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Commission endorses modified 98 Franklin project with off‑site affordable housing dedication and DA recommendation to supervisors
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Summary
Planning staff and the project sponsor presented a modified 98 Franklin mixed‑use project — a 38‑story tower with a high school podium and 385 units — that includes a proposed dedication of 600 Van Ness as a 100% affordable site and $1M for Parcel K predevelopment. The commission recommended the planning code and map amendments, DA recommendation (subject to city attorney review) and downtown project authorization.
The Planning Commission voted March 30 to recommend approval of amendments and a development agreement for the modified 98 Franklin Street project, a mixed‑use proposal that pairs a French American International High School with a high‑density residential tower and an off‑site affordable housing strategy.
Christy Alexander and Kyle Smiley of planning staff summarized the changes to the 2020 approval, saying the modified project would increase the residential component to roughly 385 units and add two stories while situating a five‑story school podium for the French American International School. "The modified project's method of affordable housing compliance under Planning Code 415 is a land dedication," staff said; the sponsor proposes dedicating a nearby site (contemplated as 600 Van Ness) to the city at no cost for a 100% affordable housing project and allocating $1,000,000 in impact fees to advance Parcel K predevelopment.
Project architect Mark Schwetman (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) reviewed massing, podium design and streetscape improvements; sponsor counsel Jim Abrams explained the DA’s hooks: dedication of land (or an MOCD‑approved alternative) in exchange for fee waivers and certain DA vesting protections. "If the DA is terminated," Abrams said, "the sponsor could revert to on‑site 20% BMR or otherwise lose fee waivers and vesting protections — but those options are less feasible under current market conditions." Deputy city attorney Kristen Jensen told the commission the redlined DA language presented at the hearing could be treated as a proposed modification and approved subject to form review by the city attorney’s office.
Representatives from the sponsor and school and several callers representing the French American board and parent community urged approval, highlighting the campus benefit and the additional affordable units enabled by the land dedication. Kyle Smiley (Supervisor Preston’s office) described the package as a way to unstick a stalled project and produce a new high school plus more affordable housing in the hub.
Commissioners raised questions about DA scenarios, alternatives to 600 Van Ness, and clarity on the draft DA language; staff and the sponsor clarified that the DA gives the sponsor the option to dedicate the off‑site site or, if the DA were terminated, to go back to the previously approved on‑site BMR option without fee waivers. After discussion the commission moved, seconded and voted unanimously (6–0) to recommend the planning code and zoning map amendments to the Board of Supervisors, recommend the DA (subject to city attorney approval) and approve the downtown project authorization and shadow findings.
The commission recorded that additional redlines to the DA were in process with the city attorney and the final DA to be reviewed by the city attorney's office before submittal to the Board of Supervisors.
