on with their lives, I can only imagine how much longer this process must have seemed. Many of them have died in the process waiting for it to happen.”
I forget that what may be annoying for most of us readers about the Trinity Plaza deal, has really been horrendous for the tenants.
This is a bit unclear to me:
“..In a historically unprecedented move, the developer has agreed to build 360 rent-controlled units – which the current tenants at Trinity Plaza will be able to occupy. Even after these tenants move on, the deed restrictions will keep these units regulated – despite state law that exempts rent control from new construction….’
Does this mean that the rent-controlled units will actually be subject to vacancy control, or merely rent control? One way or another, I think it sets an unfortunate precedent that future rental developments may be compelled to accept a condition that in theory should be precluded by state law.
We’ve added a Candlestick/Hunters Point specific post and (don’t panic) moved a number of comments.
Yeah – not sure if the replacement of the existing rent controlled units also involve vacancy control as well, but it’s obviously the sacrificial lamb and part of the trade off to (1) get a zoning variance for increased density on the site; and (2) allow them to demolish a lot of existing below market rate housing. And if I’m not mistaken, this seems to be the first time these units have been mentioned as possible condos as every other time they have been touted as rental units and such a good deal for the tenants of SF. I give it inside of 5 years and they will be sold out as condos with just those minimal below market rent units left.
Although we still are in dire need of rental units in the city, even if they do become condos, it’ll be good for the city….that’s a lot of extra inventory to be listed on the market and I’m sure many condos will be rented out by the owners. Also, its great for the neighborhood.
For those who are concerned about the lack of rental inventory, keep in mind that Avalon just purchased the site at 240 Berry and intends to build another huge wave of apartments there over the next couple years.
In yesterday’s Bay Guardian, there was an editorial explaining the rationale for not allowing more market rate housing to be built.
http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=3212&catid=4&volume_id=254&issue_id=288&volume_num=41&issue_num=26
In the editorial, the Bay Guardian described a “study” that found that 2/3 thirds of the new condos in District 6 were bought by people who who had lived outside of SF! Imagine, people who *don’t already live here* are buying homes in SF!
The Bay Guardian editorial states that if the Board of Supervisors don’t put a stop to this right away with a building moratorium, that an initiative should be put on the ballot to mandate that 64% of the units in any new building be affordable houding, as in the city plan that Sophie Maxwell has been trumpeting.
Board of Supervisors approve Trinity Plaza unanimously:
http://www.fogcityjournal.com/news_in_brief/bcn_trinity_plaza_070412.shtml