50 California St

Where 50 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

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

The typical floor has 679 ft of exterior wall, and across 36 residential floors the building carries 24,444 ft of it in total, divided among the 704 homes this screen estimates.

Its plate is moderately compact at 0.68: 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 19.6 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.

Why 50 California St scores 61 out of 100

Daylight efficiency 67, Interior depth 30, Scale 100, Finance 56 — 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 30 out of 100: deepest interior point 68 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft.

Built in 1971

San Francisco records this building as going up in 1971, 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 73% daylight figure above deserves.

What the conversion would cost

$405 per square foot all-in across 899,254 sq ft of converted floor, or $364.2M in total — about $517K for each of the 704 homes.

That cost is charged across every converted square foot, including the 239,002 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 704 homes is $257.7M.

What would have to be true

A $106.5M gap before any grant, $96.5M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 27% down.

The shortfall before any grant is $106.5M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 704 homes finishing at $517K rather than the $366K the model assumes — 41% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $287 per square foot.

A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $503K a home. That is still above the $366K assumed, leaving $96.5M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.

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

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

How it compares in Downtown San Francisco

50 California St ranks 175th of the 205 buildings screened here, against a median score of 87.

Its floor plate is better lit than 17% of them, and shallower than 14% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 8th 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

144th of 165 in Financial District/South Beach, 85th 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. 50 California St ranks 144th 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 68 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. 50 California St ranks 85th 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 68 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: 40 Battery St

The screened building closest to 50 California St in converted floor area is 40 Battery St: 855,929 sq ft over 38 stories, against 899,254 sq ft over 37 here.

50 California St scores 61 to its 68, and with the size held roughly equal most of that shortfall comes from daylight efficiency: 67 out of 100 here, 79 there (79% 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 900 ft apart.

Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?

The model awards 50 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 50 California St

The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 140 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.

• 20 California St
  7 stories · 100% daylit · 58 estimated homes · scores 91/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 140 ft away
• 201 Sacramento St
  13 stories · 90% daylit · 217 estimated homes · scores 99/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 180 ft away
• 1 California St
  32 stories · 75% daylit · 477 estimated homes · scores 62/100 (Worth a feasibility study)
  about 320 ft away
• 150 California St
  23 stories · 96% daylit · 336 estimated homes · scores 99/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 350 ft away