As competition to both find office space and secure the Planning Commission's approval to construct new development heightens, a young SoMa-based firm Campsyte is testing a new approach to building more options for creatives and startups.
The company has submitted an application to the Planning Department to construct a temporary three-story mixed-use office complex built with shipping containers in the parking lot at 9 Freelon St, located in an alley off Fourth between Bryant and Brannan streets.
The parking lot at 9 Freelon St. (Photo: Google Maps)
Campsyte is a one-year-old offshoot of the architecture and engineering firm Aetypic. Calling itself a "land-sharing platform", it aims to work with property owners sitting on underutilized land to develop temporary office complexes that fit the leasing and pricing needs of the city's startups and creatives, said Allen Wong, cofounder and chief marketing officer at Campsyte.
If approved, the 9 Freelon St. shipping container development will include five office spaces and one ground-floor retail space. One office space is currently listed at $2,000 a month for 285 square feet, two are listed as $4,000 per month for 570 square feet and two are listed as $8,000 a month for 1,140 square feet. That's about $7 per square foot per month for office space just a few blocks from AT&T Park. SocketSite reports that the average asking rent for office space in San Francisco is currently $5.56 per square foot per month, while space near AT&T Park remains the city's most expensive at around $6.50 per square foot a month.
Attempting to attract small companies that have outgrown their co-working spaces, Campsyte plans to include full amenities — such as utilities, shared lounges, janitorial staff, bike storage and showers — in their eco-friendly units while still offering short-term leases for less than co-working spaces, Wong said. While the offices are designed with small head counts in mind, tenants would be welcome to rent more than one unit.
Floor plan for the 1,140 square foot units. (Image: Campsyte)
"We believe there will be a lot of demand," Wong said, noting that the firm recently remodeled its own office space on Freelon Street and received lots of interest in subletting. He's also seen a lot of new eateries popping up around the neighborhood and is looking forward to activating their alley with new ground-floor retail.
The 9 Freelon St. project is Campsyte's first prototype. Given that much of the construction can be done offsite, if the development is approved the company predicts it will open late this year.
Plans for additional shipping container office developments are in the works for West SoMa, Dogpatch and India Basin. At 10am tomorrow, Campsyte will meet with neighbors at the 3,248-square-foot empty lot at 405 10th St. to hear feedback on their plans to construct a 3-story, 5,280-square-foot mixed-use creative space before the application goes to the Planning Department. Initial plans for the development include retail spaces, area to display art, and shared lounges and micro kitchens for tenants.
While all of Campsyte's current projects utilize shipping containers, they do plan to experiment with other modular building types, Wong said.
Campsyte isn't the only firm experimenting with modular construction to develop underutilized space here in San Francisco. Earlier this month the Planning Commission approved Forge Land Company's plan to turn two Tenderloin parking lots into 231 group housing units using pre-fabricated modular construction. And Mission Bay-focused firm District Development has received a thumbs-up for Soak, a bathhouse designed with shipping containers.
