502 7th Street Site

Plans to demolish the single-story office building on the southwest corner of 7th and Bryant, which was built upon the site of a former gas in 1968, and construct a five-story building with sixteen condos, including four double-height units on the ground floor, have been granted an exception from having to complete a lengthy environmental review and are one big step closer to reality.

502 7th Street elevation

As designed and strongly supported by Planning, the development includes a storage room for 16 bikes but no garage for cars. And as the development of 502 7th Street would not require any major excavation, and the building would sit upon a simple slab foundation, construction could be finished within a year of breaking ground with no Planning Commission hearing required unless a challenge emerges.

25 thoughts on “A Step Forward for 16 Condos sans Parking”
    1. The site is zoned for development up to 48-feet in height, which is the principal height of the project, not including the height of the penthouse stair nor elevator enclosure.

        1. Define walkable. Walkability isn’t my first impression with West SOMA.

          Bike commute is superb though. You should be able to get to FiDi on a flat route in 15 minutes, beating all other mode of transport. The 16 bike space will be well used.

          1. Google map says it is 1.1 mile to Powell St station and 1.3 miles to Union Square. Even 0.85 mile is not walkable to most people. More importantly, the land in between is not so interesting and somewhat sketchy.

          2. google map walking says .85 miles from 7th and howard to union square. i just checked it again.

            how is 0.85mi not walkable to most people. Its a 12 min walk. i would argue thats easily walkable for >80% of san franciscans

          3. 7th/Bryant is “walkable” in that there are many jobs and a mix of shopping in walking distance, but it is not pedestrian friendly. Not very bike friendly either. OK, not very non-car friendly. This intersection is particularly bad for pedestrians, but then so are most of them along Harrison and Bryant. There’s something like ~800-1000 housing units under construction nearby between the big projects at 8th/Harrison and 7th/Brannan. These should bring more small retail in the future. Folsom 2 blocks away has the closest to the kind of charming retail cluster that centers so many other SF neighborhoods.

    2. Its pretty unbelieeable that a building this short is allowed to be constructed this close to the downtown core. I know thats part of the SOMA plan, but its utterly ridiculous and a total waste of space. in 20 yrs, people will do studies on how stupid SF was during this time

      1. “in 20 yrs, people will do studies on how stupid SF was during this time”

        I agree, but I think what they will look back at as stupid will be very different from what you consider stupid.

  1. as a person who doesn’t own a car and lives in a historic building with no garage, i think this is awesome.

  2. Who is the developer? Architect?
    This is Urban Mixed Use zoning – housing is permitted, subject to higher affordability requirements – any news on where this project stands?
    Regarding height, sites in the UMU zoning district are not eligible for the proposed Affordable Housing Density Program. Too bad, because another one or two stories would certainly work from a construction standpoint.

  3. Are ground-floor residences counted as active use, or whatever the term of art is? Or is this area excluded from that requirement?

    1. UMU requires nothing whatsoever in terms of commercial use. No problem going 100% residential, “Urban Mixed Use” in name only.

  4. The fact that it will sit on a slab and is exempt from environmental review makes me think that the gas station remnants weren’t properly dealt with back when the current building was constructed. Easier and cheaper to pour a slab than to clean up a potentially toxic site. This explains why no garage parking. Because of the location and its distance from mass transit it should have some parking versus the 1:1 developments going up spitting distance from MUNI/BART.

    1. You don’t seem to understand the environmental review process.

      I believe this property is under Maher jurisdiction, which would address potential contamination of former gas station use. Redevelopment of property triggers Phase 2 investigation.

    2. Being granted an exemption from having to complete a full environmental impact report does NOT mean the project is exempt from complying with environmental laws governing contaminated soil, underground tanks, etc.

  5. encapsulating it on site normally requires a deed restriction/notification. No problem in a hot market but in a slow market the price will be beat down.

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