Date Posted: 06.07.2024
Construction has begun on Transbay Block 2! The $309 million full-block development incorporates two new buildings with affordable rental housing for more than 700 residents in the East Cut neighborhood of downtown San Francisco.
Transbay Block 2 West (2W) features affordable senior housing developed by Chinatown Community Development Center and designed by Mithun with Kerman Morris Architects, associate architect. Mercy Housing California is the lead developer for the adjacent Block 2 East (2E), affordable housing for families and formerly homeless individuals designed by Kennerly Architecture & Planning in association with Y.A. Studio. A public mews will connect the two sites and support pedestrian connectivity within the neighborhood.
At the groundbreaking, Mayor London Breed expressed, “These projects are exactly the type of transit-oriented housing that we need to create in San Francisco to benefit some of the City’s most vulnerable residents and meet our housing goals. These homes will not only provide stability to seniors, low-income families, and formerly homeless individuals, they will also add vibrancy to Downtown and move us closer to our 30 by 30 goal of adding 30,000 residents and students Downtown by 2030.”
When complete in 2025, the nine-story, 109,650 sf Block 2W affordable housing development will provide 151 rental units for senior households earning 15% to 50% of the Area Median Income (AMI), with 30 homes reserved for those who have experienced homelessness. The building includes a mix of studios and one-bedroom apartments, supportive services, shared amenities to foster community among residents, a sixth-floor roof deck, a courtyard garden and 3,000 sf of ground-floor retail. The design will form a backdrop to the future Transbay Park at the heart of the district.
Mithun partner-in-charge Anne Torney said, “We’re extremely proud to serve as architects for Transbay Block 2W, which demonstrates San Francisco’s commitment to stable homes, design excellence and beautiful, equitable, walkable urbanism for San Franciscans of all ages and backgrounds.”
“We’re thrilled to embark on Chinatown CDC’s largest senior housing project in 25 years! With 151 units, including homes for formerly homeless and low-income seniors, Transbay Block 2 West Senior Housing embodies our commitment to quality living,” said Malcolm Yeung, Executive Director of Chinatown CDC.
Mithun is providing architecture and interior design for Block 2W with associate architect Kerman Morris Architects. Additional members of the design team include DCI Engineers, structural, and OLMM Engineers, associate structural engineers; Luk & Associates, civil; Engineering 350, MEP basis of design and energy modeling; AR Green Consulting, sustainability; Plural, landscape; Urban Design Consulting Engineers, joint trench; 4EA Building Science, waterproofing; Tucci Lighting, lighting; CSDA Design Group, acoustics; and M.Thrailkill.Architect.LLC, specifications. Swinerton and Rubecon are constructing both Transbay Block 2W and 2E.
