537 Sacramento St

Where 537 Sacramento 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 695 ft of exterior wall, and across 14 residential floors the building carries 9,733 ft of it in total, divided among the 272 homes this screen estimates.

Its plate is moderately compact at 0.65: 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 19.4 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.

Why 537 Sacramento St scores 64 out of 100

Daylight efficiency 65, Interior depth 41, Scale 100, 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 41 out of 100: deepest interior point 64 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft.

Built in 1991

San Francisco records this building as going up in 1991, which puts it in the modern stock.

As a rule, newer systems and better structure, but usually built deep and sealed for office use, and rarely cheap enough to buy at a price that lets a conversion pencil. 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 351,525 sq ft of converted floor, or $142.4M in total — about $523K for each of the 272 homes.

That cost is charged across every converted square foot, including the 95,802 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 272 homes is $99.6M.

What would have to be true

A $42.8M gap before any grant, $32.8M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 25% down.

The shortfall before any grant is $42.8M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 272 homes finishing at $523K rather than the $366K the model assumes — 43% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $283 per square foot.

A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $487K a home. That is still above the $366K assumed, leaving $32.8M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.

Nor do all four levers have to move. For 537 Sacramento St, one alone would close the gap at:

All four are sliders in the survey, where 537 Sacramento St re-scores against your own numbers.

How it compares in Downtown San Francisco

537 Sacramento St ranks 166th of the 205 buildings screened here, against a median score of 87.

Its floor plate is better lit than 15% of them, and shallower than 19% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 62nd 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

135th of 165 in Financial District/South Beach, 83rd 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. 537 Sacramento St ranks 135th 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 64 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. 537 Sacramento St ranks 83rd 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 64 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: 464 California St

The screened building closest to 537 Sacramento St in converted floor area is 464 California St: 342,046 sq ft over 12 stories, against 351,525 sq ft over 15 here.

537 Sacramento St scores 64 to its 82, and with the size held roughly equal most of that shortfall comes from daylight efficiency: 65 out of 100 here, 84 there (82% 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 200 ft apart.

Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?

The model awards 537 Sacramento 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 537 Sacramento St

The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 160 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.

• 430 California St
  21 stories · 88% daylit · 215 estimated homes · scores 91/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 160 ft away
• 464 California St
  12 stories · 82% daylit · 299 estimated homes · scores 82/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 200 ft away
• 483 Sacramento St
  10 stories · 89% daylit · 98 estimated homes · scores 90/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 210 ft away
• 456 Montgomery St
  26 stories · 93% daylit · 259 estimated homes · scores 96/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 260 ft away