Built in 1916 and designed G. Albert Langsburgh, the five-story MJB Coffee building at 665 3rd Street is technically still a print shop which is not legally zoned for office use.
Having been used for offices since at least 2007, however, the building’s owners have applied to legitimize its use, creating a Historic Building Maintenance Plan in order to clear the way for the conversion of the building which was rejected in 2012.
The conversion would require at least four showers and a locker room to be added to the building per San Francisco’s Planning Code, but the building’s owners plan to seek an exemption and provide access to a health club or other facility within three blocks of the building at no cost to the tenants. Founders Den members take note.
What sort of zoning requires showers and lockers for an office building?
The building department acknowledges Office uses in this building as far back as 1987 (see below). More craziness that the owners have to jump through so many hoops to get an existing use recognized and certified.
Cities grow and evolve. Why can’t our zoning regime?
Permit: 8713429
Form: 3 – ADDITIONS, ALTERATIONS OR REPAIRS
Filed: 9/21/1987
Address: 665 03RD ST
Existing: OFFICE
Proposed: OFFICE
Units: 0
Action: COMPLETE
Action Date: 11/5/1987
Description: GYP. BD. PARTITIONS, ELEC WIRING & LIGHTING
soccermom, Applicants sometimes misinform the Building Department the use of a property. If there is no work on the exterior the Planning Dept. does not have their permit application routed to them.
@jimmyc – Thanks for pointing that out. Given the public nature of the building permit, it would seem under all circumstance to establish the open use of the property as an office. There is the concept of an ‘open and notorious use’ in real estate law as grounds for a prescriptive easement right. It seems like the same concept ought to apply here. I mean, they weren’t hiding anything from the powers-that-be.
We don’t need to roast coffee anymore – we need offices.
Looking forward to our new free gym memberships 🙂 Thx for the tip
– Founders Den
lyqwyd – the showers might be linked to the idea of making commuting by bike feasible. My office has showers and about half of our bike commuters bathe and change upon arrival.
@TMOD: And the other half walk around stinking up the place? At my old office which had no showers, we had a bike commuter who did that.
Are showers now a requirement for offices? I have never worked in an office bldg. that had them.
@ MoD
It’s an interesting theory, but I’m skeptical that the shower & locker requirement is for bike commuters.
I once worksed in an office with a shower, but that was in Fremont at a former medical manufacturing building, so a shower made sense. It was definitely nice having the shower!
Regarding recognition of office use as far back as 1987.. The “office” probably was just associated with the industrial use. E.g. bosses, accounting, personnel, etc. They don’t work on the factory floor. Also, there are more than zoning issues involved with the conversion of industrial to office use. The building codes are very different, partly because the density of workers in the building is much higher. That means more bathrooms, more fire rated walls, etc. You don’t just decide that it’s going to be office space henceforth.