Planning Commission hears hours of testimony on 5M project as staff and developers outline $73M+ benefits package

The San Francisco Planning Commission spent much of its July 23 meeting on an informational presentation about the 5M project, a proposed mixed‑use development on the four‑acre block bounded by Fifth, Mission and Howard streets. Planning staff, the Office of Economic and Workforce Development and the developer, Forest City, presented a development agreement (DA) and a Design for Development (D4D) describing the project program, public benefits and mitigation commitments.

The project team described a large mixed‑use scheme that would demolish several structures, retain selected historic buildings and construct three new buildings with heights the sponsor described at up to about 450 feet. Planning staff’s program summary listed roughly 690 dwelling units and about 807,000 square feet of office uses. OEWD and the sponsor emphasized that the DA is structured to ‘‘front‑load’’ affordable housing and community investments by combining developer obligations, fees and targeted public spending.

OEWD’s presentation listed program elements the office said would yield a total public‑benefits package of roughly $73.5 million. The package detailed three primary housing commitments the city and sponsor presented as the affordable component: a block of on‑site, permanently affordable units in the project’s residential building (about 58 units cited by staff as the on‑site portion), a separate off‑site family…