Fucking it up for $$$$$$$

This SF corner could be totally transformed in the next decade

By Timothy Karoff

San Francisco’s Outer Sunset neighborhood is historically bad at building new housing — to the extent that developers stirred up controversy last year by releasing semi-serious plans for a 50-story skyscraper that would tower over the compact residential area. But two ambitious development plans could overhaul at least one of the neighborhood’s street corners in the coming years.

The corner sits across from Golden Gate Park, near the famous Murphy Windmill and a few streets away from Ocean Beach, at the intersection of Lincoln Way and La Playa Street.

SF Yimby obtained preliminary plans it published on Tuesday that detail a proposal to construct housing at 1200 La Playa Street, which is currently the site of a gas station. The property owner enlisted ARCUS Architecture + Planning to explore the possibility of converting the lot into housing and ARCUS submitted three different building plans to the city for review, which range in occupancy from 10 to 30 apartment units, according to SF Yimby. 

ARCUS confirmed to SFGATE that the project was in a “very, very preliminary phase,” and that it hasn't yet met with the city’s planning or the fire department to discuss the proposal.

While this project is in its early stages, it’s situated next to another site slated for development. Last summer, the city bought the property at 1234 Great Highway, as one of five sites selected by the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development for use as affordable housing. Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation, a local nonprofit tasked with developing the site, plans to demolish the three-story motel currently on the site to build 216 affordable housing units for low-income seniors. The plan, submitted in November, is currently under review. 

If both plans are realized, hundreds of people may be able to move into the new developments within the next decade.

The new proposal arrives amid other recent successful pushes to build more affordable housing in the neighborhood. The city's first affordable housing site for teachers, located in the Outer Sunset, is currently under construction and expected to be completed autumn 2024. Last summer, the city’s Board of Appeals also greenlit the construction of a 90-unit apartment complex in the Sunset District after a neighborhood group fought its construction for three years.