The affordable housing is a companion project to an adjacent market rate development, fulfilling the project’s affordable housing mandate.  Mercy housing leveraged funding from the city and state aimed at innovative solutions to homelessness by combining Permanently Supportive Housing (PSH) and family housing on the site and taking advantage of density bonus provisions of recent state legislation to create a highly efficient eight story building with 221 apartments and 4,000 square feet of community serving retail in 187,000 square feet.

The PSH units encompass 100 studio apartments for single adults recovering from homelessness as well as 20 family-sized units.  PSH residents are served by on-site case managers and health care staff

An additional 101 units serve families with and income between 35% and 80% of the area median income and include primarily two and three-bedroom apartments with generous kitchens.

Providing density with amenity:

The entire project is designed to enhance a sense of community among the residents, with lounges on each residential floor, large, furnished lobbies and two community rooms with kitchens.  Two generous exterior courtyards provide secure outdoor space, including a children’s play area with a swing.

While apartments are efficient, all have a full kitchen and excellent daylight.  Units on higher floors enjoy views over the city.  All units are adaptable for people with disabilities and twenty percent of the units include mobility features like lowered counters and grab bars.

Urban Design:

The project contributes to the larger city with active retail spaces along the Brannan Street frontage and a prominent entrance on 7^th Street.  The massing holds the street walls, and the terra cotta color fiber cement cladding harmonizes with the surrounding brick warehouse buildings.  A cut away at the corner of 7^th and Brannan creates a terrace for the manager’s unit and provides a distinctive image to the building in city.

A public art program included significant sculptural pieces on three of the elevations of the building enhancing the pedestrian experience of the private alley and mews that abut the project.

Innovative sustainable design:

The project in one of the first in San Francisco in which systems are all electric, with a common heat pump hot water system and filtered, tempered fresh air directed to each apartment.  Ceiling fans in south-facing units help keep them cool, as does the highly insulated rain screen cladding system and exterior sunshades.  A photovoltaic solar array on the roof offsets most of the common area electrical load, and on-site infiltration gardens and permeable paving manage storm water.  The project achieved platinum certification in the Greenpoint rating system administered by Build It Green.

The project was completed in spring 2025 and is expected to be fully occupied by September.