Mission Housing and the Mission Economic Development Agency have won the city’s bid to develop at least 350 homes at 1979 Mission St., the city confirmed, ending a decade-long fight over the 16th Street BART Plaza parcels.
“I really don’t think there’s anything that better encapsulates how far we’ve come,” said Sam Moss, executive director of Mission Housing, thinking back to when his organization first advocated for a project at this site.
The project, split over two buildings, will provide homes for families and the unhoused. Some 100-plus units could be reserved for those who were formerly homeless, Moss told Mission Local.
While no timeline is set in stone, if the project secures gap financing quickly, it could break ground as early as 2026, and residents could move in by 2028.
“What an honor it is for MEDA to be one of the two organizations selected to lead the development for 1979 Mission Street,” said MEDA chief executive officer Luis Granados in a statement, noting the organizing behind the project. “This is a victory.”
With measures like Senate Bill 35 and Assembly Bill 2126, which streamlines affordable projects and supportive housing projects, respectively, the construction should go faster; a state report suggested that SB35 projects took about 3 months to entitle on average, compared to two years for non-SB35 projects. In the interim, the nearly 60,000 square-foot site will host “tiny homes” for about 60 unhoused people.
The project will be home to unhoused people and families who have children with dependent needs,” according to a press release from the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development. The project will be built in a multiphase development process, and eventually take over the site in and around where the vacant Walgreens is. Because of the proximity to the BART plaza, Mission Housing and MEDA may support some potential improvements to the area, the release said, though exactly what improvements weren’t immediately clear.
Caritas Management and Lutheran Social Services will also be project partners.
The Marvel is the latest project to join the Mission’s golden era of 100-percent affordable housing, many concentrated along or near 16th Street.
But the so-called Marvel was not always considered marvelous by some.
Its original developer, Maximus Real Estate Partners, first submitted plans for a 330-unit market-rate project with 49 below-market-rate units in 2013. Community activists were outraged, and dubbed it the “Monster in the Mission.”
It went downhill from there for the developer: It took Maximus three years after it submitted plans to buy the site from the Jang family for $42 million. To sway public opinion for the project amid rising criticism, Maximus bought $46,000 worth of ads on BART touting the project’s benefits; however, those only garnered more scrutiny after allegedly featuring a teacher’s image without permission. The developers were accused of impersonating city officials and buying locals off for support.
Meanwhile, local activists and the Plaza 16 Coalition, which included Mission Housing and MEDA, dreamed of 100-percent affordable housing, fighting tooth-and-nail against the project.
By 2020, the tide turned in the activists’ favor when Maximus put the parcel back on the market. It sat until 2021, when market-rate developer Crescent Heights agreed to buy the land and donate it to the city, in exchange for building a 966-unit market-rate building in downtown San Francisco. And, this week, the city picked Mission Housing and MEDA to build it — with at least 70 more affordable units than expected.
“This triumph shows that when the community comes together, it can defeat great monsters that cause our families to be displaced from their homes,” said Brenda Cordova Madrigal of the Plaza 16 Coalition in a press release. “We will continue to fight for the homes our communities deserve.”
Moss said of the Plaza 16 Coalition: “I don’t think the Marvel would be here without them.”
As expected, Supervisor Hillary Ronen and Mayor London Breed congratulated the news.
“This project will support people living in the Mission, and strengthen the surrounding community,” Breed said in a press release. “We need projects like this across our city, while also working to make it easier to build housing at all income levels in all neighborhoods.”
I would appreciate some critical reporting from Mission Local on MEDA itself. Is it in fact good that they won this bid? What is their track record like?
As Stephen notes above (https://missionlocal.org/2023/12/meda-mission-housing-16th-street-bart-marvel-mission/#comment-957616) they haven’t done anything with the 18th and Mission property that they’ve owned for six years. What gives us confidence that this will be different?
MEDA’s portfolio had been to defend the interests of the Mission District small business community. Having utterly failed at that, the nonprofit rearticulated itself as an affordable housing nonprofit a decade ago. MEDA’s major housing “success” has been at stealing small sites funding from the Community Land Trust.
Mission Housing used to be a hotbed of progressive political juice. Newsom and Brown were not having that, so they got the Board replaced, fired ED Carlos Romero and Eric Quezada, and rearticulated themselves to be in sync with the “moderate” i.e. conservative SF Democrats.
MEDA ED Granados is not a registered SF voter, I think he lives in the East Bay.
Mission Housing ED Moss lives in a SFH in the Castro.
MEDA has been sitting on its 18th and Mission property for six years, so I won’t hold my breath.
https://missionlocal.org/2023/07/derelict-18th-st-building-finally-funded-to-be-teacher-homes/#:~:text=MEDA%20is%20one%20of%20two,one%20award%20specifically%20for%20educators.
I’m confused, Stephen. Your comment, as well as Michael’s below, suggests they’re not doing anything with the 18th and Mission property, but the article you share is all about how it’s gonna be teacher housing by early next year. Am I missing something?
No, you’re not. Perhaps it will. But the static previous six years don’t inspire confidence, and not a shovel has been lifted to initiate this purported development. I live around the corner and have been looking at that stagnant space for over a decade (interrupted by the brief period when a brewery, tanks and all, was moving in . . . then moved out without opening).
I assume they meant to cast doubt on the timelines above given the 18th St delay
Hopeful to see construction start soon, but let’s not forget there should already be 350 units of housing in this location, the Mission extortion groups blocked the original proposal for a market rate building here. Affordable housing is great if it gets built, but up to now all these groups have done is make gentrification worse.
Extortion works, keep extorting!
So it was worth waiting at least 8 years for this? Assuming the statement “could break ground as early as 2026, and residents could move in by 2028” turns out to be accurate?
The previous developer may have been a bit tricky (those BART ads were a stupid but entertaining response to the “Monster in the Mission” hit campaign), but you know they would have built the apartments quickly if not opposed by these groups. Meaning 330 market rate and 49 affordable units would have been completed a couple of years ago for people to move into. It takes all kinds of housing to avert a housing crisis, and how expensive could market rate apartments at 16th and Mission be (especially in the long term?). Frustrating.
Not sure about it being a “triumph”. The developer basically got to build a 966 unit “luxury” building downtown (plus a tax break) in return for donating this lot. And if you are trying to sell $2 million condos then downtown makes a lot more sense than the cesspit that is 16th and Mission. The developer got an upgrade in terms of location, floors and number of units.
This is a perfect site for housing for low income folks, not those who can afford a market rate condo. I am glad to see this in the works.
This will be the real MONSTER in the Mission. Saddling the neighborhood with even more parasites than the Mission is already saddled with. Thank Zeus I am a successful capitalist and can leave this dump for Marin!