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For anyone genuinely wondering why they don't do the implied thing and convert it to residential, the answer is that the San Francisco permitting process to bui
by crooked-v 4y ago
For anyone genuinely wondering why they don't do the implied thing and convert it to residential, the answer is that the San Francisco permitting process to build even as little as a single-family home on an unused lot can often require paying someone full-time to hassle the city government literally every single day for several years straight, and then if the NIMBYs persuade the board of supervisors against it the project gets denied anyway.
- dehrmann 4y agoThis is half of it, but plumbing, windows, layout, and elevators are very different between residential and offices.
- swiftcoder 4y agoNonetheless, commercial->residential conversions tend to be pretty popular. All those industrial-themed urban lofts in other cities sell/rent just fine
- gregshap 4y agoDifferent converting the 1890s brick 4 story buildings vs the 1970s or 2000s or 2010s office buildings.
- AlchemistCamp 4y agoHas SF really built much in the past 20 years? Comparing what I saw there with old movies it didn’t seem like it.
- joenot443 4y agoConsidering the amount of raw engineering ingenuity concentrated in San Francisco, I’m pretty confident they’d be able to figure it out.
- gregshap 4y agoSure but the rent roll would barely cover the AWS bill
- scarab92 4y agoIn high land value areas demolishing and rebuilding can be a commercially viable alternate to conversions as well.