433 California St

Where 433 California 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

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

The typical floor has 511 ft of exterior wall, and across 10 residential floors the building carries 5,112 ft of it in total, divided among the 129 homes this screen estimates.

Its plate is moderately compact at 0.69: 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 12.9 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.

Why 433 California St scores 84 out of 100

Daylight efficiency 90, Interior depth 66, Scale 86, Finance 92 — 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 66 out of 100: deepest interior point 54 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft.

Built in 1913

San Francisco records this building as going up in 1913, which puts it in the pre-1920 stock.

As a rule, the era that converts most readily: load-bearing masonry, small floor plates laid out before deep-plan offices were possible, operable windows and generous floor-to-floor heights. The usual obstacles are not daylight but hazardous materials, lifts and bringing structure up to current code. 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 85% daylight figure above deserves.

What the conversion would cost

$405 per square foot all-in across 142,655 sq ft of converted floor, or $57.8M in total — about $448K for each of the 129 homes.

That cost is charged across every converted square foot, including the 21,674 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 129 homes is $47.2M.

What would have to be true

A $10.6M gap before any grant, $2.8M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 5% down.

The shortfall before any grant is $10.6M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 129 homes finishing at $448K rather than the $366K the model assumes — 22% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $331 per square foot.

A modeled RESIDE grant of $7.7M moves that threshold to $388K a home. That is still above the $366K assumed, leaving $2.8M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.

Nor do all four levers have to move. For 433 California St, one alone would close the gap at:

All four are sliders in the survey, where 433 California St re-scores against your own numbers.

How it compares in Downtown San Francisco

433 California St ranks 111th of the 205 buildings screened here, against a median score of 87.

Its floor plate is better lit than 44% of them, and shallower than 42% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 115th 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

93rd of 165 in Financial District/South Beach, 57th 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. 433 California St ranks 93rd 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 54 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. 433 California St ranks 57th 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 54 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: 25 Hickory St

The screened building closest to 433 California St in converted floor area is 25 Hickory St: 143,363 sq ft over 8 stories, against 142,655 sq ft over 11 here.

433 California St scores 84 to its 65, and with the size held roughly equal most of that lead comes from daylight efficiency: 90 out of 100 here, 71 there (75% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90%). On the money they sit in the same place: each falls short even with the modeled grant. The two stand about 8,100 ft apart.

Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?

The model awards 433 California St $7.7M, 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 433 California St

The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 100 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.

• 401 California St
  26 stories · 97% daylit · 181 estimated homes · scores 100/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 100 ft away
• 465 California St
  17 stories · 100% daylit · 272 estimated homes · scores 100/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 140 ft away
• 340 Pine St
  8 stories · 100% daylit · 58 estimated homes · scores 91/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 150 ft away
• 430 California St
  21 stories · 88% daylit · 215 estimated homes · scores 91/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 210 ft away