201 California St
201 California St is a 17-story building in Downtown San Francisco with 83% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 211 homes and scores it 83 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
CA-11 · Screened 2026-10-12 · Strong candidate
Where 201 California St is
Its block in Downtown San Francisco, drawn from San Francisco's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 201 California St
This building does not pencil at default assumptions, even with a modeled RESIDE Act grant.
Every floor carries 2,565 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 41,033 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Modeled conversion metrics for 201 California St, 2026-10-12.
| Suitability scoreStrong candidate | 83 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 226 ft LiDAR (2010) height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 17 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 14,983 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 83% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 53 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 2,565 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 211 |
| Conversion cost$405/sq ft all-in on 239,733 sq ft | $97.1M |
| Gap before grantshortfall against completed value | $19.9M |
| Modeled RESIDE grantat the statutory per-award cap | $10.0M |
| BuiltSan Francisco's own record of the construction year | 1980 |
| ZoningFinancial District/South Beach | C-3-O |
| 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 495 ft of exterior wall, and across 16 residential floors the building carries 7,917 ft of it in total, divided among the 211 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is compact at 0.77: 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 13.2 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 201 California St scores 83 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 86, Interior depth 68, Scale 100, Finance 83 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 201 California St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency83% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 86 | 45% | 38.6 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 53 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 68 | 25% | 17.0 |
| Scale211 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
| Financeremaining gap is 10% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0% | 83 | 15% | 12.5 |
Most of what it earns comes from daylight efficiency, and what holds it back most is interior depth, at 68 out of 100: deepest interior point 53 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft.
Built in 1980
San Francisco records this building as going up in 1980, 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 83% daylight figure above deserves.
What the conversion would cost
$405 per square foot all-in across 239,733 sq ft of converted floor, or $97.1M in total — about $460K for each of the 211 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 201 California 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 41,033 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 211 homes is $77.2M.
What would have to be true
A $19.9M gap before any grant, $9.9M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 11% down.
The shortfall before any grant is $19.9M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 211 homes finishing at $460K rather than the $366K the model assumes — 26% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $322 per square foot.
A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $413K a home. That is still above the $366K assumed, leaving $9.9M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.
Nor do all four levers have to move. For 201 California St, one alone would close the gap at:
Single-assumption flip points for 201 California St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Average unit sizethe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 11% downto 668 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Circulation efficiency | 12% upto 90% |
| Completed value per home | 13% upto $413K |
| Conversion cost per square foot | 16% downto $219/sq ft |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 201 California St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown San Francisco
201 California St ranks 116th of the 205 buildings screened here, against a median score of 87.
Its floor plate is better lit than 39% of them, and shallower than 43% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 86th 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
97th of 165 in Financial District/South Beach, 59th 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. 201 California St ranks 97th 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 53 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. 201 California St ranks 59th 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 53 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: 465 California St
The screened building closest to 201 California St in converted floor area is 465 California St: 255,914 sq ft over 17 stories, against 239,733 sq ft over 17 here.
201 California St scores 83 to its 100, and with the size held roughly equal most of that shortfall comes from interior depth: 68 out of 100 here, 100 there (deepest interior point 30 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft). On the money they part ways: 465 California St pencils only with the modeled RESIDE grant, while 201 California St falls short even with the modeled grant. The two stand about 900 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 201 California 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 201 California St
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 150 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 100 Pine St33 stories · 83% daylit · 396 estimated homes · scores 81/100 (Strong candidate)about 150 ft away
- 140 Battery St14 stories · 85% daylit · 155 estimated homes · scores 83/100 (Strong candidate)about 160 ft away
- 220 California St6 stories · 100% daylit · 39 estimated homes · scores 89/100 (Strong candidate)about 220 ft away
- 100 Battery St7 stories · 90% daylit · 73 estimated homes · scores 90/100 (Strong candidate)about 220 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.