Rep. Haney’s Bill to Help Convert Historical SF Offices to Housing
A new bill from Assemblymember Matt Haney, appears to have brought both YIMBYs and NIMBYs together for fast-tracking conversion of downtown buildings into housing.
The Humboldt Bank Building in San Francisco as seen from One Kearny St. Dllu via wikimedia commons
Haney said his new bill, AB 3068, is meant to tackle the state’s exploding housing crisis by finding new uses for the over abundance of vacant offices currently sitting idle in downtowns across the state, including San Francisco’s hollowed-out downtown.
“This will make conversions a lot quicker, cheaper and clearer to execute,” Haney, who also serves as chair of the Select Committee on Downtown Recovery, Haney told The Standard in an interview.
“We’ve been fighting this zero-sum game at the local level where it’s either something gets completely knocked down or nothing happens at all,” Haney said. “Things get stuck in the courts, those fees add up and we get no clarity on how determinations are made.”
If signed into law, AB 3068 would give qualified projects automatic state approval for tax credits focused on historic buildings, an otherwise major hurdle for developers.
“This bill will bring opportunities for thousands of people to live near high-paying jobs and other amenities,” Rafa Sonnenfeld, policy director at YIMBY Action, said in a statement.
“We’re not going to be rash,” Haney said. “We should protect enough that is needed and necessary. Vacant buildings that end up becoming sculptures don’t serve us any good either.” Haney told The Standard.
Warfield Theatre, 982-988 Market St., Market Street Theatre and Loft District, San Francisco, CA via wikimedia commons
Historical downtown buildings such as the Humboldt Building at 785 Market St. and the Warfield Building at 988 Market St. have been pitched by local developers as attractive conversion candidates, Kevin V. Nguyen reported for The SF Standard, but either have yet to break ground because of delays or financial problems.
Tim Redmond of 48hills suggested the city purchase buildings downtown to convert to housing, given that office buildings are at all-time low prices.
If SF wants to revitalize downtown, why not buy up these dirt-cheap buildings?
There are many suggestions concerning refashioning office space into usable space. Hell, voters passed Prop. C in March, which was a transfer tax break for commercial buildings sold to parties interested in converting them into housing.
We’ve got lots of good-looking ideas on paper, but so far very little has been done to break ground.
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