San Francisco leaders yesterday cut the ribbon on the Sophie Maxwell Building at the former Potrero Power Station, a new 105-unit affordable housing project aimed squarely at the city’s “missing middle.” The six-story building pairs modestly priced units with market-style perks like a co-working space, a rooftop deck and public art, and is the first residential structure to open in the Power Station redevelopment. Developers and elected officials say the project is designed to keep teachers, nurses, tradespeople and other working households rooted in the city.
About the project
As reported by The San Francisco Standard, the Sophie Maxwell Building sits at the corner of Maryland and Humboldt streets in Potrero and offers studios through two-bedroom apartments. The outlet says units are reserved for households earning roughly between 50% and 110% of area median income, and that leasing will be handled through a lottery after a marketing push aimed at local employers. Associate Capital is the developer, and the Standard reports the building has already drawn strong interest from neighborhood workers.
Schiff used the rooftop to launch a national plan
Sen. Adam Schiff used the building’s rooftop Friday as the backdrop to unveil the Housing BOOM Act, a federal plan that would expand the 9% low-income housing tax credit and create a $10 billion annual loan fund and an accompanying grant program, according to the SF Chronicle. The Chronicle also notes the $50 million Sophie Maxwell project is intended to be affordable to households earning roughly $55,000 to $110,000 a year, and that Mayor Daniel Lurie and former Supervisor Sophie Maxwell attended the announcement. “The economy is simply not working for millions of people,” Schiff said at the event.
How it was financed
Developer materials and reporting say the project relied on California’s bond-recycling finance tools to raise upfront cash; the California Housing Finance Agency has described that program as a way to preserve and reuse tax-exempt bonds for affordable housing projects. The San Francisco Standard reports Associate Capital also worked with an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District and lengthy legal and banking negotiations to make the deal stack up. Developers say that mix of public financing and creative structuring is the reason they were able to bring unit costs down compared with typical San Francisco construction.
What it means for Potrero and the city
Hoodline covered the Sophie Maxwell Building earlier this fall and framed it as the opening act of a larger Potrero Power Station master plan that includes thousands of homes, open space and new commercial uses. Local advocates and planners say the project shows one way to produce middle-income housing in a high-cost market, though scaling the approach will require steadier subsidies and investor appetite. City officials said they hope the Sophie Maxwell model will attract additional mixed financing for future phases.
First families began moving into the Sophie Maxwell Building in November, the SF Chronicle reports, and developers say the site will be followed by additional housing and a waterfront park as the larger redevelopment proceeds. With a high-profile federal announcement staged on its roof, the new complex now sits at the intersection of local redevelopment and national housing policy, and officials say it could be a test case for how to build similar workforce housing elsewhere.
