30 Ofarrell St

Where 30 Ofarrell 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

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

The typical floor has 867 ft of exterior wall, and across 6 residential floors the building carries 5,204 ft of it in total, divided among the 144 homes this screen estimates.

Its plate is moderately compact at 0.54: 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 24.0 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.

Why 30 Ofarrell St scores 55 out of 100

Daylight efficiency 59, Interior depth 18, Scale 96, Finance 62 — each out of 100, then weighted.

Most of what it earns comes from daylight efficiency, and what holds it back most is interior depth, at 18 out of 100: deepest interior point 73 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft.

Built in 1974

San Francisco records this building as going up in 1974, 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 69% daylight figure above deserves.

What the conversion would cost

$405 per square foot all-in across 195,667 sq ft of converted floor, or $79.2M in total — about $550K for each of the 144 homes.

That cost is charged across every converted square foot, including the 59,965 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 144 homes is $52.7M.

What would have to be true

A $26.5M gap before any grant, $17.9M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 24% down.

The shortfall before any grant is $26.5M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 144 homes finishing at $550K rather than the $366K the model assumes — 50% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $269 per square foot.

A modeled RESIDE grant of $8.6M moves that threshold to $490K a home. That is still above the $366K assumed, leaving $17.9M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.

Nor do all four levers have to move. For 30 Ofarrell St, one alone would close the gap at:

All four are sliders in the survey, where 30 Ofarrell St re-scores against your own numbers.

How it compares in Downtown San Francisco

30 Ofarrell St ranks 185th of the 205 buildings screened here, against a median score of 87.

Its floor plate is better lit than 11% of them, and shallower than 9% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 107th 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-R zone

152nd of 165 in Financial District/South Beach, 24th of 25 zoned C-3-R — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.

San Francisco places 165 of the screened buildings in Financial District/South Beach. 30 Ofarrell St ranks 152nd 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 73 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 40,456 homes. The group’s top scorer is 870 Market St, at 100.

25 of the screened buildings are zoned C-3-R. 30 Ofarrell St ranks 24th of them against a median score of 90. 21 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 32 ft from a facade against this building’s 73 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 2,773 homes. The group’s top scorer is 870 Market St, at 100.

Its nearest match in size: 301 Battery St

The screened building closest to 30 Ofarrell St in converted floor area is 301 Battery St: 192,622 sq ft over 8 stories, against 195,667 sq ft over 7 here.

30 Ofarrell St scores 55 to its 68, and with the size held roughly equal most of that shortfall comes from interior depth: 18 out of 100 here, 56 there (deepest interior point 58 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 3,100 ft apart.

Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?

The model awards 30 Ofarrell St $8.6M, 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 30 Ofarrell St

The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 240 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.

• 750 Market St
  11 stories · 72% daylit · 383 estimated homes · scores 57/100 (Worth a feasibility study)
  about 240 ft away
• 73 Geary St
  10 stories · 89% daylit · 117 estimated homes · scores 89/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 410 ft away
• 47 Geary St
  5 stories · 93% daylit · 88 estimated homes · scores 93/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 490 ft away
• 785 Market St
  18 stories · 100% daylit · 142 estimated homes · scores 99/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 500 ft away