Over A Thousand Applications for 91 Below-Market-Rate Units At The George

An aerial rendering for the future Park at 5M | Photo courtesy of Brookfield Properties

The full superlative is a bit of a mouthful: the-highest-percentage-of-middle-income-below-market-rate-units-included-in-a-market-rate-building, in San Francisco’s history.

Potential renters could submit applications to the housing lottery on DAHLIA, SF Housing’s Portal up until Dec. 2, 2021. As listed on the portal, qualifying incomes range from $54,192 for a single person household up to $215,796 for a 5 person household. It’s viewed as an effort to provide more housing for those who can’t afford market-rate housing, but don’t qualify for subsidized housing either.

According to City-Data.com, and as many people probably had a gut feeling about already, in 2019, over half of SF households made six figures. SF Curbed touched on how middle class is defined across different counting methodologies, specific to contexts like number of people in a household.

The SF Chronicle reported that the George will be the first building to open with 5M, short for 5th and Mission, a mixed-use complex that will have 856 housing units, a 648,000 -square-foot office at 415 Natoma, 12,000-square-foot community arts center housed in the historic Dempster building, a children’s playground, and dog run.

Courtesy of Site Lab Urban Studio

SITELAB urban studio Principal Laura Crescimano, said to The Registry, “Inspired by SoMa and its network of alleys, 5M’s design weaves together a tapestry of neighborhood history, arts, and business with new public space at the center.”

SF Highrises noted that the area was largely a maze of vacant parking lots and alleyways, and the Hearst Family, owners of SF Chronicle, owned most of the land 5M, is built upon.

“Downtown parks should be for all people, of all ages, and all backgrounds to truly serve the community. The neighborhood really needed a children’s play area and the developer listened to us and made it happen,” said Misha Olivas, Director of Community and Family Engagement for United Playaz, a violence prevention and leadership development organization for young people.

The community arts center will be operated by Community Arts Stabilization Trust, or CAST, an organization that works to help arts organizations find and secure stable physical spaces to ensure organizations’ longevity and nurture the cultural work in San Francisco on a whole.

On CAST’s site, plans for a community arts and culture hub are laid out: there will be affordable workspaces, like performance, exhibition, meeting, and office spaces; a black box theatre; conference rooms; for youth arts and music education, local Filipino arts and community-based organizations, and more.

The lobby of 434 Minna will be open to the public. Christie Donnelly, director of development for the group that built the apartments, explained to the SF Chronicle that the space is meant for the local community: “workers from 415 Natoma, folks from CAST building, all over the neighborhood — take a meeting, take a lunch and really be able to enjoy the benefits of 5M.”