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Developer proposes 10 stories of apartments above Central SoMa office project
By Sarah Klearman – Staff Reporter, San Francisco Business Times
Oct 18, 2021 Updated Oct 18, 2021, 1:30pm PDT

Developer oWow has proposed adding 130 residential units above a small office property currently under development in Central Soma.

The nearly 25,000-square foot, three-story creative office space at 952-960 Howard St. is expected to be finished sometime in the summer of 2022, oWow CEO Danny Haber told me. Work on the project started in July but vertical construction has not yet begun.

OWow submitted a preliminary project assessment Oct. 7 for a 10-story vertical addition encompassing the 130 residential units, 24 of which will be earmarked for individuals making between 55% and 120% of area median income. The shift, Haber said, is in part owed to the Central SoMa plan, which provides incentives for residential projects that designate at least 10% of onsite units as affordable.

“The Central SoMa plan really makes it a must-have for projects in that area to include high-density housing, including increasing the number of affordable units,” he said. Among the incentives included in the plan is the acceleration of the entitlement process, Haber said.

OWow has proposed utilizing state density bonus law to get the residential component to 92,400 square feet. OWow also seeks to utilize state density bonus law to waive the 85-foot height cap for buildings within Central Soma; 952-960 Howard would reach 162 feet with the residential addition, according to project plans. The project's architect is oWow Design, the developer's design arm.

Haber said it was too early to yet know the development cost of the residential portion of the project, or the rents that would be needed. Haber said the goal is to make the project affordable by design to those making 80-100% of AMI, a range now at $74,600 to $93,250 for a single-person household in San Francisco. The developer has proposed using two standardized floor plans for the units to lower the costs. If the cost of the residential portion would push rents past that threshold, he said, oWow will reconsider to move forward with the residential component . . . .

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranc...60-howard.html