High-density housing planned in history-rich Dogpatch neighborhood
By: John Upton
March 15, 2009
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| Room with a view: Rendering of the proposed 68-foot-tall building on the northwest corner of Third and 20th streets. (Courtesy rendering) |
DOGPATCH, — Plans in the Dogpatch area for a six-story residential building offer a glimpse into the industrial-history-steeped neighborhood’s dense urban future, which will be reshaped under an exhaustive rezoning effort completed last year.
New building rules covering 2,200 acres of land in The City’s east, including the Dogpatch, were approved by the Board of Supervisors in November. The so-called Eastern Neighborhoods Plan was crafted to protect some light industry while allowing more housing developments.
Developers have filed an application to build a 68-foot-tall building on an L-shape lot at the northwest corner of Third and 20th streets, where the height limit was previously 50 feet.
The building could contain as many as 62 residential units, ground-floor retail and a two-level subterranean parking garage, planning documents show. It would replace a parking lot and a 92–year-old, single-story commercial building.
The high-density project is appropriate for the location, said Gabriel Metcalf, executive director of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, a think tank that deals with planning and transportation issues.
“When we built the Third Street light-rail line, the hope was that it would help attract investment like this,” Metcalf said. “Hopefully, there will be more projects like this moving forward.”
Curved elements in the building’s facade evoke a streamlined look that was inspired by nearby nautical elements, such as cruise ships and historical ship-building operations, according to architect and developer Stephen Antonaros.
But the design didn’t impress members of the Dogpatch Neighborhood Association when Antonaros presented it to them in the fall, according to President Susan Eslick.
Eslick said the association doesn’t object to expected increases in the waterfront neighborhood’s urban density, but she said Antonaros’s project “felt massive in a way that we didn’t feel was architecturally interesting.”
The project’s design failed to include sufficient public open space, more of which is needed in the neighborhood, Eslick said.
To address that concern, Antonaros said he will open the building’s rear yard as a publicly accessible courtyard, where a mezzanine café will serve coffee.
But, he said, the project’s high density is an inevitable consequence of the new zoning rules.
Construction of the project, which hasn’t yet been approved by The City, might begin in several years, Antonaros said.
On the opposite side of Third Street, a planned 179-unit project will rise in some places to 65 feet, and homes are already selling in the recently completed 143-unit Esprit Park project at nearby 20th and Minnesota streets.
Adding density
Proposals for a new development in the Dogpatch neighborhood at Third and 20th streets:
New building:
- As many as 62 residential units
- Ground-floor retail
- Two-level underground parking
- Building height of 68 feet
What is there now:
- 92-year-old, single-story commercial building
- Parking lot
- Previous height limit of 50 feet
Source: Planning Department
