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TODCO seeks approval for 105 affordable apartments on SoMa garden site
The South of Market nonprofit has filed its first application for a new affordable-housing project in more than two decades. The eight-story building would replace a community garden beside housing for low-income seniors.
A South of Market nonprofit is proposing 105 affordable apartments on a site now occupied by the Alice Street Community Gardens, marking its first application for a new housing development since the early 2000s.
Tenants and Owners Development Corp., known as TODCO, filed the application this week for an eight-story building on a 0.4-acre lot behind Mendelsohn House, its 97-unit residence for low-income seniors at 737 Folsom St. The site sits within a block bounded by Third, Fourth, Folsom and Harrison streets.
The project, designed by David Baker Architects, would use wood framing over a concrete base. TODCO acting director Eric Tao said the organization plans to seek financing through tax credits and bonds, along with borrowing against its existing portfolio of about 1,000 units. He said TODCO does not plan to use city funding for the development.
The proposal marks a shift for TODCO and its late longtime leader, John Elberling, who had argued for years that the group should remain a housing advocate rather than become a developer. Elberling died in April. Tao said Elberling gave him approval to pursue housing on the site before his death, saying the project could help rebuild the community and provide homes for low-income seniors.
Elberling was known for challenging city leaders and opposing some market-rate housing and office development in SoMa. Tao acknowledged the irony of the nonprofit building on its own property, describing the site as the backyard of Mendelsohn House.
TODCO grew out of fights over redevelopment in SoMa in the late 1960s and early 1970s. About 350 buildings, many of them residential hotels, were demolished to make way for the Moscone Convention Center and Yerba Buena Gardens. A legal challenge helped secure four replacement-housing sites and funding, which enabled TODCO and other developers to build about 2,500 homes, including 1,400 affordable units. That total remains below the roughly 4,000 homes lost, a shortfall Elberling frequently highlighted, Tao said.
TODCO is using state laws intended to streamline housing approvals and hopes to secure project entitlements by the first quarter of 2027, Tao said. He would like construction to begin late that year, subject to financing and approvals.
Tao said TODCO may pursue additional housing projects, including homes for low-income seniors and middle-income renters. He also said the organization intends to continue its advocacy and political work, which in recent years has included more than $3 million in spending on ballot measures, lobbying and polling through its Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium subsidiary.