Commission reviews preservation alternatives for Freedom West 2 redevelopment; staff to study additional height/density variants

Planning Department staff presented preservation alternatives for the proposed Freedom West 2 redevelopment — a project that would demolish the existing Freedom West cooperative complex and rebuild new mixed‑use housing across nearly four city blocks. The presentation described a range of options including a no‑project alternative, a full preservation alternative retaining the northern half of the complex, and two partial‑preservation alternatives that would retain representative contributing buildings while permitting new construction.

Why it matters: Freedom West — developed in the early 1970s in partnership with Bethel AME Church — has historic associations with redevelopment-era efforts to provide housing for San Francisco’s African American community. The proposed project would create roughly 2,200 housing units and other uses but, as presented,…