235 Pine St

Where 235 Pine St is

Its block in Downtown San Francisco, drawn from San Francisco's own building outlines and street centerlines.

The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm

42 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.

The typical floor has 432 ft of exterior wall, and across 24 residential floors the building carries 10,374 ft of it in total, divided among the 248 homes this screen estimates.

Its plate is moderately compact at 0.67: 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 10.3 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.

Why 235 Pine St scores 100 out of 100

Daylight efficiency 100, Interior depth 100, Scale 100, Finance 100 — each out of 100, then weighted.

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 1991

San Francisco records this building as going up in 1991, which puts it in the modern stock.

As a rule, newer systems and better structure, but usually built deep and sealed for office use, and rarely cheap enough to buy at a price that lets a conversion pencil. 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 98% daylight figure above deserves.

What the conversion would cost

$405 per square foot all-in across 237,589 sq ft of converted floor, or $96.2M in total — about $388K for each of the 248 homes.

That cost is charged across every converted square foot, including the 4,540 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 248 homes is $90.8M.

What would have to be true

A $5.5M gap before any grant, which the modeled $10.0M closes. What would reopen it soonest: completed value per home 5% down.

The shortfall before any grant is $5.5M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 248 homes finishing at $388K rather than the $366K the model assumes — 6% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $382 per square foot.

A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $348K 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 235 Pine St:

All four are sliders in the survey, where 235 Pine St re-scores against your own numbers.

How it compares in Downtown San Francisco

235 Pine St ranks 1st of the 205 buildings screened here, against a median score of 87.

Its floor plate is better lit than 67% of them, and shallower than 69% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 69th 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. 235 Pine 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 37 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. 235 Pine 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 37 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: 430 California St

The screened building closest to 235 Pine St in converted floor area is 430 California St: 228,999 sq ft over 21 stories, against 237,589 sq ft over 25 here.

235 Pine St scores 100 to its 91, and with the size held roughly equal most of that lead comes from interior depth: 100 out of 100 here, 72 there (deepest interior point 51 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft). On the money they part ways: 430 California St falls short even with the modeled grant, while 235 Pine St pencils only with the modeled RESIDE grant. The two stand about 700 ft apart.

Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?

The model awards 235 Pine 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 235 Pine 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.

• 160 Sansome St
  17 stories · 92% daylit · 147 estimated homes · scores 95/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 90 ft away
• 111 Battery St
  8 stories · 100% daylit · 47 estimated homes · scores 90/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 170 ft away
• 130 Bush St
  14 stories · 100% daylit · 186 estimated homes · scores 100/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 170 ft away
• 98 Battery St
  7 stories · 90% daylit · 68 estimated homes · scores 88/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 270 ft away