While approved for the construction of a six-story building, with 24 residential units over 3,000 square feet of ground floor retail space and a 14-car garage back in 2013, a legal battle over the ownership and control of the prominent RC gas station site on the northwest corner of Castro and Market precluded the development from moving forward.
But with the legal battle having since been resolved, as we first reported at the time, the 376 Castro Street site and plans are now back on the market with an undisclosed price and soliciting offers.
Developer Joe Tierney, who lost the aforementioned legal battle to secure full ownership of the parcel, paid $340,000 in exchange for a 10 percent interest in the property back in 2004.
And while appraised for $4.2 million, or roughly $175,000 per unit, back in 2013, the majority owners of the parcel were seeking an eye-popping $12 million, or roughly $500,000 per entitled unit, for the site at the time.
Having failed to solicit an acceptable offer in 2017, the property was subsequently withdrawn from the market and the approved building permits for the project have since expired.
At the same time, the corner parcel has since been rezoned, which would allow for an additional two stories to be built upon the site, for a total of eight, if approved.
And with that in mind, the now Castro Gas and Food Mart site is now back in play with a price that’s “To Be Determined By Market.” We’ll keep you posted and plugged-in.
I know I’ll get pilloried here for it, but 8 stories is too much at this site. It’ll tower over the plazas to the S and SE, and block a good portion of the iconic view of Twin Peaks and BV hill.
To be clear I love the 5 and 6 story “Flatiron” style buildings that have gone up on the angled parcels east from Noe to Dolores, but I don’t think that an 8-story bulk at this corner makes sense.
It would be great to see some massing studies to show the difference between a 65′ vs. 85′ building. I’m of the opinion that the difference won’t be noticeable, and that we should go for more density/ housing units over a subway stop.
The fact that the site is both to the north and west of the wide intersection should greatly diminish any actual negative “towering” effects of its presence.
This is the key consideration. It wouldn’t cast any significant shadows on the plaza and would be partially offset visually by being nestled into the hill there. Completely appropriate scale conceptually.
In order to move ahead and start to finally address the 40+ year housing backlog that has sent housing costs in California through the roof — one can be thankful that the various State-level laws (Density Bonus, SB-330, AB-68, etc.) override parochial Local law.
Accordingly, one doesn’t have to fret about the arbitrary height pre-occupations and aesthetic biases of random commentators.
Yes, one just has to fret about the whims and “value engineering” of developers that are out to flip a parcel without regard for neighborhood character or history.
I agree though would offer the caveat that given the uphill topography of the site, an additional 2 stories could be added with a setback to modulate the massing along Market and Castro.
Tierney tried to get cute and got shlapped hard for it. He has a minority interest in a property owned by a family that has an absolutely unrealistic value of their property. looking to buy? Try the Chevron across the street I think they are at least a little more realistic.But probably not maybe not.
The Chevron is likely to be the last-man-standing of gas stations in the area, it’s going to be a cash cow for years to come. So for the family who are the owners there, it’s a choice between a big lump-sum payout (selling the site) vs. nice steady income that should keep increasing. As gasoline use declines, they’ll probably convert part of the station to dispensing hydrogen for fuel cell electric cars. I’ll bet that 25 years from now, it’s still a Chevron, but I may get proven wrong.
Not sure if the Sahaguns who own the station have kids or not. If so, I’d wait and see what happens when they ultimately pass on and the property’s tax basis gets stepped up to market value. That would probably be the time to consider selling. But I hope we don’t lose every gas station in the neighborhood, it’s a necessary service and will continue to be so.
What makes the Chevron more last-man-standing than any other gas station?
And hydrogen fuel cells? I feel like there was a bit of activity there ten years ago, but now it seems mostly dead.
It’s a brand name station, which even if owned independently doesn’t hurt to have on your side. The lot is also more awkwardly shaped and harder to design for because if that and the streetcar turnaround tracks adjacent.
Hydrogen fuel cells will never have more than a tiny market share or light and medium duty vehicles. The ship sailed on them being competitive for these prusposes years ago.
Clearly neither of you knows much about hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, but I’ll just say you’re probably wrong and digress, this isn’t the forum for that.
The Chevron will likely be the last man standing because the owners have no shown any interest in redevelopment of their site, and because as the last station in the neighborhood once the “Castro Gas” station across the street gets developed (I remember when there were six) they’ll be able to charge whatever they want to and it should continue to be a very profitable business far into the future.
The only other remaining station is the one that’s the subject of this Socketsite post, where the owners have wanted to sell the site for redevelopment for years. The only question is whether their unreasonable price expectations will once again push a sale to years in the future or not.
This is quite the ongoing saga.
we need to get rid of the gas stations here. i think this one should be apartments and the one across the street should be a park
There’s no money in a park, so I think it’s very, very unlikely that will ever happen. The city would have to buy the lot at market price, which is many millions. And then the park would be taken over by crazy people and junkies. At least the gas station is clean and well-kept.
We already have two plazas at that intersection, I don’t think we need a park as well. I don’t trust the city to care for public space.
The city’s made new parks in recent times. The one on Russian Hill, for example, or the “Noe Valley Town Square”, and my understanding is that they paid (more or less) market rate for the land.
The Russian Hill park was financed by a bunch of NIMBYs who would rather not have the lot turned into apartments.
Those Tropicana Peaks east-facing view units will go from sugar to sh*t.
“the corner parcel has since been rezoned, which would allow for an additional two stories to be built upon the site” — is this a state density bonus, or something else?
The 2013 rendering has a corner window tower that is evocative of streamline moderne. Not quite as bold as the one that houses Cafe Reveille in Mission Bay, but at least it’s an interesting feature.
i hope they spend a little extra and make it like a big 8-story art deco facade or something that will be in fitting with the neighborhood and would have good media angles like the new giants stadium, as i’m sure it will be on many tv spots and instagrams, if they do it right. please god no ikea exterior.
Buildings be damned! If it costing taxpayers $14 Million for ONE constructed elevator at Castro Station across the street. This junky gas station should be public purchased, converted into 24/7 public restrooms, sanitation stations, gardens, seating, maybe a mini ampitheater. It is a tight intersection, with strange lots. The Castro needs visitors, yet we have nowhere to provide amenities or recreational opportunities.