A quaint two-story building in the Mission neighborhood that used to house an auto shop will be rebuilt as a four-story retail business incubator with nine residential units.

Renovation and expansion of the building at 3135 24th Street, between Shotwell and Folsom streets, was approved Thursday by the San Francisco Planning Commission.

Commissioners and planning department staff praised project architects for reusing the vacant building instead of tearing it down, and for creatively incorporating multi-level housing units in a mix of sizes.

The ground floor of the new 40-foot building will be used as a small-business incubator or collective for retail industry-focused designers, artists and merchants, planning documents show.