Left: Existing site at 901 16th Street. Right: Rendering of proposed residences (view from Mississippi and 16th streets). Renderings via Live Potrero Hill
Potrero Hill has become a battleground for new development. Neighborhood group Grow Potrero Responsibly has been fighting a new development at 1601 Mariposa, and now a proposed complex on Mississippi between 16th and 17th streets is about to take center stage. The project, led by Walden Development and the Prado Group, would rise on what is now a rather desolate block of old factories and the Corovan storage facility. Two sites, one at 901 16th Street and one at 1200 17th Street, would be reimagined as residential communities with 395 units in total, ground-floor retail along 16th Street, and a landscaped promenade connecting 16th and 17th streets. However, neighborhood group Save the Hill wants the project to be dramatically downsized and has been granted a special environmental hearing this Wednesday night.
Save the Hill cites concerns including increased traffic, loss of historic buildings, excessive density (building heights would rise to six stories), and the exposure of contaminated soil. Plans for the site have been around for several years, but the fight over them is now kicking into high gear as the Environmental Impact Report gets started. Save the Hill worked with building designer Kalman Varga to put together an alternative development plan for the site that would allow between 131 and 206 units of housing. The property was once set to get a Kaiser medical and housing complex, but those plans were abandoned after community pushback.
If plans do go ahead, the 17th Street building would be designed by Christiani Johnson Architects, and the larger 16th Street portion would be designed by BAR Architects. There would be parking for 388 cars and 455 bikes across the two buildings.
· Potrero NIMBYs Rearing for a Fight at Today's Planning Hearing on 1601 Mariposa [Curbed SF]
· Live Potrero Hill [Official Site]
· Save the Hill [Official Site]
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