50 Beale St

Where 50 Beale 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

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

The typical floor has 718 ft of exterior wall, and across 23 residential floors the building carries 16,518 ft of it in total, divided among the 496 homes this screen estimates.

Its plate is moderately compact at 0.72: 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 21.6 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.

Why 50 Beale St scores 59 out of 100

Daylight efficiency 58, Interior depth 42, Scale 100, Finance 50 — 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 42 out of 100: deepest interior point 63 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft.

Built in 1967

San Francisco records this building as going up in 1967, 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 69% daylight figure above deserves.

What the conversion would cost

$405 per square foot all-in across 675,278 sq ft of converted floor, or $273.5M in total — about $551K for each of the 496 homes.

That cost is charged across every converted square foot, including the 209,810 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 496 homes is $181.5M.

What would have to be true

A $92.0M gap before any grant, $82.0M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 31% down.

The shortfall before any grant is $92.0M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 496 homes finishing at $551K rather than the $366K the model assumes — 51% 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 $10.0M moves that threshold to $531K a home. That is still above the $366K assumed, leaving $82.0M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.

Nor do all four levers have to move. For 50 Beale St, one alone would close the gap at:

All four are sliders in the survey, where 50 Beale St re-scores against your own numbers.

How it compares in Downtown San Francisco

50 Beale St ranks 180th of the 205 buildings screened here, against a median score of 87.

Its floor plate is better lit than 10% of them, and shallower than 21% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 20th 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(SD) zone

148th of 165 in Financial District/South Beach, 55th of 66 zoned C-3-O(SD) — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.

San Francisco places 165 of the screened buildings in Financial District/South Beach. 50 Beale St ranks 148th 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 63 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 40,456 homes. The group’s top scorer is 870 Market St, at 100.

66 of the screened buildings are zoned C-3-O(SD). 50 Beale St ranks 55th of them against a median score of 72. 37 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 59 ft from a facade against this building’s 63 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 18,546 homes. The group’s top scorer is 140 New Montgomery St, at 100.

Its nearest match in size: 101 2nd St

The screened building closest to 50 Beale St in converted floor area is 101 2nd St: 667,964 sq ft over 26 stories, against 675,278 sq ft over 24 here.

50 Beale St scores 59 to its 67, and with the size held roughly equal most of that shortfall comes from daylight efficiency: 58 out of 100 here, 74 there (77% 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 1,400 ft apart.

Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?

The model awards 50 Beale 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 50 Beale St

The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 150 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.

• 340 Mission St
  30 stories · 75% daylit · 449 estimated homes · scores 63/100 (Worth a feasibility study)
  about 150 ft away
• 45 Fremont St
  34 stories · 76% daylit · 511 estimated homes · scores 69/100 (Worth a feasibility study)
  about 200 ft away
• 75 1st St
  42 stories · 73% daylit · 671 estimated homes · scores 64/100 (Worth a feasibility study)
  about 350 ft away
• 333 Market St
  33 stories · 76% daylit · 508 estimated homes · scores 68/100 (Worth a feasibility study)
  about 370 ft away