95 Hawthorne St
95 Hawthorne St is a 5-story building in Downtown San Francisco with 81% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 57 homes and scores it 70 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
CA-11 · Screened 2026-10-12 · Strong candidate
Where 95 Hawthorne St is
Its block in Downtown San Francisco, drawn from San Francisco's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 95 Hawthorne St
This building does not pencil at default assumptions, even with a modeled RESIDE Act grant.
Every floor carries 3,116 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, seismically braced and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment. Across 4 residential floors that is 12,466 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Modeled conversion metrics for 95 Hawthorne St, 2026-10-12.
| Suitability scoreStrong candidate | 70 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 72 ft LiDAR (2010) height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 5 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 16,634 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 81% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 56 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 3,116 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 57 |
| Conversion cost$405/sq ft all-in on 66,536 sq ft | $26.9M |
| Gap before grantshortfall against completed value | $6.1M |
| Modeled RESIDE grantbelow the statutory cap | $3.4M |
| BuiltSan Francisco's own record of the construction year | 1908 |
| ZoningFinancial District/South Beach | C-3-O(SD) |
| Opportunity Zonenot in a 2018 designated tract | No |
The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm
38 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 546 ft of exterior wall, and across 4 residential floors the building carries 2,184 ft of it in total, divided among the 57 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is moderately compact at 0.70: 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 14.3 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 95 Hawthorne St scores 70 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 83, Interior depth 59, Scale 38, Finance 84 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 95 Hawthorne St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency81% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 83 | 45% | 37.1 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 56 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 59 | 25% | 14.8 |
| Scale57 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 38 | 15% | 5.7 |
| Financeremaining gap is 10% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0% | 84 | 15% | 12.5 |
Most of what it earns comes from daylight efficiency, and what holds it back most is scale, at 38 out of 100: 57 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150.
Built in 1908
San Francisco records this building as going up in 1908, 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 81% daylight figure above deserves.
What the conversion would cost
$405 per square foot all-in across 66,536 sq ft of converted floor, or $26.9M in total — about $473K for each of the 57 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 95 Hawthorne St: base cost plus the code work a change of use triggers.
| Base conversion cost | $260/sq ft |
|---|---|
| Seismic retrofit (change of use) | $45/sq ft |
| Plumbing risers to every unit | $40/sq ft |
| Operable windows and glazing | $30/sq ft |
| Additional egress stair | $18/sq ft |
| Fire sprinklers (NFPA 13R) | $12/sq ft |
| All-in | $405/sq ft |
That cost is charged across every converted square foot, including the 12,466 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 57 homes is $20.9M.
What would have to be true
A $6.1M gap before any grant, $2.7M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 10% down.
The shortfall before any grant is $6.1M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 57 homes finishing at $473K rather than the $366K the model assumes — 29% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $314 per square foot.
A modeled RESIDE grant of $3.4M moves that threshold to $413K a home. That is still above the $366K assumed, leaving $2.7M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.
Nor do all four levers have to move. For 95 Hawthorne St, one alone would close the gap at:
Single-assumption flip points for 95 Hawthorne St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Average unit sizethe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 10% downto 676 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Circulation efficiency | 11% upto 89% |
| Completed value per home | 13% upto $413K |
| Conversion cost per square foot | 15% downto $220/sq ft |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 95 Hawthorne St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown San Francisco
95 Hawthorne St ranks 149th of the 205 buildings screened here, against a median score of 87.
Its floor plate is better lit than 34% of them, and shallower than 36% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 168th 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
121st of 165 in Financial District/South Beach, 37th 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. 95 Hawthorne St ranks 121st 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 56 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). 95 Hawthorne St ranks 37th 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 56 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: 959 Mission St
The screened building closest to 95 Hawthorne St in converted floor area is 959 Mission St: 66,236 sq ft over 7 stories, against 66,536 sq ft over 5 here.
95 Hawthorne St scores 70 to its 92, and with the size held roughly equal most of that shortfall comes from interior depth: 59 out of 100 here, 100 there (deepest interior point 34 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft). On the money they part ways: 959 Mission St pencils only with the modeled RESIDE grant, while 95 Hawthorne St falls short even with the modeled grant. The two stand about 3,100 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 95 Hawthorne St $3.4M, 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 95 Hawthorne 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.
- 75 Hawthorne St20 stories · 72% daylit · 330 estimated homes · scores 61/100 (Worth a feasibility study)about 160 ft away
- 680 Folsom St14 stories · 69% daylit · 292 estimated homes · scores 60/100 (Worth a feasibility study)about 250 ft away
- 55 Hawthorne St11 stories · 89% daylit · 163 estimated homes · scores 94/100 (Strong candidate)about 270 ft away
- 222 2nd St26 stories · 73% daylit · 425 estimated homes · scores 63/100 (Worth a feasibility study)about 490 ft away
A screen, not a feasibility study, from outlines and heights rather than plans: the method and how to correct a figure. If you know this building’s interior, you know what this model cannot see.