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SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) – San Francisco is still recovering from the pandemic the slowest of all major US cities. Thirty-four percent of downtown office space is now vacant. At the same time, there is not enough housing in the city. Could some of this vacant office space be converted into much-needed housing?

San Francisco is in a constant battle with itself: too much commercial space, but not enough housing.

“In many cases, it is cheaper to remodel one of these buildings than to build new,” says Marc Babsin, head of Emerald Fund, a real estate development company based in San Francisco.

That's what Mayor London Breed wants to hear.

She is convinced that the “coming together” of the two, like a marriage, could contribute to the revitalization of the city center.

“We will continue to adapt, we will adjust and we will get better,” Breed stressed.

The key word is “conversions”. This has been done before.

VIDEO: The story of vacant land on SF's Nob Hill could help explain the city's ongoing housing crisis

The story of a decades-vacant lot on San Francisco's Nob Hill may help explain the city's ongoing housing crisis, SF Standard reports.

In 2006, the Royal Insurance Building on the corner of Sansome and Pine Streets, across from the old Pacific Stock Exchange, was converted from office space into 46 condominiums.

The 52-unit Ritz-Carlton building on Market Street was once the headquarters of the San Francisco Chronicle.

And in the 1930s, AP Giannini had a branch of the Bank of Italy, which later became the Bank of America, which lent Walt Disney the money to complete his first feature film, Snow White, and later for other projects.

This building, One Powell Street, was converted into 44 high-end lofts in 2004.

We know it's possible, but what does it take to convert commercial space into residential units? The answer: It's not that simple.

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Strachan Forgan knows a lot about conversions.

His firm, Solomon Cordwell Buenz, was responsible for the largest office-to-residential conversion in San Francisco's history: 100 Van Ness, a 29-story building that now houses 418 rental units.

100 Van Ness was the old AAA building.

100 Van Ness, the former AAA building, was converted into residential units.

“The biggest change we made to the building was to remove the old precast concrete facade and replace it with floor-to-ceiling glass facades to really exploit the building’s view potential,” explained Forgan.

In many interior renovation projects, plumbing installation is one of the biggest challenges.

“This means we have to cut new vertical risers throughout the building,” Forgan explained.

This means that holes have to be drilled through the concrete.

Each unit must now have its own piping, sprinkler heads, thermostat, heating and ventilation, and lighting.

“Light, air and natural light in the residential units is a big deal,” said Joseph Camajani of engineering consulting firm IMEG. “Many of these offices are very large and deep, and it's difficult to get natural light into the bedroom units.”

For IMEG, a floor-to-ceiling glass façade was ideal.

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One tenant reports that there is an ongoing rat and cockroach problem, the ceiling leaks and she has no hot water. But lawyers are convinced that the city attorney's lawsuit will change everything.

ABC7 asked: When will you decide to tear down the building and rebuild from scratch?

“I think some buildings have reached the end of their useful life and the best use of the property might be to build new buildings there,” Forgan said.

He is currently reviewing 15 possible redevelopments in San Francisco, but only three to five are potential candidates.

The other challenge is dealing with the planning department.

Because the city was determined to make 100 Van Ness a success, approvals were expedited.

The property was purchased in 2011 and was ready for occupancy just four years later.

VIDEO: City investigates SF pods used by tech workers as low-cost housing

Investigators from the city of San Francisco are currently examining the Mint Plaza residential complex.

Other conversions have also proven extremely profitable, such as the conversion of the former University of the Pacific dental school at 2121 Webster Street in Pacific Heights.

It came on the market in 2016 and the sale of the 76 condominiums is said to have brought in $300 million.

But that was then. Today, in 2023, conversions may be less profitable.

“Construction costs have probably doubled compared to last year and rents have now fallen so much that they are barely above the 2012 level,” reveals Babsin.

In addition, when 100 Van Ness was built, the city required owners to set aside 13 percent of the units for affordable housing; today, that number is 21 percent.

Any developer, architect or engineer will tell you that City Hall needs to create more incentives to make these conversions more realistic.

“We have a huge inventory of buildings that could be good enough and could serve the people who need them,” Camajani said.

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Apparently peeing outdoors is not everyone's cup of tea.

A religious group and several local residents have sued the City and County of San Francisco over the new outdoor urinal in Mission Dolores Park, calling it a “shameful” invasion of privacy and decency.

The San Francisco Chinese Christian Union, along with several neighbors of the park, filed a 25-page civil lawsuit in San Francisco County Superior Court on Thursday alleging gender and disability discrimination, as well as violations of health and sanitation codes.

The urinal, which city officials call the “pissoir,” opened in January as the city's latest measure to combat public urination. It was part of a major park renovation that included new irrigation systems, playgrounds and restrooms.

The open-air urinal, next to a Muni streetcar stop, consists of a concrete slab with a drain and a circular fence that offers limited privacy. It is located near the southwest corner of the park, affectionately known as the “gay beach.”

The San Francisco Chinese Christian Union, described in the suit as a religious nonprofit organization that includes 15 churches, and other plaintiffs said in their suit that the “sewage hole” forces unsuspecting parkgoers to see strangers' genitals in a public park. It also discriminates against people who need to pee but don't want to do so outdoors, the suit says.

“The outdoor urination hole violates the privacy of those who need to use the restroom but must expose their bodies and endure the shame and humiliation of urinating in public,” the lawsuit states. “Seclusion when defecating is a societal norm and represents one of the most basic expectations of privacy.”

The urinal is also unfair to women, the lawsuit says.

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“The hole provided for outdoor urination is particularly egregious for women and girls,” the lawsuit states. Using this facility would subject women to “extreme embarrassment not experienced by men or boys who merely unzip their pants and pee all over the place.” [sic] when urinating.”

The plaintiffs are represented by the Sacramento-based Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative legal group that is pushing to overturn a state law that requires public schools to allow transgender students to use restrooms and play on sports teams of the gender with which they identify.

“If San Francisco wants to be truly progressive, it needs to have public parks that are accessible to everyone, not just certain groups,” Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, said in an interview. “The city is not above the law. They put the urinal in a place where people will see it, whether they want it or not.”

The office of San Francisco City Attorney Dennis J. Herrera issued a cheeky statement in response to the lawsuit on Friday, titled “Isn't That a Urinal?!”, saying Dolores Park is “famous for its counterculture, rampant sunbathing, hash brownies, 'Hunky Jesus' and more.”

“If I had to predict the 100 things in Dolores Park that would likely most offend these plaintiffs, I would not have guessed this would be among them,” Matt Dorsey, a spokesman for Herrera, said in the statement.

The residents of the neighborhood had campaigned for the urinal, the statement said.

The prosecution pointed out in its statement that the Southern Poverty Law Center has classified the Pacific Justice Institute as an anti-LGBT hate group.

Dacus rejected the designation, saying it came from a “very far-left extremist organization” and said the city was “desperately trying to distract from the real issues” in the lawsuit.

hailey.branson@latimes.com

Follow me at @haileybranson / Google+

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Bonney Plumbing, Electrical, Heating and Air (Bonney), a home services company based in Rancho Cordova, California, has announced the acquisition of award-winning HVAC company Big Air Heating & Air Conditioning (Big Air) based in Concord, California. Under the partnership, Bonney will support Big Air and its team while continuing to operate locally under its brand.

The partnership with Big Air expands Bonney's jurisdiction, which currently includes eight counties in and around the Greater Sacramento region, to Contra Costa County in the Bay Area.

“The East Bay of San Francisco is a prime area of ​​expansion for Bonney,” said Jeremy Macdonald, CEO of Bonney. “When we met the Big Air team, we knew immediately that they would be a good fit given the brand they have built and shared values ​​of focusing on people and providing excellent customer service.”

Founded in 1978 by Mark and Candace Bonney, Bonney is a household name in the Sacramento area. Over the past 40 years, Bonney has grown from a family-owned business to a company that currently operates over 120 service vehicles and employs more than 200 people.

“As Big Air enters the next chapter of its growth, we are thrilled to have found Bonney as a partner,” said Mike Santa Maria, founder of Big Air. “In addition to the additional resources and capital Bonney brings to drive growth, their values ​​and culture align with what we have built at Big Air over the past 20 years.”

Bonney plans to invest in several companies he owns over the next two years to build a regional leader in home services. Silicon Valley-based M&A Business Advisors acted as sales advisor to Big Air.

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