Of Drug Deals and Dreams: SF’s “Affordable” Options

Would you live in the ‘Loin if you thought someday, it would be like living in Soho? According to the Chronicle, first time buyers are banking on just such a transformation, as they buy into Tenderloin developments with “pioneering spirit.” You’d need it, for the neighborhoods are not the only thing you’d have to make the best of. In the case of the recently converted (and sold out) complex at 83 McAllister,  ”The 60 ‘efficiency lofts’ would seem claustrophobic if it wasn’t for the 17-foot high ceilings and clever, modern design.”

Indeed, at approximately 500 square feet for an “affordable” low-400K price tag, together with the crime and stench of the area, that potential “transformation” of the ‘Loin can not come too soon.

But as one young buyer points out, “this is basically the only chance that someone like me [read: someone making moderate income]  could own a home in San Francisco. I…..decided to make the plunge.” This buyer, along with other locals, are working on the neighborhood, perhaps bringing in the energy needed to finally make  change most of us have heard for decades is coming, but has never arrived.

Realtors, ever clever, are attuned to this type of buyer. For example:

Realtor Suzanne Gregg of Vanguard Properties may have hit on the ultimate sales pitch: This isn’t a rough neighborhood, she said, it’s more like “Tenderloin chic.”

“I think some people kind of like it a little edgy,” she said. “We’re going to bill it as ‘SoHo in San Francisco.’ “

And who knows what will happen if a proposal to allow taller skyscrapers south of Market Street in San Francisco passes. The zoning plan “would allow as many as seven new skyscrapers to surpass the current 550-foot height limit in an area surrounding a planned 1,000-foot high-rise next to the new Transbay Terminal.” Such a move effectively shifts “downtown” from the Financial District to South of Market- smack in the center of smack/crack/crime central. 

Certainly, changes are in store.

Other edgy ‘hoods with “affordable” listings now:

• 195 7th St., #405: studio at $289,000 (SOMA)
• 619 Shotwell St., #6: 2/1 TIC (Inner Mission) for $449,000.
• 201 Harrison St., #122: South Beach studio for $359,900 (down 20K)
• 601 Van Ness, #332: 1/1 condo in Civic Center area for $429,000.

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Photo: An apartment at 83 McAllister, as seen on Apartment Therapy.com