Shuttered three years ago this month, the former Suriya Thai restaurant space at 1532 Howard Street has been vacant since. But plans to raze the restaurant and construct a six-story building which would rise 55-feet in height and include 15 Single Room Occupancy (SRO) units (i.e., studios with kitchenettes)... Read More »

The plans for the San Francisco Giants proposed “pop-up” beer garden, barbeque joint and retail area to rise at the corner of Third and Terry A Francois Boulevard, on the northern edge of the Giants’ Parking Lot A, will be presented to the San Francisco Port Commission, which oversees the Port-owned... Read More »

“As the center of the technology industry has moved north from Silicon Valley to San Francisco and the largess from tech companies has flowed into the city — Twitter’s stock offering unleashed an estimated 1,600 new millionaires — income disparities have widened sharply, housing prices have soared and orange... Read More »

From the comments regarding the right way to report unpermitted work in San Francisco: “I’ve seen plenty of rehab projects that were dressed up for inspection, and converted after sign off from – for example, a “powder room” with a disallowed shower stall hidden... Read More »

“I can imagine an old 1970s disaster movie with an earthquake and a pin-up swimmer: close-up to her horrified eyes looking at the crack in the glass becoming longer and longer. Focus on the ground 50 feet lower. Zing! Splash!” ∙ Hotel SoMa (690 Fifth Street) Plans Back In... Read More »

“To support a stronger economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at levels consistent with dual mandate, the expects to maintain a highly accommodative stance for monetary policy. In particular, the Committee decided today to keep the target range for... Read More »

Purchased for $2,201,500 in March 2008 on the penultimate floor atop the Ritz-Carlton Residences in San Francisco, 690 Market Street #2301 returned to the market listed for $2,299,000 eight months later. Reduced to $2,099,000 in February 2009 and then to $1,999,999 that April, the 1,660 square foot two-bedroom was... Read More »

“The federal agency that oversees the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is set to file suits against more than a dozen big banks , accusing them of misrepresenting the quality of mortgage securities they assembled and sold at the... Read More »

“Government-run Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration now own about a third of the country’s nearly 800,000 foreclosed properties. With that inventory predicted to grow, they are looking for new ways to cope. In a joint public appeal this month, the agencies invited the public to... Read More »

From the New York Times today: Even with the sharp drop in stocks over the last week, the Dow Jones is up about 80 percent from its low in March 2009. And with the overall economy nowhere near its recession lows, buying nice, expensive things is back in vogue... Read More »