Build Inc. has acquired a parking lot in San Francisco’s Nordstrom that has become a symbol of the city’s homebuilding red tape.
The San Francisco-based developer purchased the 28,000-square-foot lot at 469 Stevenson Street in South of Market, San Francisco Business Times reports. The seller is Nordstrom.
Prices for the former valet parking lot are undisclosed. The Seattle-based retailer bought the site in 1998 for $2.2 million.
Build’s acquisition this month ends a years-long land grab that now has permission to develop 495 homes. The developer first entered into an agreement to purchase the site from Nordstrom in 2017.
October 2021 San Francisco Board of Supervisors rejected a plan by Build for 495 homes on the site, citing an environmental study that critics say failed to analyze whether the project, priced primarily at market prices, would gentrify the neighborhood and displace local residents.
The now-infamous decision, at the behest of an affordable housing group, drew fire from Mayor London Breed, who called it a “perfect example” of how San Francisco is in a housing crisis. It has also become a symbol of the city’s resistance to housing construction.
This decision triggered first detection Incorporated into the City’s Glacier housing approval process by the State Department of Housing and Community Development.
In March, Governor Gavin Newsom approved Use the most recent state law Expedite resolution of any future legal challenges to the proposed 27-story project.
The project went back to the Planning Commission in April and was approved for a second time after an additional 18-month environmental review.
Todco, an affordable housing owner and advocacy group in SoMa that backed the project’s 2021 environmental appeal, said at the time it had no plans to block its approval again.
Meanwhile, financing new construction in the current market has become a struggle for many developers in San Francisco, The Business Times reported.
In April, Build handed over to its lenders a property in San Francisco’s Hub district approved for a 40-story high-rise condominium. Build owes $44 million on the stalled One Oak project at the 1500 Market Street site.
— Dana Bartholomew
