201 Sacramento St
201 Sacramento St is a 13-story building in Downtown San Francisco with 90% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 217 homes and scores it 99 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
CA-11 · Screened 2026-10-12 · Strong candidate
No address point in San Francisco’s records falls inside this footprint, so it is named by the closest one that no other screened building claims — usually a site entrance, but check the outline on the plan below before relying on the street number.
Where 201 Sacramento St is
Its block in Downtown San Francisco, drawn from San Francisco's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 201 Sacramento St
This building does not pencil at default assumptions, even with a modeled RESIDE Act grant.
Every floor carries 1,831 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, seismically braced and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment. Across 12 residential floors that is 21,969 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Modeled conversion metrics for 201 Sacramento St, 2026-10-12.
| Suitability scoreStrong candidate | 99 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 193 ft LiDAR (2010) height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 13 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 18,802 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 90% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 41 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 1,831 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 217 |
| Conversion cost$405/sq ft all-in on 225,622 sq ft | $91.4M |
| Gap before grantshortfall against completed value | $12.0M |
| 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
35 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 625 ft of exterior wall, and across 12 residential floors the building carries 7,498 ft of it in total, divided among the 217 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is moderately compact at 0.61: 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 18.1 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 201 Sacramento St scores 99 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 100, Interior depth 98, Scale 100, Finance 96 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 201 Sacramento St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency90% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 100 | 45% | 45.0 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 41 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 98 | 25% | 24.5 |
| Scale217 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
| Financeremaining gap is 2% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0% | 96 | 15% | 14.5 |
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 90% daylight figure above deserves.
What the conversion would cost
$405 per square foot all-in across 225,622 sq ft of converted floor, or $91.4M in total — about $421K for each of the 217 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 201 Sacramento 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 21,969 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 217 homes is $79.4M.
What would have to be true
A $12.0M gap before any grant, $2.0M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: completed value per home 2% up.
The shortfall before any grant is $12.0M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 217 homes finishing at $421K rather than the $366K the model assumes — 15% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $352 per square foot.
A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $375K a home. That is still above the $366K assumed, leaving $2.0M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.
Nor do all four levers have to move. For 201 Sacramento St, one alone would close the gap at:
Single-assumption flip points for 201 Sacramento St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Completed value per homethe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 2% upto $375K |
|---|---|
| Average unit size | 3% downto 731 sq ft |
| Circulation efficiency | 3% upto 82% |
| Conversion cost per square foot | 3% downto $251/sq ft |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 201 Sacramento St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown San Francisco
201 Sacramento St ranks 23rd of the 205 buildings screened here, against a median score of 87.
Its floor plate is better lit than 54% of them, and shallower than 62% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 82nd 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
22nd of 165 in Financial District/South Beach, 17th 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 Sacramento St ranks 22nd 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 41 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 Sacramento St ranks 17th 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 41 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: 180 Howard St
The screened building closest to 201 Sacramento St in converted floor area is 180 Howard St: 218,210 sq ft over 13 stories, against 225,622 sq ft over 13 here.
201 Sacramento St scores 99 to its 67, and with the size held roughly equal most of that lead comes from interior depth: 98 out of 100 here, 32 there (deepest interior point 67 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 1,700 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 201 Sacramento 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 Sacramento St
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 180 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 150 California St23 stories · 96% daylit · 336 estimated homes · scores 99/100 (Strong candidate)about 180 ft away
- 50 California St37 stories · 73% daylit · 704 estimated homes · scores 61/100 (Worth a feasibility study)about 180 ft away
- 248 Front St8 stories · 87% daylit · 87 estimated homes · scores 85/100 (Strong candidate)about 180 ft away
- 20 California St7 stories · 100% daylit · 58 estimated homes · scores 91/100 (Strong candidate)about 290 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.