Old and New San Francisco

Old and New San Francisco

This is an old but newly exposed apartment building just off Market Street In San Francisco. The city recently approved a new zoning plan for the Upper Market area that will allow for buildings along Market St. to be up to 10 stories tall. Since Market bisects the city at angle there are numerous odd-shaped lots like this one that will now be turned into large apartment buildings. I had never seen the shingled apartment building in this photo until the demolished the building and billboard that were here.

The plan was controversial but I think it is a good one. There are so many old, single story buildings in this part of the city that were always ugly and have gotten worse due to disrepair. It didn't make sense to fix them because the owners probably weren't making enough money from rent of a single story business. The city also has a long term housing shortage that it needs to deal with and in-fill housing (the name for expanding urban density with existing lots) is the right way to deal with it. It should also do away with some of the seedier businesses that have occupied this part of city for the last decade or more. We are close enough to Market St. and adjoining Church St. That the plan could have a positive or negative impact on us. Hopefully it will be positive. We have a parking lot across the street from us which gives us great natural light but a homeless problem as well so it could go either way if they build something big across from us.