A developer picked offices over housing for downtown S.F.’s next tower. The city isn’t happy
Golden Gate University’s downtown San Francisco campus could be replaced by a 650-foot office tower.
TL;DR
- Lincoln Properties is moving forward with plans for an all-office tower at 536 Mission St., rejecting a mixed-use option that included residential units.
- City planners, including Planning Department spokesman Patrick Hannon, prefer the mixed-use option to address San Francisco's housing shortage and revitalize downtown.
- The project faces challenges due to Proposition M, which limits annual office space approvals, with only 813,000 square feet currently available.
- The Planning Commission allocated 550,000 square feet of Prop M allocation to the project, less than the 1.2 million square feet Lincoln Properties sought.
- Developers are betting on office demand, citing interest from potential tenants like Anthropic and OpenAI, while city officials are concerned about limiting future development opportunities.