160 Sansome St
160 Sansome St is a 17-story building in Downtown San Francisco with 92% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 147 homes and scores it 95 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
CA-11 · Screened 2026-10-12 · Strong candidate
Also addressed as 180 Sansome St: San Francisco’s address records place both on this one footprint.
Where 160 Sansome St is
Its block in Downtown San Francisco, drawn from San Francisco's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 160 Sansome 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 714 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, seismically braced and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment. Across 16 residential floors that is 11,416 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Modeled conversion metrics for 160 Sansome St, 2026-10-12.
| Suitability scoreStrong candidate | 95 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 246 ft LiDAR (2010) height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 17 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 9,345 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 92% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 47 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 714 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 147 |
| Conversion cost$405/sq ft all-in on 149,513 sq ft | $60.6M |
| Gap before grantshortfall against completed value | $6.8M |
| Modeled RESIDE grantbelow the statutory cap | $8.8M |
| BuiltSan Francisco's own record of the construction year | 1965 |
| ZoningFinancial District/South Beach | C-3-O |
| Opportunity Zonenot in a 2018 designated tract | No |
The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm
43 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 393 ft of exterior wall, and across 16 residential floors the building carries 6,284 ft of it in total, divided among the 147 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is compact at 0.76: close to a square or a circle, the most efficient envelope an office can have and the least generous one for apartments: little perimeter to divide among homes. How window line and plate shape are measured.
At the model’s 750 sq ft average, the plan works out at about 9.2 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 160 Sansome St scores 95 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 100, Interior depth 83, Scale 98, Finance 100 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 160 Sansome St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency92% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 100 | 45% | 45.0 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 47 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 83 | 25% | 20.6 |
| Scale147 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 98 | 15% | 14.7 |
| Financecompleted value covers conversion cost with 3% to spare, which tops out the component | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
Most of what it earns comes from daylight efficiency, and what holds it back most is interior depth, at 83 out of 100: deepest interior point 47 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft.
Built in 1965
San Francisco records this building as going up in 1965, 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 92% daylight figure above deserves.
What the conversion would cost
$405 per square foot all-in across 149,513 sq ft of converted floor, or $60.6M in total — about $412K for each of the 147 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 160 Sansome 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 11,416 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 147 homes is $53.8M.
What would have to be true
A $6.8M gap before any grant, which the modeled $8.8M closes. What would reopen it soonest: circulation efficiency 3% down.
The shortfall before any grant is $6.8M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 147 homes finishing at $412K rather than the $366K the model assumes — 13% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $360 per square foot.
A modeled RESIDE grant of $8.8M moves that threshold to $352K 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 160 Sansome St:
Single-assumption flip points for 160 Sansome St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Circulation efficiencythe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 3% downto 78% |
|---|---|
| Average unit size | 3% upto 773 sq ft |
| Completed value per home | 4% downto $352K |
| Conversion cost per square foot | 5% upto $274/sq ft |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 160 Sansome St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown San Francisco
160 Sansome St ranks 35th of the 205 buildings screened here, against a median score of 87.
Its floor plate is better lit than 55% of them, and shallower than 52% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 105th 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
33rd of 165 in Financial District/South Beach, 24th 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. 160 Sansome St ranks 33rd of them against a median score of 88. 121 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 47 ft from a facade against this building’s 47 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. 160 Sansome St ranks 24th of them against a median score of 89. 76 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 44 ft from a facade against this building’s 47 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: 351 California St
The screened building closest to 160 Sansome St in converted floor area is 351 California St: 152,416 sq ft over 16 stories, against 149,513 sq ft over 17 here.
160 Sansome St scores 95 to its 100, and with the size held roughly equal most of that shortfall comes from interior depth: 83 out of 100 here, 100 there (deepest interior point 29 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft). On the money they sit in the same place: each pencils only with the modeled RESIDE grant. The two stand about 400 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 160 Sansome St $8.8M, 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 160 Sansome St
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 90 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 235 Pine St25 stories · 98% daylit · 248 estimated homes · scores 100/100 (Strong candidate)about 90 ft away
- 130 Bush St14 stories · 100% daylit · 186 estimated homes · scores 100/100 (Strong candidate)about 170 ft away
- 111 Battery St8 stories · 100% daylit · 47 estimated homes · scores 90/100 (Strong candidate)about 200 ft away
- 155 Sansome St12 stories · 100% daylit · 74 estimated homes · scores 92/100 (Strong candidate)about 210 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.