Change is afoot in San Francisco’s South of Market (SoMa) district, but then, isn’t it always? Since it was first platted in 1847, SoMa’s only constant has been change. During its long life it’s been an exclusive residential neighborhood, a district of light industry and warehouses, a convenient landing spot for transient workers, a hub of nightlife activity, a place where local artists set themselves up in inexpensive warehouse space and early tech workers powwowed in brand-new live-work spaces…

The latest change to hit SoMa came during the last decade. In 2010, the San Francisco Association of Realtors made official what had been obvious to savvy observers for years: that what we’d been calling SoMa had actually become three distinct neighborhoods, one wedged between downtown and Mission Bay called South Beach (Third Street to San Francisco Bay), one boasting a critical mass of luxury high-rise buildings called Yerba Buena (Fifth Street to Third) and funky, quirky SoMa (Fifth Street to the 101 Freeway).

SoMa’s rich history is long and unique. It spent its earliest years as a residential neighborhood – one of the city’s finest – until the introduction of reliable streetcars pushed the district’s wealthy residents to the top of Nob Hill. In their place came working-class residents, dock and shipyard workers whose presence in SoMa dominated the next several decades.

Whatever growth SoMa was undergoing 100 years ago was abruptly interrupted by the total devastation of the 1906 earthquake. The ‘quake and ensuing fire leveled the entire neighborhood. When it came time to rebuild, city leaders decided to emphasize light industry and simple housing. They widened SoMa’s main streets and lined them with multi-unit low-rise Edwardian buildings, which attracted the aforementioned transient workers. Many of these buildings remain and now stand cheek-to-jowl with converted warehouses, lofts from the 1990s and mid-rise condo buildings from the last decade.

Modern SoMa is defined by its industrial past (from the exterior, the warehouses and apartment buildings on Howard, Folsom and Harrison Streets seem unchanged from the early 20th century) and by its forward-looking present (anything you can imagine fitting into a warehouse is inside these buildings: bars, restaurants, non-profit charities, art studios, tech start-ups). Its transition from “skid row” to the present was long and controversial, beginning with Benjamin Swig’s failed “San Francisco Prosperity Plan” in 1954. Swig’s hope was to make SoMa an extension of downtown, with high-rise office and residential buildings, but it was ultimately defeated by neighborhood resistance. Eventually, redevelopment came in a more organic, piecemeal fashion. Rather than start over, the neighborhood simply continued to evolve.

As a result, despite its wide streets and commercial buildings, modern SOMA is a colorful functioning city neighborhood, with rec centers, parks, schools, grocery stores (Harvest Urban Market, at 191 8th Street, is a stellar new addition), bars and some of San Francisco’s most notable restaurants, along with decades-old mom and pop businesses and younger ones, like the combination Laundromat/café/performance space Brain Wash, which, after almost 30 years in business has become a decades-old mom and pop business.

SoMa wears its past and present simultaneously. Whether it’s the constantly changing roster of night spots radiating out from the intersection of 11th Street and Folsom, the latter street’s scattered leather emporia (evidence of its 1960s and 70s run as the center of San Francisco’s nascent gay community) or in the gleaming steel barrels of the Cellar Maker Brewing on Howard Street, SoMa keeps parts of its past alive while simultaneously forging ahead.

But what makes the neighborhood so special is that hidden just around the corner from its busy main thoroughfares are SoMa’s treasured alleyways, one-lane residential streets offering warm contrast to wide, noisy streets like Howard and Harrison. It’s here that you’ll find so many of the small, two- to 10-unit residential buildings that eventually became SoMa’s 1990s and after redevelopment. They’re pressed in among small warehouses (most of them converted into artists’ studios or live-work lofts but some still actively commercial) and Edwardian flats, creating small, quiet pockets of intimacy in the midst of arguably San Francisco’s most urban neighborhood.

One of the best of these is the block of Harriet Street between Howard and Folsom. Here you’ll see contrasting architectural styles coming together not in chaos but in complement, all overlooking the playground and park of the Gene Friend Recreation Center. This street was described in Tom Wolfe’s 1968 book,  “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test,” as a “poor, forgotten block.” It is forgotten no more.

What comes next for SoMa? Part of the answer lies in the construction going on at its northwest corner. Here, emboldened by the success of Mission Street’s SOMA Grand building and the arrival of tech firms like Twitter, is a riot of new residential construction, four high-rise buildings hugging the Market Street border and boasting of amenities equal to those found in Yerba Buena’s standard-bearers. 37 stories at its tallest, just-opened NEMA adds 754 for lease residential units to SOMA, joining the massive Trinity Place complex one block away to emphatically declare that SoMa’s next step is directly up.

NEMA and Trinity may be the future, but there will always be room in SoMa for the quirky, the small-scale and the past. That these can live side-by-side is what makes SoMa one of San Francisco’s most vibrant and interesting neighborhoods.

Source : Parascopesf.com

Prior to 1998, there was no residential neighborhood in Mission Bay; no Victorian farmhouses, no worker cottages ordered out of a Sears catalog in 1910, no ticky-tacky little boxes constructed en masse by Henry Doelger before World War II, no apartments, no condominiums, no townhouses. There were rail yards, warehouses and parking lots. The Mission Bay we see now was invented by Board of Supervisors decree in 1998.

It is unlike any other neighborhood in San Francisco, a fully-planned, 21st-century district featuring the latest in residential design and a growing population cutting edge commercial interests. In one important way, though, Mission Bay is the embodiment of a classic urban neighborhood: its residential makeup. Like Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Mission Bay has condos, townhouses and apartments and zero single-family homes.

Way back in 1998 Mission Bay was divided into two Redevelopment areas: “Mission Bay North” and “Mission Bay South.” The project’s ultimate goal was to build 6,000 residential units in the new neighborhood. Half of those were completed between 1998 and 2010. The rest, as anyone who’s recently strolled down Fourth Street knows, are either under construction, just finished or waiting to break ground.

Early building focused on Mission Bay North and consisted of several mid-rise condominium buildings, communities like Arterra, Park Terrace and The Edgewater on Berry Street and The Beacon and Signature on King Street, along with a few large apartment complexes (notably Avalon I and II and 355 Berry). It wasn’t until 2006 that 417-unit Radiance became the first Mission Bay residential complex built south of Mission Creek.

In August, 2012, Madrone, located adjacent to Pier 52 on Terry Francois Boulevard, kicked off the second phase of building in Mission Bay. Madrone debuted to great fanfare, preselling 200 of its 329 units then selling 97 more during its first month of “official” sales. From Madrone development moved to a few blocks inland, to Fourth Street. Long-range plans here are to create a mixed-use urban core for Mission Bay, with retail, restaurants, commercial space and hundreds of apartment and condominium homes.

On and around Fourth Street today you’ll find new or almost-complete buildings at 1155 Fourth (Venue), 1180 Fourth (Mercy Housing, with 175 Below Market Rate units), 1201 Fourth (Strata) and 185 Channel Street (Channel Mission Bay). When complete these five complexes will add approximately 1,200 residential units, the majority of them for lease, to the neighborhood. Channel Mission Bay, which opened for business in February, has already leased 35 percent of its 315 apartments.

Mission Bay’s new residential communities are luxurious, with generous living spaces, of-the-moment style and amenities like on-site fitness and business centers, barbecue areas, movie theaters and concierge service. Venue, at 1155 Fourth, adds some additional, somewhat quirky perks like a waterfall, an on-site car wash and an on-site dog wash.

The present phase of construction is hardly Mission Bay’s last gasp. With the 2008-2010 market downturn firmly in the rearview, ambitious development has roared back to life. Under construction at Fourth and Channel is Sol, a 21-story, 273-unit condominium building due for completion in early 2015.  One block away at Third and Channel a proposal featuring a 250-room luxury hotel and 350 residential units is moving forward, and the impressively-named “Mission Rock Megaproject,” currently in its planning stages, aims to create a mini-neighborhood, with commercial and retail spaces, restaurants, hotels and residential buildings out of a series of parking lots located across McCovey Cove from AT & T Park. The project has already inked its first tenant, iconic San Francisco business Anchor Brewing.

Other Mission Bay projects underway include a new Public Safety Building, a children’s park and a massive park at Mission Bay Boulevard South and San Francisco Bicycle Route 5. Though it may seem that an entire neighborhood has appeared and matured in only 15 years, Mission Bay’s future plans suggest that we haven’t seen anything yet.

Source : Parascopesf.com

These tables report average and median sales prices and average dollar per square foot values, along with average home size and units sold, by property type and bedroom count for a wide variety of San Francisco neighborhoods. The tables follow the map in the following order: houses by bedroom count, condos by bedroom count, 2-bedroom TICs, and finally a small table on 2-unit building sales.

The analysis is based upon sales reported to MLS between April 1, 2013, when the last big surge in home values began in San Francisco, and February 21, 2014. Value statistics are generalities that are affected by a number of market factors and all numbers should be considered approximate.

“m” signifies millions of dollars; “k” signifies thousands; N/A means there wasn’t enough data for reliable results. Expanding your screen view to zoom 125% will make the map and charts that much easier to read.

 

 

 

 

These statistics apply only to home sales with at least 1 car parking. Homes without parking typically sell at a significant discount. Below Market Rate (BMR) condos were excluded from the analysis.

The average size of homes vary widely by neighborhood. Besides affluence, the era and style of construction often play a large role in these size disparities. Some neighborhoods are well known for having “bonus” bedrooms and baths built without permit (often behind the garage). Such additions can add value, but being unpermitted are not reflected in square footage and $/sq.ft. figures.

If a price is followed by a “k” it references thousands of dollars; if followed by an “m”, it signifies millions of dollars. Sales unreported to MLS are not included in this analysis, and where abnormal “outliers” were identified that significantly distorted the statistics, these were deleted as well. N/A signifies that there wasn’t enough reliable data to generate the statistic.

The Median Sales Price is that price at which half the properties sold for more and half for less. It may be affected by “unusual” events or by changes in inventory and buying trends, as well as by changes in value. The median sale price for an area will often conceal a wide variety of sales prices in the underlying individual sales. Average sales prices may be distorted by one or two sales significantly higher or lower than the normal range. All numbers should be considered approximate.

Dollar per Square Foot is based upon the home’s interior living space and does not include garages, storage, unfinished attics and basements; rooms and apartments built without permit; decks, patios or yards. These figures are typically derived from appraisals or tax records, but can be unreliable, measured in different ways, or unreported altogether: thus consider square footage and $/sq.ft. figures to be very general approximations. Size and $/sq.ft. values were only calculated on listings that provided square footage figures. All things being equal, a house will have a higher dollar per square foot than a condo (because of land value), a condo’s will be higher than a TIC (quality of title), and a TIC’s higher than a multi-unit building’s (quality of use). All things being equal, a smaller home will have a higher $/sq.ft. than a larger one.

Many aspects of value cannot be adequately reflected in general statistics: curb appeal, age, condition, views, amenities, outdoor space, “bonus” rooms, parking, quality of location within the neighborhood, and so forth. Thus, how these statistics apply to any particular home is unknown without a specific comparative market analysis. Data is from sources deemed reliable, but may contain errors and is subject to revision.

Neighborhood Market Reports *** Information for Buyers *** Information for SellersSAN FRANCISCO REALTOR DISTRICTS

District 1 (Northwest): Sea Cliff, Lake Street, Richmond (Inner, Central, Outer), Jordan Park/Laurel Heights, Lone Mountain

District 2 (West): Sunset & Parkside (Inner, Central, Outer), Golden Gate Heights

District 3 (Southwest): Lake Shore, Lakeside, Merced Manor, Merced Heights, Ingleside, Ingleside Heights, Oceanview

District 4 (Central SW): St. Francis Wood, Forest Hill, West Portal, Forest Knolls, Diamond Heights, Midtown Terrace, Miraloma Park, Sunnyside, Balboa Terrace, Ingleside Terrace, Mt. Davidson Manor, Sherwood Forest, Monterey Heights, Westwood Highlands

District 5 (Central): Noe Valley, Eureka Valley/Dolores Heights (Castro, Liberty Hill), Cole Valley, Glen Park, Corona Heights, Clarendon Heights, Ashbury Heights, Buena Vista Park, Haight Ashbury, Duboce Triangle, Twin Peaks, Mission Dolores, Parnassus Heights

District 6 (Central North): Hayes Valley, North of Panhandle (NOPA), Alamo Square, Western Addition, Anza Vista, Lower Pacific Heights

District 7 (North): Pacific Heights, Presidio Heights, Cow Hollow, Marina

District 8 (Northeast): Russian Hill, Nob Hill, Telegraph Hill, North Beach, Financial District, North Waterfront, Downtown, Van Ness/ Civic Center, Tenderloin

District 9 (East): SoMa, South Beach, Mission Bay, Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, Bernal Heights, Inner Mission, Yerba Buena

District 10 (Southeast): Bayview, Bayview Heights, Excelsior, Portola, Visitacion Valley, Silver Terrace, Mission Terrace, Crocker Amazon, Outer Mission

Some Realtor districts contain neighborhoods that are relatively homogeneous in general home values, such as districts 5 and 7, and others contain neighborhoods of wildly different values, such as district 8 which, for example, includes both Russian Hill and the Tenderloin.

Source : Paragon-re.com

It’s safe to say that Mission Bay is San Francisco’s fastest-growing neighborhood. Empty Southern Pacific Railroad yards only 15 years ago, the district is now home to some of San Francisco’s finest apartment and condominium complexes, with more going up seemingly every day. Want to see the future of Mission Bay? Stand at the corner of Third Street and Mission Bay Boulevard and look back toward downtown. You’ll see no fewer than four cranes busy at work, lifting girders and beams into place on what will soon be two new mid-rise apartment complexes, Venue and MB 360. Google Maps still shows the two-block stretch of Fourth Street between Channel and China Basin as an unbroken string of parking lots; they need to catch up.

The neighborhood genesis is simple: once part of San Francisco Bay, Mission Bay was created over a period of time ending in 1910 when land excavated from other parts of the city – notably Rincon Hill – was dumped into the bay. The new real estate transformed a rough-and-tumble waterfront into a patchwork of utilitarian railroad yards and stayed that way for almost a century, until 1998, when Mission Bay was targeted for redevelopment by the City of San Francisco. Catellus, a real estate firm created when Southern Pacific merged with the Santa Fe Railroad, was charged with the job of creating the new neighborhood.

In 2003, Mission Bay’s first major commercial development, the 43-acre USCF Mission Bay Campus, was completed. Since then, Mission Bay has become a magnet for healthcare, pharmaceutical and biotechnology business, attracting the likes of Bayer, Nektar and Fibrogen. Residential development followed UCSF to the neighborhood, beginning on a corridor of Berry Street, across Mission Creek from the heart of Mission Bay. It has since spread throughout the area.

It’s not easy creating a neighborhood out of nothing but it is easy to see why Mission Bay was chosen for that task. Centrally located and within easy walking distance of downtown and AT & T Park, it offers easy access to Caltrain, MUNI and Highway 280, stellar new housing, great bay and city views and a long stretch of waterfront.

Its developers have anticipated residents’ tastes and needs by attracting a diverse group of restaurants and night spots – nearby King Street is lined with new businesses, restaurants like Umami Burger, Nama, a branch of Amici’s Pizza and, at the ballpark, the Public House and Momo’s – including a neo-classic bowling alley/night club, Lucky Strike Bowl. King Street is also where residents can go for everyday services like Safeway and Walgreens, maybe stopping on their way home at the city’s newest library branch (opened in 2006), at 960 Fourth Street.

Mission Bay has multiple parks, including the promenade behind AT & T Park and UCSF’s central Koret Quad, a large green space featuring multiple outdoor art installations. A section of the 500-mile San Francisco Bay Trail runs along the Mission Bay waterfront. Mission Creek, a venerable waterway at the western edge of the neighborhood, features green space and public walking paths on both shores.

Mission Creek is also where you’ll find evidence of Mission Bay’s funkier days. A group of 20 or so houseboats – “floating homes” – has been bobbing up and down on the creek since the early 1970s, a small anachronistic outlier surrounded by progress and growth of a distinctly 21st-century fashion.

Maybe Mission Creek’s funky houseboat settlement isn’t too much of an outlier, though. All along Terry Francois Boulevard, at Mission Bay’s eastern border, are reminders of a different time and place – weatherbeaten maritime buildings, no-nonsense working piers, ships in the Pier 54 dry dock and a bit of local color, the Bay View Boat Club. Home to an annual “Plastic Regatta,” the club’s modest yellow clubhouse was towed from Hunters Point to its present site at 489 Terry Francois Boulevard in 1962.

There it stays, in the shadow of the shiny new headquarters of clothier Old Navy, a fun reminder that even in San Francisco’s most dynamically changing, newest neighborhood, a little bit of the old city shines through.

Source : http://www.parascopesf.com/scoping-out-mission-bay

There are a number of new developments in San Francisco that are being planned, in progress, and selling out as we speak. Here’s a selection of projects around the city to give you an idea of recent changes, ones that are currently happening, and ones that are just around the corner.

 Status: In planning, approved, about to break ground, breaking ground.

 Status: Under Construction, almost complete, pre-sales.

Status: Selling, almost sold-out, sold-out.

Click the top right to view full screen

Source : http://www.parascopesf.com/whats-new-in-san-francisco-new-developments