177 Steuart St
177 Steuart St is a 7-story building in Downtown San Francisco with 88% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 72 homes and scores it 84 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
CA-11 · Screened 2026-10-12 · Strong candidate
Also addressed as 188 The Embarcadero: San Francisco’s address records place both on this one footprint.
Where 177 Steuart St is
Its block in Downtown San Francisco, drawn from San Francisco's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 177 Steuart St
This building does not pencil at default assumptions, even with a modeled RESIDE Act grant.
Every floor carries 1,503 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, seismically braced and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment. Across 6 residential floors that is 9,015 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Modeled conversion metrics for 177 Steuart St, 2026-10-12.
| Suitability scoreStrong candidate | 84 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 84 ft LiDAR (2010) height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 7 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 12,793 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 88% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 50 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 1,503 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 72 |
| Conversion cost$405/sq ft all-in on 76,757 sq ft | $31.1M |
| Gap before grantshortfall against completed value | $4.7M |
| Modeled RESIDE grantbelow the statutory cap | $4.3M |
| BuiltSan Francisco's own record of the construction year | 1986 |
| ZoningFinancial District/South Beach | C-3-O(SD) |
| Opportunity Zonenot in a 2018 designated tract | No |
The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm
38 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 460 ft of exterior wall, and across 6 residential floors the building carries 2,762 ft of it in total, divided among the 72 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 12.0 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 177 Steuart St scores 84 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 97, Interior depth 76, Scale 48, Finance 98 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 177 Steuart St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency88% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 97 | 45% | 43.4 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 50 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 76 | 25% | 19.0 |
| Scale72 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 48 | 15% | 7.2 |
| Financeremaining gap is 1% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0% | 98 | 15% | 14.7 |
Most of what it earns comes from daylight efficiency, and what holds it back most is scale, at 48 out of 100: 72 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150.
Built in 1986
San Francisco records this building as going up in 1986, which puts it in the late-modern stock.
As a rule, typically the hardest to convert: the deepest plates of any era, large central cores, and floor-to-floor heights tight enough that running residential drainage under a ceiling can be the thing that ends a project. 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 88% daylight figure above deserves.
What the conversion would cost
$405 per square foot all-in across 76,757 sq ft of converted floor, or $31.1M in total — about $432K for each of the 72 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 177 Steuart 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 9,015 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 72 homes is $26.4M.
What would have to be true
A $4.7M gap before any grant, $415K after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 1% down.
The shortfall before any grant is $4.7M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 72 homes finishing at $432K rather than the $366K the model assumes — 18% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $343 per square foot.
A modeled RESIDE grant of $4.3M moves that threshold to $372K a home. That is still above the $366K assumed, leaving $415K uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.
Nor do all four levers have to move. For 177 Steuart St, one alone would close the gap at:
Single-assumption flip points for 177 Steuart St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Average unit sizethe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 1% downto 742 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Circulation efficiency | 1% upto 81% |
| Completed value per home | 2% upto $372K |
| Conversion cost per square foot | 2% downto $255/sq ft |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 177 Steuart St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown San Francisco
177 Steuart St ranks 109th of the 205 buildings screened here, against a median score of 87.
Its floor plate is better lit than 49% of them, and shallower than 49% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 145th 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(SD) zone
92nd of 165 in Financial District/South Beach, 25th of 66 zoned C-3-O(SD) — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.
San Francisco places 165 of the screened buildings in Financial District/South Beach. 177 Steuart St ranks 92nd 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 50 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 40,456 homes. The group’s top scorer is 870 Market St, at 100.
66 of the screened buildings are zoned C-3-O(SD). 177 Steuart St ranks 25th of them against a median score of 72. 37 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 59 ft from a facade against this building’s 50 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 18,546 homes. The group’s top scorer is 140 New Montgomery St, at 100.
Its nearest match in size: 100 Battery St
The screened building closest to 177 Steuart St in converted floor area is 100 Battery St: 77,140 sq ft over 7 stories, against 76,757 sq ft over 7 here.
177 Steuart St scores 84 to its 90, and with the size held roughly equal most of that shortfall comes from interior depth: 76 out of 100 here, 92 there (deepest interior point 43 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft). On the money they sit in the same place: each falls short even with the modeled grant. The two stand about 2,200 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 177 Steuart St $4.3M, 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 177 Steuart St
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 310 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 131 Steuart St7 stories · 100% daylit · 42 estimated homes · scores 89/100 (Strong candidate)about 310 ft away
- 121 Steuart St7 stories · 100% daylit · 42 estimated homes · scores 89/100 (Strong candidate)about 360 ft away
- 201 Spear St18 stories · 87% daylit · 268 estimated homes · scores 92/100 (Strong candidate)about 440 ft away
- 120 Howard St12 stories · 77% daylit · 171 estimated homes · scores 72/100 (Strong candidate)about 550 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.