Trinity Plaza gets OK
From today’s SFGate,
The San Francisco Planning Commission approved a plan Thursday for one of the city’s biggest landlords to raze rent-controlled apartments in a converted hotel and replace them with residential towers.In a political deal brokered by District 6 Supervisor Chris Daly and supported by the Newsom administration, landlord and developer Angelo Sangiacomo will place 360 of the 1,900 rental apartments he intends to build at Market and Eighth streets under the city’s rent control rules.
Rent control in San Francisco normally doesn’t cover buildings constructed after 1979, but Sangiacomo agreed to the provision to get political support from City Hall.
The residents currently living in the Trinity Plaza apartment building will not be displaced by the construction. They will stay in their units while replacements are built and then be shifted to new dwellings, according to the city planner on the project, Michael Li. [more...]
BeyondChron goes on to praise the project, even going so far as to say,
The developer and tenant community has exhibited what [Planning Commission President Dwight] Alexander recognized as “good public-private partnership” in crafting this agreement.In going through with this project, [developer] Sangiacamo will be taking financial hits most developers would consider insurmountable. It would be pure folly for the Board to look this gift horse in the face. [more...]
BeyondChron praising housing and suggesting that the ‘Supes praise it, too? Now I think I’ve seen it all! Especially given that a portion of the units will be built as condos and could eventually be sold…
Any way you slice it, this really is going to be good for everyone involved. Tenants get rent-controlled and affordable units (BeyondChron calculates a total of 34% of the project), Mid-Market gets a facelift, and the city gets 1,900 new housing units.
Unfortunately, the only way that this worked is because Sangiacomo has owned that land for decades… Any newcomer to the city could NEVER afford to do what this project entails and not go bankrupt.
Will Trinity Plaza finally get the green light? [SFHomeBlog]
The planned new Trinity Plaza is about as ugly a building as one could build in San Francsico. Stack three Moscone West buildings on top of each other and that will be the new plaza. It is just a Fox Tower Plaza in triplicate if you want to use another analogy. And what about its imprint on the neighboring buings such as the SOMa Grand, who’s enitre western frontage will be blocked by the new towers. And beyond the looks and impacat on the neighborhood’s skyline, addres the issue of the impact on transportation. Despite what the EIR said, we are going to have lots of problems with transportation. 2000 units will make catching Muni at Civic Center impossible during rush hour. Success has many fathers, but this project will be an orphan big time.
Anonymous at January 22nd, 2007 at 6:19 am ( )SOMA grand is out of bounds, ship that thing back to hong kong where it originated! SOMA grand is a farce, high-end luxury condo-hotel-combo, alienating the real residents, and pioneers of the Mid-Market area! Sangiacomo has pioneered this area, it’s his baby, take note SOMA grand positions to heighten the affordability of living in the Mid market sector. Sangiacomo on the other end, assures stylish new condo size apartments for existing and new tenants, un-heard of in the entire city of San Francisco, neighboring projects cannot even compete, but to spread bad print.
Anonymous at January 31st, 2007 at 10:31 pm ( )