The Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) and the San Francisco Planning Department invite downtown building owners or other project sponsors who are looking into specific projects that would turn underused commercial space into housing and other new uses to express their interest.
The goal of this RFI is to identify projects where the City could help speed up or enhance building conversions through zoning or regulatory changes, financial incentives, or other means. Responses to this RFI should describe the project and show how the City's assistance would either make the project feasible or increase the public benefits of a project.
Projects may be at any stage of planning or design, and must be located in a C-3 zoning district or C-2 zoning district east of Franklin Street / 13th Street and north of Townsend Street.
Find your zoning here under “Zoning Information”: sfplanninggis.org/pim
Although “office-to-housing” projects are of particular interest, responses do not have to be restricted to the conversion of office space to residential units. The City is interested in attracting the widest possible variety of commercial, institutional (e.g. medical, educational), cultural/arts, research, light manufacturing, and residential uses and activities.
Key Dates
The anticipated schedule for this RFI is below. Check this page frequently for updates as the schedule is subject to change.
- RFI is issued by the City: Thursday, June 22, 2023
- Deadline for submission of written questions:* Wednesday, July 12, 2023
- Answers to written questions posted online
- Final posting: Monday, July 17, 2023 by end of day
- Optional online information session: Wednesday, July 19, 2023 at 11:00 AM. Watch a recording of this session.
- Responses due: Friday, September 22, 2023
*Written questions: The deadline to submit substantive questions* is Wednesday, July 12, 2023.
The answers to all questions asked by the deadline will be available for download in the Documents section below.
*Substantive questions are questions that seek to clarify expectations about the RFI or administrative processes. However, you may continue to submit technical or non-substantive questions (e.g. "How should I format the attachments?") to AdaptiveReuseRFI@sfgov.org until the submission deadline and we will respond as soon as possible.
Apply
- Download and review the RFI (also linked below in the "Documents" section).
- Format responses as described in the Content of Responses section within the RFI.
- Submit responses as PDF files by Friday, September 22, 2023 via email to AdaptiveReuseRFI@sfgov.org.
Documents
Request for Interest (RFI) – Adaptive Reuse of Downtown Commercial Buildings
Additional documents will be uploaded in this section, check back often for updates. If you would like to request any of the documents in an alternative format, email AdaptiveReuseRFI@sfgov.org. The email address is monitored between 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidays.
This document contains information about the RFI and the preferred content and format of responses.
Updated. This second posting of the Question and Answer Log includes additional questions and answers from the optional Wednesday, July 19, 2023 information session.
A video recording of the optional online information session that took place on Wednesday, July 19, 2023.
Slides from the optional online information session that took place on Wednesday, July 19, 2023 (PDF file).
Updates
The following updates or changes have been published on this webpage:
7/25/2023 (1:10 PM)
- A video recording of the optional online information session that took place on Wednesday, July 19, 2023 has been posted.
- The Q&A log has been updated to include new questions and answers from July 19, 2023.
- Slides from the optional online information session have been added.
7/17/2023 (4:22 PM)
- The Q&A log has been posted.
8/25/2023 (3:40 PM)
- The City has received additional interest in this RFI and is extending the deadline to submit a response to Friday, September 22, 2023.