Shorenstein proposes Mid-Market apartment tower

Twitter landlord Shorenstein Properties is doubling down on its Mid-Market investment with a proposed 301-unit midrise apartment tower at 1066 Market St.

The development would be the first project by the newly-formed entity Shorenstein Residential, a family investment vehicle that is separate from the commercial real estate funds the San Francisco company is famous for.

The $86 million project, which is being designed by Bernardo Fort-Brescia of Arquitectonica, would feature a slender 12-story tower fronting Market Street, a 5,000 square foot site last occupied by the defunct Pipers Jewelers. But most of the 300,000-square-foot complex would spread out on a 23,400-square-foot surface parking lot on the Tenderloin side of Market Street, according to an application filed with the city. The project would include 162 feet of frontage on Golden Gate Avenue and 141 feet along Jones Street.

Shorenstein has owned the property for years, primarily using the lot to accommodate theatergoers attending shows at the nearby Golden Gate Theater, which the family also owns. Tenderloin activists have long complained that the parking lot's relatively inactive use contributes to one of the neighborhood’s most blighted blocks, with drug-dealers and their patrons regularly camping out along the property's chain-link fence.

For years Shorenstein had contemplated developing the property in conjunction with the former Hollywood Billiards property at 1028 Market St. That site was bought last June for $9.5 million by Scott Plank, a Maryland business executive who recently retired from Under Armour clothing company. Plank is expected to build about 150 units just to the east of the Shorenstein property.

Shorenstein Residential is headed up by Meg Spriggs, who was one of San Francisco’s most prolific housing developers during her decade-long stint with AvalonBay. Spriggs left AvalonBay last summer to join Shorenstein.

Taken together the two developments could add 450 units to a neighborhood that is in the midst of an unprecedented housing boom. Projects under construction include Crescent Heights' 754-unit NEMA project at 10th and Market, Angelo Sangiacomo's 1,900 unit Trinity Plaza, AvalonBay's 273-unit AVA at 55 Ninth St., and Emerald Fund's 400-unit rehab at 100 Van Ness.

The 1066 Market St. rental project would feature 111 two-bedroom apartments, 55 one bedrooms, and the rest a mix of studios and junior one bedrooms. About 100 of the units would have private open space, and the development would also include a 7,000 square foot interior courtyard and a 6,000 square-foot rooftop terrace. A Shorenstein representative was not available for comment.

Shorenstein Properties is currently redeveloping One 10th St., a 300,000 square foot rehab of a 1970s building that is expected to be leased to Twitter, which occupies the majority of the adjacent SF Mart building at 1355 Market St.