1001 Quintara Site

The previously proposed plans to level the Sunset District flower stand and two undeveloped lots on the southwest corner of Quintara and 19th Avenue and construct a four-story building across the five parcel site, with a total of 42 apartments over a 56-car garage, have officially been abandoned.

While the site is zoned for development up to 40-feet in height, the five parcels are also either zoned for a maximum of one (RH-1) or two (RH-2) unit buildings, for a maximum of eleven units overall. And while the development team was angling to invoke the State’s Housing Density Bonus Program to yield the 42 units, the project as proposed wouldn’t qualify for the bonus, as we first reported two years ago.

But next week, San Francisco’s Planning Commission could approve a proposed spot rezoning of the five parcels to “RM-2,” a Moderate Density designation.

If approved, as is recommended by Planning, up to 170 units could be built upon the site. And in addition, the re-zoned parcels would then qualify for San Francisco’s HOME-SF program and up to two additional stories of height. We’ll keep you posted and plugged-in.

25 thoughts on “Rezoning Could Quadruple Density of 19th Avenue Development”
  1. Come on, taking away a flower stand means lost of jobs, err, …… let’s try the historical preservation angle, shall we?

    Signed,

    Sunset NIMBYs

    1. Don’t forget the wind. NIMBYs love the wind argument too.

      Seriously, though, this is exactly what the city should be doing. More housing.

    2. Historical ??? It’s a broken down panel van, plywood roof and a shipping container … The original plans included the same retail spot. By the way , they have 5 employees …

  2. 170 units in the Sunset, three blocks away from the 19th and Taraval Muni Metro station? Dream come true. Seriously. This is amazing and I hope it is granted.

      1. Yeah but Google Maps shows a seven minute walk from the northernmost end of the proposed complex…that’s hardly insurmountable. It just always blows my mind how some of our densest neighborhoods (Pac Heights, NOPA, North Beach, Marina, etc) have no access to Muni Metro but many of our least densest neighborhoods do (and some even have access to BART). I would love to see thoughtful upzoning and densification of 19th and commercial corridors around these low density Muni Metro stations, and think this project is at least a start in terms of precedent.

      2. Also, I get that the train does literally stop at that intersection – but it’s amusing to think of it as a ‘metro station’ within the understanding of essentially any other city. The L is such a hot mess in general too

  3. Excellent idea.
    As a condition of re-zoning the City should stipulate that no automobile parking be allowed.

  4. The issue is parking. The original plan called for 42 residential units and 56 parking spaces. A 1/1.3 ratio. As it is I’d guess the existing ratio of residences to parking in the Sunset is actually closer to 1/1.5. My CPA is on Taraval and I usually need to go two blocks away to find a street parking space. In pneumonia gulch the residence/car ratio is 1/2+ and few take the easily accessible public transportation to work. Even though BART GP and Forest Hill are only 10 minutes away. Don’t assume renters in this project will all take the short walk to Taraval and get on public transportation.

    If one goes with a low ball 1/1.5 ratio and 177 rental units you are looking at 265 parking spaces. How do they even fit that many spaces in? Unless they have 3 levels or so of underground parking. Egress would have to be onto Quintara and that would be a mess at rush hour.

    More housing is needed but 177 units on this small set of parcels will have a large negative impact on the area. The original proposal for 42 units seems more reasonable and, at that, would have a much higher density than currently exists. Built to the Sunset postage stamp 25 foot wide pattern this site would accommodate what – 8 SFHs?

    1. It really won’t have a negative impact at all–the lot is basically blight as it currently stands. People will take mass transit downtown because it’s just as fast as driving from 19th, and the city is not going to greenlight anything close to 1:1 parking so I don’t think that is an issue. Even if they did this is just a stretch of 2-3 story houses, there is no “area” to impact negatively and 19th avenue is not going to notice another 100 cars a day, it just isn’t.

      1. If you mean the project will/should have a parking/housing ratio greater than 1:1 then I concur. Short of that one will end up with scores of cars trying to score a parking space on the immediate adjacent streets. I assume neighbors will demand as much parking as possible.

        I wouldn’t call the site blighted. It makes for an interesting break as one drives down 19th. Sounds as if they want to go for 6 stories. If it is a square stucco housing block then it might be a blight. Check out the 6 story condo building across from Sloat Garden Center. Work has resumed on it and it is looking quite nice. Setbacks, angled corners that jut out wood/earthtone finishes. If this project were to take a cue from that one then it could turn out quite nicely.

        1. What Mark is saying is that the city is not going to greenlight a development with 1:1 parking ratio or more. Most likely probably 0.75 spaces for every unit, so 177 units means 133 parking spaces. There are somewhat creative ways to get 1:1 parking but I think it will cost a lot of money to do.

          At the end of the day, 177 is the maximum number of units if they do RM-2 and apply for all the density bonuses for additional units. I think realistically, the number of units built on the lot will be about half that number.

    2. In the end, though, parking is always the best issue for NIMBYs. Too much parking! Too little parking! Not enough bike parking! More car shares! There’s always a reason to not build housing because of parking.

  5. There is new housing currently being built across the street on 19th Avenue just when I thought who wants to live on 19th Avenue. Why not more housing? More residents mean more thriving businesses around the area in the Sunset. I always believe in reducing commutes for workers, students, etc. leads to better health and productivity.

  6. Like glaucon’s submersion idea. Tunnel 19 altogether and build bikeway & parkland atop from GGP to SF State. Rezone all of 19th ave. Bungalows next to in increasingly trafficked highway makes absolutely no sense. Might take 100 years to take shape but now is the time to create essential growth guidelines. (Think tens of thousands new units too).

  7. Commuters headed south on 19th Ave will have one less lane because of double parked trucks bringing in supplies , cement etc. This will go on for a year or two or as long as it takes to build this.

    If you think these places will be affordable, developers won’t waste their time building anything under a million $ and if they say not so, they are lying, they are too greedy for that, same as the city officials and politicians that are changing these zoning laws. Go build in the Presidio

  8. The 66 also has a stop right out in front that will bring people over to 9th and Judah to catch a N to go downtown.

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