City Government

Mayor London Breed Celebrates Grand Opening of New Affordable Housing at 490 South Van Ness

Avanza 490 opens its doors to 80 families and provides 100% affordable housing for San Franciscans

Published

2 years ago

July 16, 2021

Isabelle Price

Apartment Buildings Courtesy of Marian Kroell via Unsplash

On July 8, San Francisco Mayor London N. Breed celebrated the grand opening of a 100% affordable housing project in the Mission at Avanza 490 at 490 South Van Ness Avenue.

Located between 15^th and 16^th Streets, a block from the 16^th Street BART station, the building consists of 80 permanently affordable apartments, 32 of which are set aside for Mission District residents, or residents who reside within a half-mile of the project per the City’s Neighborhood Resident Housing Preference.

The new apartments are affordable to households with incomes up to 30-60% AMI. Twenty units are set aside for public housing relocates from HOPE SF developments who have voluntarily moved to the Mission.

“I am excited to celebrate the opening of 80 new 100% affordable housing units in the heart of the historic Mission District today,” said Breed. “It’s projects like this one that will help us reach our housing goals and make San Francisco a more affordable place to live. If we want our city to continue being the diverse place it is today, we must do a better job building housing for working families.”

Avanza 490 is the third of seven new 100% affordable housing developments in the Mission that are either already open, under construction, or will open in the next 18 months following over a decade in which no new affordable housing was built in the neighborhood.

The 7-story building, designed by local architects, Ankrom Moisan Architects and G7A, includes studios, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments. Construction started in October 2018 and was completed in February 2021.

“Every successful affordable housing development in the Mission comes with a back-story of community advocacy,” said District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen. “When this parcel was proposed for luxury development back in 2015, the community put its foot down and demanded that the City purchase it instead. My predecessor, David Campos, and I pushed for the funding that made that possible. As a result of that fruitful partnership between community and City Hall, we get to welcome low-income and working families into their new, forever-affordable homes. Congratulations to Mission Housing and BRIDGE for another great project and to the Mission community that never says no to affordable housing.”

Built with families in mind, amenities at Avanza 490 include a second-floor children’s playground, a spacious community room, and a communal laundry room. Located near BART and several Muni lines, this transit-oriented housing development will help advance the City’s climate goals by promoting the use of public transportation.

The development’s ground floor features a 636-square-foot commercial space, which will be programmed by a number of local non-profits on a rotating basis. A use agreement is currently being finalized with Associacion Mayab, who will provide initial programming in the space to serve the Maya-speaking community.

The parcel at 490 South Van Ness Avenue once held a gas station. Following a community advocacy campaign, the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD) purchased the fully entitled and environmentally remediated site at 490 South Van Ness from the market rate developers and owners in late 2015 after former Mayor Ed Lee conducted a community walk along the South Van Ness corridor where City and community leaders identified the Avanza 490 property as an opportunity site.

In October 2016, MOHCD selected Mission Housing Development Corporation (MHDC) and BRIDGE Housing to develop, own, and operate the affordable housing development proposed for the site.

Major financing for Avanza 490 was provided by a $27.7 million investment for building construction from MOHCD that enabled the $60.4 million project to move forward. In addition to the City’s investment, the development was made possible by financing from the San Francisco Housing Authority (Project-Based Section 8 vouchers), Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barings, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, California Debt Limit Allocation Committee and the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco.

This story comes from the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Communication.

Up Next

Congresswomen Lee, Bass Bills to Probe COINTELPRO; Remove Hoover’s Name from FBI Building

Don't Miss

Mayor London Breed Responds to Gov. Newsom Signing of State Budget Agreement

Isabelle Price

Click to comment

Activism

Community Opposes High Rise Development That Threatens Geoffrey’s Inner Circle

City Council chambers were full for the May 17 Planning Commission hearing, and almost all the 40 speakers who had signed up to make presentations talked about the importance of the Inner Circle as part of Oakland and Geoffrey Pete as a stalwart community and business leader who has served the city for decades.

Published

19 hours ago

May 30, 2023

Oakland Post

Geoffrey Pete went to City Hall to appeal the city Planning Commission’s approval of the high-rise development that threatens the closure of his 44-year historic cultural mecca. Photo by Jonathan ‘Fitness’ Jones.

By Ken Epstein

An outpouring of community supporters – young, old, jazz lovers, environmentalists and committed Oakland partisans – spoke out at a recent Planning Commission hearing to support Geoffrey Pete and his cultural center – The Inner Circle – an historic Oakland landmark whose future is threatened by a proposed skyscraper that out-of-town-developer Tidewater Capital wants to build in the midst of the city’s Black Arts Movement and Business District (BAMBD).

The speakers argued passionately and persuasively, winning the sympathy of the commissioners, but were ultimately unsuccessful as the Commission unanimously approved the high-rise to be built either as a residential building or office tower on Franklin Street directly behind Geoffrey’s building.

Mr. Pete has said he would appeal the decision to the City Council. He has 10 days after the hearing to file an appeal on the office building. His appeal on the residential tower has already been submitted.

Mr. Pete said the Planning Department still has not published the boundaries of the BAMBD. “Tidewater’s applications and subsequent applications should not be approved until the Planning Department fully acknowledges the existence of the BAMBD,” he said.

“This (proposed) building poses a grave danger to the historic (Inner Circle) building next to it, arguably Oakland’s most meaningful historic building,” Pete said.

“We’re here to advocate for what’s best for the African American district and community that has gotten no representation, no advocacy, as of yet,” he said. “The (commission) is guilty, the City of Oakland is guilty, and Tidewater is guilty.”

One of the first speakers was Gwendolyn Traylor, known as Lady SunRise, who directly addressed the developers.

“With all due to respect to your business, it’s not a need of this community. I would like to ask you to reconsider the location …What is being (promised) here does not add to the healing of this community,” she said.

Naomi Schiff of the Oakland Heritage Alliance emphasized that Geoffrey’s Inner Circle is a treasure of Oakland’s history.

“Our first concern is the integrity of the historic district, in particular the former Athenian-Nile Club, now Mr. Pete’s equally historic venue, which has been the location of a great number of important community events,” she said. “It would not be OK with us if the integrity of the building were damaged in any way, no matter how much insurance (the developer bought) because it is very difficult to repair a historic building once it’s damaged.”

The Inner Circle was previously owned and operated by the Athenian-Nile Club, one of the Bay Area’s largest all-white-male exclusive private membership club, where politicians and power brokers closed back-room deals over handshakes and three martini lunches.

Cephus “Uncle Bobby X” Johnson pointed out that commissioners and the city’s Planning Department have “acknowledged that you went through the entire design review process without even knowing that the Black Arts Movement and Business District existed.”

The district was created in 2016 by City Council resolution. “At the heart of the opposition to this building is the desire to further the legacy of local Black entertainment and entrepreneurship exemplified by businesses like Mr. Pete’s … a historical landmark and venue (that serves) thousands of people who listen to jazz and other entertainment and hold weddings, receptions, and memorial services,” said Uncle Bobby.

This development is taking place within a context in which the “Black population in Oakland has decreased rapidly … because of the city’s concentration on building houses that are not affordable for people who currently live in Oakland,” he said.

John Dalrymple of East Bay Residents for Responsible Development said, “This project will result in significant air quality, public health, noise, and traffic impacts. He said the city has not adequately studied the (unmitigated) impacts of this project on the Black Arts Movement and Business District.

“This project is an example of what developers are being allowed to do when they don’t have to follow the law, and they don’t have to be sensitive to our city’s culture and values,” he said. The commission should “send a signal today that we will no longer be a feeding ground for the rich.”

Prominent Oakland businessman Ray Bobbitt told commissioners, “Any decision that you make is a contribution to the systemic process that creates a disproportionate impact on Black people. Please do yourself a favor, (and) rethink this scenario. Give Mr. Pete, who is a leader in our community, an opportunity to set the framework before you make any decision.”

Though the City Council created the BAMBD, the 2016 resolution was never implemented. The district was created to “highlight, celebrate, preserve and support the contributions of Oakland’s Black artists and business owners and the corridor as a place central historically and currently to Oakland’s Black artists and Black-owned businesses.”

The district was intended to promote Black arts, political movements, enterprises, and culture in the area, and to bring in resources through grants and other funding.

Activism

Community Meeting on Crime and Violence

Join Oakland City Councilmember Dan Kalb to discuss the uptick in crime and violence in District 1 and across Oakland. Representatives from the Oakland Police Department will be in attendance. This event will be held in-person and online.

Published

22 hours ago

May 29, 2023

Oakland Post