1 Bush St
1 Bush St is a 19-story building in Downtown San Francisco with 99% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 327 homes and scores it 100 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
CA-11 · Screened 2026-10-12 · Strong candidate
Where 1 Bush St is
Its block in Downtown San Francisco, drawn from San Francisco's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 1 Bush St
This building does not pencil on its own, but a modeled RESIDE Act grant would close the gap if the building qualified for one.
Every floor carries 208 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, seismically braced and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment. Across 18 residential floors that is 3,744 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Modeled conversion metrics for 1 Bush St, 2026-10-12.
| Suitability scoreStrong candidate | 100 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 284 ft LiDAR (2010) height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 19 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 17,280 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 99% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 40 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 208 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 327 |
| Conversion cost$405/sq ft all-in on 311,033 sq ft | $126.0M |
| Gap before grantshortfall against completed value | $6.3M |
| Modeled RESIDE grantat the statutory per-award cap | $10.0M |
| BuiltSan Francisco's own record of the construction year | 1959 |
| ZoningFinancial District/South Beach | C-3-O |
| Opportunity Zonenot in a 2018 designated tract | No |
The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm
37 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 677 ft of exterior wall, and across 18 residential floors the building carries 12,186 ft of it in total, divided among the 327 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is moderately compact at 0.47: a squarish plan, with enough perimeter for a conventional double-loaded corridor. How window line and plate shape are measured.
At the model’s 750 sq ft average, the plan works out at about 18.2 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 1 Bush St scores 100 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 100, Interior depth 100, Scale 100, Finance 100 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 1 Bush St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency99% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 100 | 45% | 45.0 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 40 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 100 | 25% | 25.0 |
| Scale327 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
| Financecompleted value covers conversion cost with 3% to spare, which tops out the component | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
Every component scores at or near full marks, so nothing in the geometry or the pro-forma is holding this one back — daylight efficiency carries the most weight of the four.
Built in 1959
San Francisco records this building as going up in 1959, which puts it in the post-war stock.
As a rule, the period when plates got deep and facades became curtain wall: sealed glazing, lower floor-to-floor heights, and mechanical systems designed around a sealed box. Conversions here usually turn on whether the windows can be made to open and whether ceilings survive new plumbing. That is the era’s general tendency rather than a finding about this building — the model reads an outline and a height, and can see nothing inside — but it is the first thing an architect would want to know, and it colours how much confidence the 99% daylight figure above deserves.
What the conversion would cost
$405 per square foot all-in across 311,033 sq ft of converted floor, or $126.0M in total — about $385K for each of the 327 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 1 Bush St: base cost plus the code work a change of use triggers.
| Base conversion cost | $260/sq ft |
|---|---|
| Seismic retrofit (change of use) | $45/sq ft |
| Plumbing risers to every unit | $40/sq ft |
| Operable windows and glazing | $30/sq ft |
| Additional egress stair | $18/sq ft |
| Fire sprinklers (NFPA 13R) | $12/sq ft |
| All-in | $405/sq ft |
That cost is charged across every converted square foot, including the 3,744 sq ft of windowless core, which has to be gutted, seismically braced and sprinklered like the rest of the building and then earns nothing. Against it the model sets a completed value of $366K a home, which for 327 homes is $119.7M.
What would have to be true
A $6.3M gap before any grant, which the modeled $10.0M closes. What would reopen it soonest: completed value per home 3% down.
The shortfall before any grant is $6.3M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 327 homes finishing at $385K rather than the $366K the model assumes — 5% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $385 per square foot.
A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $355K a home. That is below the assumed value, which is why this building counts as unlocked by the grant — subject to it qualifying under the law's vacant-and-abandoned test, which this data cannot show.
Each of these, moved on its own, would be enough to undo that for 1 Bush St:
Single-assumption flip points for 1 Bush St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Completed value per homethe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 3% downto $355K |
|---|---|
| Circulation efficiency | 3% downto 77% |
| Average unit size | 3% upto 775 sq ft |
| Conversion cost per square foot | 5% upto $272/sq ft |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 1 Bush St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown San Francisco
1 Bush St ranks 1st of the 205 buildings screened here, against a median score of 87.
Its floor plate is better lit than 68% of them, and shallower than 63% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 48th largest by estimated homes. The full survey of all 205 buildings ranks and maps every one of them, and the list by address links each to its own page.
Within Financial District/South Beach and the C-3-O zone
1st of 165 in Financial District/South Beach, 1st of 88 zoned C-3-O — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.
San Francisco places 165 of the screened buildings in Financial District/South Beach. 1 Bush St ranks 1st of them against a median score of 88, the top score in the group. 121 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 47 ft from a facade against this building’s 40 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 40,456 homes. The group’s top scorer is 870 Market St, at 100.
88 of the screened buildings are zoned C-3-O. 1 Bush St ranks 1st of them against a median score of 89, the top score in the group. 76 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 44 ft from a facade against this building’s 40 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 21,444 homes. The group’s top scorer is 266 Bush St, at 100.
Its nearest match in size: 301 Howard St
The screened building closest to 1 Bush St in converted floor area is 301 Howard St: 320,436 sq ft over 22 stories, against 311,033 sq ft over 19 here.
1 Bush St scores 100 to its 72, and with the size held roughly equal most of that lead comes from interior depth: 100 out of 100 here, 43 there (deepest interior point 63 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft). On the money they part ways: 301 Howard St falls short even with the modeled grant, while 1 Bush St pencils only with the modeled RESIDE grant. The two stand about 1,700 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 1 Bush St $10.0M, on the assumption it qualifies. Whether it does, no published dataset can say.
That figure assumes the building meets the Act’s vacant-and-abandoned test, which turns on code-enforcement and receivership records no city publishes.
It does not sit in a 2018 designated Opportunity Zone, so it would not draw that Section 201 priority.
Other buildings screened near 1 Bush St
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 220 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 130 Bush St14 stories · 100% daylit · 186 estimated homes · scores 100/100 (Strong candidate)about 220 ft away
- 2 Battery St11 stories · 96% daylit · 77 estimated homes · scores 92/100 (Strong candidate)about 280 ft away
- 525 Market St38 stories · 66% daylit · 748 estimated homes · scores 46/100 (Marginal)about 300 ft away
- 200 Bush St15 stories · 98% daylit · 150 estimated homes · scores 100/100 (Strong candidate)about 340 ft away
A screen, not a feasibility study, from outlines and heights rather than plans: the method and how to correct a figure. If you know this building’s interior, you know what this model cannot see.