New Designs Submitted For Church And Market Development

New Designs Submitted For Church And Market DevelopmentArquitectonica / BSD, via SF Planning Department
Andrew Dudley
Published on February 16, 2015

Plans to raze the former site of Home restaurant at Church and Market and build a mixed-use development in its place continue to take shape.

As we first discovered last April, developers have proposed to tear down the blighted building at 2100 Market St. and replace it with a 7-story structure, consisting of six floors of residential units above ground floor retail.

Over the past 10 months, the project has been making its way through the Planning Department gauntlet. That journey began with a Preliminary Project Assessment, which was issued in June of last year. In the assessment, the department recommended a few changes to the developers' designs. Namely, they recommended making the 14th St. side of the building more residential in character, relocating the required yard area to the interior of the lot, and reducing the prominence of two of the corners of the building, among other changes.

Last week, based on the Planning Department's feedback, developer Brian Spiers Development (BSD) submitted revised designs by architecture firm Arquitectonica. Tweaks include:

  • Dropping the total number of dwelling units from 64 to 60 
  • Replacing bay window designs with balconies
  • Breaking up the proposed all-glass facade on Market Street with solid piers
  • Moving the rear yard to the center of the lot
  • Lowering the mass of the building on the 14th Street side

These changes are all detailed in new applications for conditional use and variance permits, which are required because some aspects of the project do not meet city requirements. 

To get a sense of the new designs, take a look at the following original renderings from last year, with their updated counterparts today. (And apologies for the horizontal lines across the current designs — those are embedded within the project application).

Original Church and Market corner design:

Updated Church and Market corner design:

Original 14th St. design:

Updated 14th St. design:

Overall, the changes are meant to make the development feel less commercial and more residential in character. "We believe that by making the changes that we currently propose... the new design has definitely moved in a direction that is more in the character of a retail/residential neighborhood," the application states.

Some fast facts about the building, as it is currently proposed:

  • 60 rental units (six studios, 31 one-bedrooms, and 23 two-bedrooms)
  • 60 indoor bike parking spots, plus two bike racks on Market Street
  • 15 parking spaces (13 in an automated stacker machine, two for handicapped-accessible vans)
  • A 4,800-sq-ft roof terrace
  • Below-market-rate units on site

The project still must have an environmental review, and must secure that conditional use and variance approval before moving forward in its current form. And the design itself could see further revisions. So, although it continues to evolve, this one remains a ways off from becoming reality. We'll keep you updated.