Way back in 2014, a developer wanted to turn an old auto shop at 3140 16th Street in San Francisco’s Mission District into a 20-unit residential complex after purchasing it for a jaw-dropping $8.7 million. When the city ruled that the building was significant enough that it would have to be preserved under any new construction, the developer flipped their idea to turning it into a restaurant with a couple condos on top. By 2016, however, they’d scrapped all those residential notions and decided to just remake it as a two-story restaurant. 

For a while, that was it. Now, the site has been relisted for sale for an undisclosed price. The description of the 0.23-acre site includes mention of the “opportunity for an investor to repurpose the existing building to retail-plus-office or residential, and the possibility to add two or three more levels of residential above.” The realtor told Curbed SF that the current owner still plans to move forward with their idea even as the property is up for sale. In the meantime, no permits have been filed with the city. 

So it sounds like if someone is willing to jump through a bunch of hoops, it remains possible to bring residential units to the corner of 16th and Valencia. But will any developer bite?