A proposed 121-unit, 100 percent affordable housing development that would replace Turk & Larkin tire and auto service shop Kahn & Keville passed a major financing hurdle last month.
In December, the Citywide Affordable Housing Loan Committee approved $3 million for the project, as proposed by the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation.
Mayor Ed Lee is expected to consider whether to approve the funding on or after January 28th, according to Joan McNamara, senior project manager with the mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development.
The actual timing of mayoral approval will depend on whether there is any negotiation or clarification necessary regarding the loan documents, McNamara told Hoodline. The funding will come through an affordable housing bond passed in 2015.
The loan will help finance the proposal’s pre-development phase, said Sarah White, TNDC’s associate director of housing development. Because the project will involve converting an industrial site to a residential one, White said the state environmental review process (CEQA) is expected to be quite lengthy.
The project also still has to go through a land-use entitlements process and submit applications for building permits.
“The funds from the city will support that work over the next two to three years,” White said.
Assuming the approval process goes smoothly and TNDC obtains permanent funding sources for development, “ideally, the project will be complete in four to five years,” White said. The Mayor's Office will be "a key financing partner," and TNDC aims to receive a larger city loan for the development phase.
TNDC will also be applying for funding through California’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program, and will seek a private investor interested in participating in the state’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program, White said. The estimated cost of the project is about $45 million, according to documents filed with SF Planning.
The plans for the 121-unit building are largely unchanged from what we reported last year. The current layout calls for an enclosed, planted 5,150-square-foot courtyard, a rooftop garden and a play area available for residents’ use. No vehicle parking is included, but the building will provide 160 bicycle parking spaces. It will also have two ground-level commercial spaces along Larkin Street, totaling 2,440 square feet.
All of the studio, one- and two-bedroom units in the proposed eight-story building would be affordable (defined as less than 30 percent of a household's annual income), and available only to households at or below the area’s median income, White said.
Kahn & Keville has been in business since 1912, and is known in the neighborhood for the intriguing and humorous quotes it displays on its marquee. While most of its building will be demolished, one facade along Turk Street will likely be preserved, serving as the entryway to the residential lobby and a publicly accessible community center.
Given the challenge of finding large available sites in the Tenderloin, TNDC is excited to have access to this “great location that serves our core constituency,” White said.
