Smart[sic] Growth coming to District 5

1355 Fulton Street

From SocketSite:

The façade of the F. Lofrano & Son auto body garage at 1355 Fulton Street[near Divisadero] is currently slated to be saved. But plans to level the bulk of the 14,000-square-foot building are in the works. And as envisioned and newly rendered by SIA Consulting, a 72,000-square-foot development could rise up to nine stories in height upon the NoPa infill site. 

While the 12,000-square-foot parcel is currently only zoned for building up to 65 feet in height, the project team is planning to leverage the State’s Density Bonus Program to achieve the additional 20 feet. And as such, the development would yield a total of 75 apartments, with a garage for 36 cars, a storage room for 75 bikes and a 2,100-square-foot retail space fronting Fulton Street...

Rob's comment:
Saving the "facade" of the building? That's like the pseudo-preservation on the Amoeba Music store on Haight Street that retains part of the old bowling alley facade. Historic bowling alleys and auto body garages!

That's a good metaphor for what's happening to San Francisco, an updated version of the Potemkin Village concept, as the relentless gentrification process accelerates, hollowing out the old city and replacing it with a new, unimproved version. Maybe the new gentry likes the process, since it prices out working people and other riff-raff, like artists and musicians.