580 California St

Where 580 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

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

The typical floor has 510 ft of exterior wall, and across 22 residential floors the building carries 11,230 ft of it in total, divided among the 304 homes this screen estimates.

Its plate is compact at 0.79: close to a square or a circle, the most efficient envelope an office can have and the least generous one for apartments: little perimeter to divide among homes. How window line and plate shape are measured.

At the model’s 750 sq ft average, the plan works out at about 13.8 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.

Why 580 California St scores 72 out of 100

Daylight efficiency 79, Interior depth 41, Scale 100, Finance 73 — 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 1984

San Francisco records this building as going up in 1984, 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 80% daylight figure above deserves.

What the conversion would cost

$405 per square foot all-in across 358,304 sq ft of converted floor, or $145.1M in total — about $477K for each of the 304 homes.

That cost is charged across every converted square foot, including the 73,027 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 304 homes is $111.3M.

What would have to be true

A $33.8M gap before any grant, $23.8M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 18% down.

The shortfall before any grant is $33.8M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 304 homes finishing at $477K rather than the $366K the model assumes — 30% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $311 per square foot.

A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $444K a home. That is still above the $366K assumed, leaving $23.8M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.

Nor do all four levers have to move. For 580 California St, one alone would close the gap at:

All four are sliders in the survey, where 580 California St re-scores against your own numbers.

How it compares in Downtown San Francisco

580 California St ranks 143rd of the 205 buildings screened here, against a median score of 87.

Its floor plate is better lit than 31% of them, and shallower than 20% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 51st 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

117th of 165 in Financial District/South Beach, 73rd 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. 580 California St ranks 117th 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. 580 California St ranks 73rd 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: 280 Battery St

The screened building closest to 580 California St in converted floor area is 280 Battery St: 346,681 sq ft over 23 stories, against 358,304 sq ft over 23 here.

580 California St scores 72 to its 83, and with the size held roughly equal most of that shortfall comes from interior depth: 41 out of 100 here, 62 there (deepest interior point 55 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft). On the money they sit in the same place: each falls short even with the modeled grant. The two stand about 1,300 ft apart.

Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?

The model awards 580 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 580 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.

• 530 Kearny St
  10 stories · 78% daylit · 134 estimated homes · scores 71/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 140 ft away
• 530 California St
  13 stories · 75% daylit · 202 estimated homes · scores 67/100 (Worth a feasibility study)
  about 150 ft away
• 601 California St
  22 stories · 83% daylit · 265 estimated homes · scores 81/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 280 ft away
• 636 California St
  33 stories · 79% daylit · 444 estimated homes · scores 71/100 (Strong candidate)
  about 310 ft away