San Francisco Presidio Gains First-of-Its-Kind Project

For the first time in more than two decades, San Francisco’s Presidio is getting a new apartment complex. 

The Presidio Trust is planning a 196-unit, six-building residential complex on a 4.6-acre site once occupied by the Army’s Letterman General Hospital in the 60-acre district,  the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The six-building property will replace a parking lot and two structures at Lincoln Boulevard and Girard Road. 

The project is part of the Presidio Trust’s push to boost revenue and add smaller apartments to a housing portfolio that’s 97 percent occupied and dominated by large family units. The Presidio’s 1,400 homes currently generate about 35 percent of the park’s operating income, according to Joshua Bagley, the Trust’s deputy chief business officer.

“If people love the Presidio they will love this project because it will add more housing, repair a key historic district and generate the revenue necessary to meet our park goals of delivering a beautiful, safe and clean park with no entrance fees, forever,” Bagley said. 

The Presidio is home to 3,000 residents, but the district lacks smaller units, with about 75 percent of the apartments in the park having three or four bedrooms, with some even having five or six bedrooms. The new buildings will be largely composed of studios, one- and two-bedroom units in two- and three-story buildings. In total, the project is expected to add about 160,000 square feet of new residential space to the Presidio. 

“We think it will create a more inviting park experience while helping to restore a key historic district in the Presidio that is not quite in the same condition as other parts of the Presidio,” Bagley said.

To make it happen, the Trust is able to borrow money directly from the U.S. Treasury and develop without private partners using Presidio Trust equity. This makes it a unique project in San Francisco’s risk-averse market, marking the Presidio Trust’s first opportunity to be the developer on a new construction project. 

At nearly 200 units, the project is the most ambitious ground-up development in the Presidio since the opening of the Letterman Digital Arts Center in 2005. The Disney Family Museum was completed in 2009, the Presidio Landmark apartment complex opened in 2010 and the Inn at the Presidio opened its doors in 2012.

The Presidio Trust plans to publish a “notice of intent” to begin the environmental review process for the 196-unit development on Nov. 3. A public meeting about the project will be held Nov. 18. Shovels are expected to hit dirt in 2027. — Chris Malone Méndez

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