SF Tennis Club to become housing?
The San Francisco Business Times is reporting that a developer is in contract to purchase the San Francisco Tennis Club with the intention of going through the necessary steps to convert the property into 400 units of housing.
“The property has a 180,000-square-foot, four-story building that has 12 indoor courts and 12 outdoor courts, plus a restaurant, pro shop and other facilities. Owners ClubCorp of Dallas recently repaved the courts, but the building will likely be bulldozed to enable Pulte to build anew on the real asset: 2.5 acres of prime land just 2 blocks from SBC Park.”
The interesting, if not humorous, side to this story is that it will be hard to argue that any underserved (no pun intended) classes of people will be displaced here. Tennis is not known to be a sport that attracts the less-fortunate. The biggest hurdle will be getting the property rezoned for residential, something that could take years unless the Planning Department, the neighborhood, and the Supervisors cooperate.
It’s outside of the Rincon Hill development area, so Chris Daly’s developer surcharge would likely not apply. Expect him to scream about something, though, as it is within his supervisorial district.
According to the article, the developer is paying $30 million dollars for the site.
There is also further discussion of the Flower Market sale and mentions another that another office building is in contract with the intention of converting to housing.
It’s looking like developers are finding ways to make housing work for them in San Francisco. With any luck, the city government and the SOMA neighbors will find a way to facilitate it, and we will start to see the disparity between housing and housing need start to decrease.
More housing = less evictions. Work out the math, Chris Daly.
And no, that developer did not just pay $30M for the SF Tennis Club site so you could argue for low-income housing. Not unless some city subsidies are going to cover the difference (which never happens). You’ll get your required 10% affordable quotient (40 homes, in this case), and the city will have up to 400 buyers that don’t have to look at TICs, which will result in fewer evictions.
‘Cuz remember, Chris, that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?
