By Al Saracevic : sfexaminer – excerpt
Conversions could revitalize S.F.’s troubled downtown district
So, lemme get this straight. We have an acute housing shortage in San Francisco. And our downtown office buildings are standing largely empty. Am I missing something here? Seems like a logical, common sense solution is staring us square in the face.
Let’s convert some office space into residential housing.
Before you take out your zoning rule book and start slapping me around, let’s talk this out. Sure, there are plenty of roadblocks. But we put a man on the moon. Surely, we can put a condo on Sansome Street.
This, by no means, is a new idea. Commercial real estate conversion and adaptive reuse have been urban planning catch phrases for decades, triggering avid support and rabid opposition at various times, for various reasons.
But I’m here to posit a simple truth: It’s time for San Francisco to give this idea serious thought. The pandemic has triggered many changes in our society. The shift in workforce behavior may be the most profound…(more)