Image of people crossing a busy road in downtown San Francisco. Credit: georgeclerk / iStock.

Fiscal Year 2023-24
Highlights

Downtown Revitalization

Building on the broader “Roadmap to San Francisco’s Future,” in March 2024, Mayor Breed set a goal to bring 30,000 new residents and students downtown by 2030. Her “30 x 30” plan outlines the strategies to achieve this goal.

The Roadmap to San Francisco’s Future envisions Downtown as "everyone's neighborhood"—a vibrant, economically diverse, and bustling 24/7 community. In Union Square and Yerba Buena, the vision centers on creating new experiences, enhancing destination retail, boosting tourism, and repurposing upper floors of existing buildings with a dynamic mix of uses. The goal is to cultivate a lively, mixed-use neighborhood that welcomes both San Franciscans and visitors alike.

The Planning Department and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) are working together, along with external organizations, to address downtown recovery in both the near- and long-term, with a focus on three themes related to downtown San Francisco: expanding housing, economic diversification and public life and ground floor activation.

While far reaching, two highlights from this broader effort include:

Rendering close-up of residential building winows with cityskyline in the background. Image credit: Compass Real Estate.

Expanding Downtown Housing:
Adaptive Reuse of Commercial Buildings

Addressing regulatory barriers: The Commercial to Residential Adaptive Reuse program (Planning Code Section 210.5) was established in July 2023 to facilitate the adaptive reuse of commercial buildings to housing. The Program allows adaptive reuse projects Downtown to waive certain Planning Code requirements that would otherwise be challenging to meet when converting an existing commercial building to housing, such as Lot Coverage, Open Space, Streetscape Improvements, Dwelling Unit Exposure, Bicycle Parking, and Dwelling Unit Mix.
Addressing financial barriers: San Francisco voters approved Proposition C on the March 2024 ballot to waive the City’s transfer tax on the first transfer of a property after a commercial-to-residential conversion.

Many people are skating on the skating rink in Union square. Photo by Fabiomichelecapelli / iStock

Public Life and Ground Floor Activation:
Downtown Public Spaces

Develop concept design for Powell Street
Work with Union Square Alliance to identify near term improvements for Maiden Lane
Work with Downtown Partnership on a design for a Downtown Gateway at the Cable Car turnaround