475 California St

Where 475 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

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

The typical floor has 798 ft of exterior wall, and across 11 residential floors the building carries 8,779 ft of it in total, divided among the 261 homes this screen estimates.

Its plate is moderately compact at 0.47: 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 23.7 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.

Why 475 California St scores 94 out of 100

Daylight efficiency 100, Interior depth 75, Scale 100, Finance 98 — 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 75 out of 100: deepest interior point 50 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft.

Built in 1918

San Francisco records this building as going up in 1918, 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 93% daylight figure above deserves.

What the conversion would cost

$405 per square foot all-in across 263,217 sq ft of converted floor, or $106.6M in total — about $408K for each of the 261 homes.

That cost is charged across every converted square foot, including the 18,389 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 261 homes is $95.5M.

What would have to be true

A $11.1M gap before any grant, $1.1M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 1% down.

The shortfall before any grant is $11.1M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 261 homes finishing at $408K rather than the $366K the model assumes — 12% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $363 per square foot.

A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $370K a home. That is still above the $366K assumed, leaving $1.1M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.

Nor do all four levers have to move. For 475 California St, one alone would close the gap at:

All four are sliders in the survey, where 475 California St re-scores against your own numbers.

How it compares in Downtown San Francisco

475 California St ranks 42nd of the 205 buildings screened here, against a median score of 87.

Its floor plate is better lit than 57% of them, and shallower than 48% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 67th 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

39th of 165 in Financial District/South Beach, 27th 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. 475 California St ranks 39th 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 50 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. 475 California St ranks 27th 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 50 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: 530 California St

The screened building closest to 475 California St in converted floor area is 530 California St: 254,649 sq ft over 13 stories, against 263,217 sq ft over 12 here.

475 California St scores 94 to its 67, and with the size held roughly equal most of that lead comes from daylight efficiency: 100 out of 100 here, 69 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 500 ft apart.

Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?

The model awards 475 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 475 California St

The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 120 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.

• 465 California St
  17 stories · 100% daylit · 272 estimated homes · scores 100/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 120 ft away
• 340 Pine St
  8 stories · 100% daylit · 58 estimated homes · scores 91/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 200 ft away
• 433 California St
  11 stories · 85% daylit · 129 estimated homes · scores 84/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 240 ft away
• 240 Montgomery St
  17 stories · 99% daylit · 138 estimated homes · scores 99/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 240 ft away