With plans for a nine-story residential building at the current location of Flax Art & Design moving ahead, another new development is in the works across the street.
1700 Market Street, the Fast Frame location at the (currently under construction) intersection of Market, Haight and Gough, is set as the next project to come out of the Market and Octavia Area Plan, which encourages development of high density housing in the area.
Curbed reports that Paragon Real Estate is poised to erect a seven-story structure on the corner (see rendering, above). Designed by Forum Design, the new building would include 13 one-bedrooms and 30 studios for a total of 43 units, plus 1,400 square feet of ground-floor retail space and no additional parking.
According to an earlier report by Socketsite, the project was initially imagined as an upscale group housing development with a “single room occupancy” model and shared communal group kitchen, lounge and meeting room. However, it looks like that idea, and its affordable housing ethos, has been scrapped, though it's unclear whether the new building will offer for-sale condos or rentals.
According to a recent communiqué in which the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition endorsed the development plans, it seems that the project would offer some below-market-rate options on-site if the building goes the condo route, but will forgo BMR units (paying a $2 million fee to the Mayor's Office of Housing) if the project goes rental, the stated reasoning behind this choice being that "the time and resources needed to manage the BMR rentals was excessive and onerous for a small firm."
However, "because the project proposes small units without parking," the letter notes, "it is likely these homes will be more naturally affordable to San Francisco’s middle-income residents."
We'll keep you posted on the building's progress. In the meantime, check out these before and after photos of the intersection from the years 1911, 1919, and 2014.
