The Application and the Estimate Behind It
Emerald Fund and SDG filed jointly for the conversion of 150 Hayes Street in Civic Center to apartments. SF YIMBY reported the filing on 7 August 2026 at 104 units. The Department of Building Inspection record carries permit 202610149441 on block 0811, lot 022, created 14 October 2026 in triage status, with 106 proposed units and an estimated construction cost of $49,650,000.
The record describes six existing stories and seven proposed. One added floor spans 15,530 square feet. The structural frame is retained. The below-grade parking garage stays in use. The exterior facade is replaced. Existing use is office at occupancy B. Proposed occupancy is R-2.
How the District Pays
The San Francisco Downtown Revitalization and Economic Recovery Financing District took effect on 12 February 2026. It was established under Division 8 of Title 6 of the California Government Code, the Downtown Revitalization Law enacted by AB 2488 in 2024. Administrative Code Article XLIX sets a District Board to govern it.
The district finances commercial-to-residential conversion projects inside its boundaries. The instrument is an annual incentive distribution to an eligible project, calculated on the property tax increment that project generates. The term runs 30 years.
Thirty Years of Increment
The distribution runs on the property tax increment the project generates. The program guidelines cap it at the city's share of the base 1 percent ad valorem rate, approximately 64.59 percent, applied to the taxable assessed value above the project's base assessed value. A second cap holds the payment at one-thirtieth of the project's qualified development costs.
Value rests on the post-conversion assessment, the 64.59 percent share, the qualified development costs and the project’s position in the enrolment queue.
The Enrolment Deadline That Orders the Schedule
Enrolment means an executed Project Agreement with the district. The deadline is 31 December 2032. Enrolment must also precede the First Construction Document as defined in Planning Code Section 401.
The sequence follows from that rule. A complete Project Application and the Commercial-to-Residential Adaptive Reuse Supplemental Application go to the Planning Department. The department issues a Notice of Eligibility within 30 days of the Complete Application Notice. The Project Agreement follows. The building permit issues after that.
Sixty Percent Residential Floor Area
A project may be mixed-use, and at least 60 percent of total gross floor area must be residential. Mixed-use is limited to residential and commercial uses. Distributions cover only the proportion of floor area converted. The parcel must permit residential use, and the project must sit outside an existing Redevelopment Project Area with a designated Tax Rate Area.
The Affordability Ladder at 1.5 Million Square Feet
Local requirements come from Planning Code Section 415, waived for eligible C-3 projects under Section 406(j) for up to the first 7 million square feet of completed conversions. State requirements follow the Downtown Revitalization Law, and no additional affordability applies to the first 1.5 million square feet of conversion projects to enrol.
Projects enrolling after that threshold meet the higher of Section 415 or one of three options. At least 5 percent of rental units affordable at 50 percent of area median income for 55 years. At least 10 percent of rental units at 80 percent of median for 55 years. At least 10 percent of for-sale units at 120 percent of median for 45 years. A project that fails to hold its designated on-site units for the required duration stops receiving distributions.
Labour Standards Tied to the Distribution
Enrolled projects pay prevailing wages under Chapter 1 of Part 7 of Division 2 of the Labor Code. Projects of 50 units or more at 85 feet in height or less carry the apprenticeship and healthcare expenditure standards of Government Code Section 65912.131. Projects over 85 feet carry the skilled and trained workforce provisions of Section 65913.4(a)(8).
The sponsor certifies compliance through an Affidavit of Labor Standards Compliance filed with the supplemental application. The Office of Labor Standards Enforcement enforces it. The district withholds a Certificate of Completion while an investigation is active.
What an All-Market-Rate Structure Requires
Two conditions carry an all-market-rate unit set. The first is a place inside the first 1.5 million square feet to enrol, which removes the state affordability floor. The second is the Section 406(j) waiver of the local inclusionary requirement, which runs to 7 million square feet.
Both are order-of-arrival conditions. Neither belongs to the project, and the record publishes no enrolment status for 150 Hayes Street. The filing publishes no unit mix either. The count of 104 or 106 apartments is the whole of the published programme.
The Cost per Unit the Estimate Yields
$49,650,000 across 106 units is $468,396 a unit. Across 104 units it is $477,404. The figure is the applicant’s estimate on the permit. It carries no land cost and no soft cost line.
The Figures the Record Leaves Open
No architect, contractor, construction start, completion date, tenure, rent level, unit size, existing gross floor area or district enrolment status is published for 150 Hayes Street. The permit sits at triage.
That is the state of the file on a capital read: an envelope of $49.65 million, a programme of one added floor and 104 to 106 apartments, and a financing district that pays after the Project Agreement is signed.