After years of starts, stops and neighborhood drama, crews have finally begun site work at 1979 Mission Street as the Mission District’s long‑planned La Maravilla project moves into real construction. The first phase will bring a nine‑story permanent supportive housing building to the edge of the 16th Street BART plaza, creating dozens of homes for formerly unhoused residents and low‑income families. Across three phases, city and developer estimates put the total at roughly 382 deeply affordable apartments.
Financing for Phase 1 is now fully stitched together, which developers say is what finally pushed the deal out of limbo. According to Western Alliance Bank, it is providing about $77.9 million in construction financing and Low‑Income Housing Tax Credit equity for the first building, while Five Star Bank said it will invest $10 million in tax‑credit equity. Developers say that mix of private capital, tax credits and public funds finally unlocked a project that had been stalled for years.
What They're Building
The first building will include 136 permanent supportive housing units with on‑site services for households earning roughly 30 to 50 percent of area median income, according to Mission Housing. Project documents describe two additional phases that would add about 134 family apartments on Mission Street and roughly 112 to 121 units on Capp Street, for a total of about 382 units overall; design summaries are posted on 1979 Mission. Developers say the city’s financing package was critical to closing the deal at each step.
Funding And Operations
The permanent supportive housing building is planned to pair those units with wrap‑around services intended to help residents stay housed for the long term. Western Alliance Bank notes that Lutheran Social Services will help provide on‑site services alongside the co‑developers. As Mission Housing Executive Director Sam Moss told the San Francisco Chronicle, “It’s more thankless than ever to be an affordable housing or permanent supportive housing developer.”
A Long Community Fight
The 1979 Mission site has been at the center of neighborhood organizing for more than a decade, with local groups pushing back against earlier market‑rate proposals and demanding permanently affordable housing instead. The Plaza 16 coalition and other organizers eventually backed the selection of Mission Housing and MEDA as co‑developers, after years of protests, negotiations and plans that never quite got off the ground, local reporting shows. Mission Local and community advocates have framed the Marvel as a hard‑won victory, even as neighbors continue to debate building height, shadow impacts and how the complex will be managed.
Groundbreaking And Timeline
Developers and community leaders have scheduled a formal groundbreaking for April 23, with the project’s site inviting neighbors to a 4 PM gathering and remarks planned for about 5:10 p.m. The current schedule has Phase 1 construction running through late 2027, with leasing expected to begin in early 2027, according to 1979 Mission. Officials caution that the timeline could still shift as financing and permitting continue to settle into place.
If the project holds to that schedule, the Marvel in the Mission would rank as one of the largest 100 percent affordable developments in the neighborhood and a major test of whether deep affordability and intensive supportive services can be delivered at scale in transit‑rich parts of the city.
