A developer with extensive experience in San Francisco’s boom and bust phases is betting big on a new tower near the Transamerica Pyramid that will include a 24-story office wing.
For several years, we’ve been hearing from brokers that the San Francisco office market isn’t completely dead—just the market for substandard office space is in the dumps. Reports say companies are still clamoring for prime, luxury office space with a view, and one developer, Related California, is hoping to capitalize on that demand with a newly proposed project.
As the Chronicle first reported this week, Related has been in talks with the city for several years to redevelop the Fire Station 13 site at 530 Sansome Street. And its latest proposal calls for doubling the height of its planned tower, originally described in 2021 as a 19-story mixed-use project that would primarily be a hotel.
Veteran developer Matt Witte, a principal at Related, says they are designing the 41-story, 575-foot-tall tower to emphasize custom offices on the upper floors, a 15-story luxury hotel below, and two floors of amenities in between. Witte says they are targeting the office space at “very specific types of tenants who in the past have been interested in smaller floor plans with views.”
Applying for permits for a project twice as tall is something Related has done elsewhere in San Francisco in recent years, amid astronomically high construction costs that have stalled a number of other projects. As we reported in 2022, Related again approached the Board of Supervisors to request more height for their project at 98 Franklin Street — a 38-story tower that will house the San Francisco International School and have 385 market-rate housing units above.
Last summer, the board unanimously approved the project, with the caveats that Related must contribute $1 million to a stalled affordable project on Parcel K in Hayes Valley (better known as Proxy) and that they will build a 100% affordable project on a parcel at 600 McAllister Street, bringing the total number of new housing units in the neighborhood to 671. Supervisor Dean Preston, who represents the district, called it a “quadruple win” for the city.
The new plan for 530 Sansome also calls for the construction of a new Fire Station 13, estimated to cost $40 million. The building is located on an adjacent property at 447 Battery Street, which Related is under contract to buy out of foreclosure. And Related has agreed to commit $4.5 million to an affordable project in Chinatown.
According to the Chronicle, the new tower would compete for the same type of upscale office seekers that developer Michael Shvo hopes to attract with the renovated Transamerica Pyramid.
