In a move aiming to breathe new life into San Francisco's downtown areas, Mayor Daniel Lurie and Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman have introduced legislation for establishing a downtown revitalization financing district. This legislative effort is centered on transforming vacant and underutilized office spaces into housing developments, as reported by the City and County of San Francisco. The initiative highlights cooperation among city leaders, with the legislation co-sponsored by Supervisors Matt Dorsey, Bilal Mahmood, Danny Sauter, and Stephen Sherrill, endorsing a future vision for a dynamic 24/7 downtown scene.
Spearheaded by Mayor Lurie's administration, which has prioritized removing regulatory barriers to facilitate such conversion projects, the proposal follows an ordinance passed in February with a similar goal. The new legislation aims to leverage increased property tax revenue from office-to-residential conversions to offset development costs. This approach could make properties within a designated area, stretching from the waterfront along Market Street to the Civic Center, including the Financial District and surrounding neighborhoods, prime candidates for residential transformation. The numbers in San Francisco are promising: approximately 1,200 properties qualify for the program, and projections suggest that 50 could feasibly be converted, potentially adding around 4,400 new housing units. The plan draws inspiration from a similar incentive in New York City, successfully creating over 12,000 housing units from outdated office spaces over a decade.
At the heart of the legislation is an ambitious plan to revitalize and diversify land use, a strategy endorsed by stakeholders across the board, including former Assemblymember Phil Ting who played a catalytic role in enabling the legislation through the passage of Assembly Bill 2488 last year, the mechanism that empowers cities to establish such financing districts. "For our downtown to be vibrant, it must be a place people want to be 24/7 — that means inviting tourists back, opening new businesses, and, yes, building more homes," Mayor Lurie told the City and County of San Francisco.
