As Damion notes, the development of Argenta, Soma Grand, and Mint Plaza all fall within (or at least border) the area bound by the proposed Mid-Market Redevelopment Plan. The plan is currently pending before the Board of Supervisors, and if adopted, would most likely hasten the revitalization (or gentrification) of the neighborhood.
Now about that little indentation in the area boundary along sixth street…
∙ Argenta (1 Polk): Ground Breaking [SocketSite]
∙ It’s All About Service And Style At The Soma Grand (1160 Mission) [SocketSite]
∙ Mint Plaza (And Livable City) [SocketSite]
∙ SF Redevelopment Agency: Mid-Market Survey Area [SFGov]
∙ Mid-Market Development “Breaking” News [SocketSite]
The indent along sixth is because there is ALREADY a redevelopment area there.
http://sfgov.org/site/sfra_page.asp?id=38383
The South of Market redevelopment area is centered on 6th Street, where there was a great deal of damage during the 89 earthquake to the Unreinforced Masonary Buildings (UMB’s), many of them SRO hotels. Through the program those buildings have been retrofitted or torn down, and replaced by professionally run facilities. Also the landscaping along 6th (Palm Trees!) was put in through this program. Still a very mixed bag…but a lot better than it was.
I’m all for redevelopement of this area, but I doubt if anyone can fix the SRO Hotel situation here (as well as in the TL and 6th). There must be strong political forces to keep them all where they are (and the problems associated with SRO’s-drugs, crime, mental illness).
strong political forces like the THC. i’ll bet they own some of those SRO’s. another problem associated with the SRO’s is the inbelievably high population of registered sex offenders who live on 6th street–check out the “megan’s law” searchable map to see for yourself.
This one is going to take decades to turn around. That Megan’s law map is wild. As for the SRO’s, they have been there a long time. Leave them where they are. And please do not move them to my neighborhood…
“There must be strong political forces to keep them all where they are”
Two words: Chris Daly
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=3906
SOMBA, Urban Solutions and City officials can spend another 100 million on sixth St. and never fully obtain their goals of revitalization.
Sure 6th can be temporarly cleaned up, although, the only way to fully revitalize the area is to “bite the bullet” and start relocating the SROs and refurbish the existing buildings for TIC’s ownership. New business will follow naturally.
I’ve heard that Argenta will start pre-sales March 2009 and be completed in the Fall of the same year. They are expecting prices to range from $500K to just over $1M. Not sure what the available unit sizes and distribution are or what the parking situation will be. It will be interesting to see how the mid-Market renaissance plays out in the midst of a declining economy…