A corner lot at Geary Boulevard and Parker Avenue in Laurel Heights has been sitting in various states of damage and limbo since a dramatic gas explosion tore through the block in February 2019. Now, more than seven years later, updated plans have emerged to finally do something with it — and the proposal has grown. A new filing calls for an eight-story mixed-use building with 89 apartments and ground-floor retail at 3300-3330 Geary Boulevard, up from an earlier version of the project, according to SF YIMBY.
Seven Years of Waiting, Starting With a Bang
The backstory here is worth revisiting. On February 6, 2019, a construction crew digging to install fiber optic cables on Geary struck a PG&E gas line, triggering an explosion and three-alarm fire that sent 30-foot flames into the air and drew more than 120 firefighters to the scene. As reported by ABC7, five buildings were damaged or destroyed — including the beloved Michelin-recognized dim sum restaurant Hong Kong Lounge II, which had occupied 3300 Geary. Miraculously, no one was killed or injured. The restaurant, which had a devoted following in the Inner Richmond, eventually reopened in SoMa as HK Lounge Bistro at 1136 Folsom Street in early 2024, per SF YIMBY. The charred shell on Geary, however, has remained.
Partial demolition on the second floor of 3300 Geary took place more than a year ago, but the site has otherwise been frozen in place. The latest plans would finally clear the entire 0.42-acre corner parcel — requiring demolition of the fire-gutted building plus two existing three-story office structures — and replace them with a single eight-story building.
What's Proposed
The updated plans call for 89 apartments above 1,400 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. Of the 89 units, 13 would be deed-restricted as affordable housing. The project also includes a 53-car garage and storage for 89 bicycles, according to SF YIMBY. The parking allotment — essentially one space per unit — has already drawn some predictable commentary online, with readers debating whether a project on a major transit corridor needs that many car spots at all. No project applicant was listed in the filing, and preliminary plans have not yet been submitted to the Planning Department, meaning the design remains subject to change.
Earlier renderings for the consolidated 3300-3330 Geary site — shared by SF YIMBY in August 2024 — showed a seven-story design by Elevation Architects with unit types ranging from studios to three-bedrooms. The previous iteration was filed by Jeff Fu of Five Stars Investments LLC, which city records show purchased 3308-3310 Geary for $1.88 million in 2020. The current applicant is unlisted, leaving open questions about whether ownership has changed or the project has simply been revised.
Laurel Heights Is Suddenly a Housing Story
The Geary Boulevard proposal lands at a moment when Laurel Heights — a neighborhood that has historically been about as welcoming to new housing as a parking enforcement officer — is seeing unusual development activity. The former UCSF Laurel Heights campus at 3333 California Street is finally moving toward construction under the Prado Group's Presidio Highlands plan, which is entitled for up to 744 residential units across a 10-acre site. As Hoodline reported in January, permits were pulled in December and vertical construction is expected to begin in late 2026.
The broader policy context is also shifting. San Francisco's Family Zoning Plan, signed into law by Mayor Lurie in December 2025, explicitly targets mid-rise development along major transit corridors like Geary — one of the city's busiest bus routes — as a core strategy for meeting the state's housing mandates. Per SF Planning, the rezoning plan allows six-to-eight-story housing along commercial streets citywide, the kind of height range that makes a project like 3300 Geary not just possible but a textbook example of what planners say they want to see more of on the west side.
A Long Road Ahead
Even with favorable zoning winds, this one is still early. No preliminary plans have been filed with the city, and the project's history — years of evolving designs, changing unit counts, and an unlisted current applicant — suggests the finish line is not imminent. For Laurel Heights neighbors who have watched that corner sit battered and half-demolished since the Obama administration, the updated filing is at least a sign that someone still wants to build something there. Whether it actually happens, and what it looks like when it does, remains to be seen.
