Many lots in the Richmond District now have two height limits. Under San Francisco's Family Zoning Plan, which became effective January 12, 2026, an R-4 height designation shows a base height on the left of a double slash and a taller program height on the right. SF Planning's own example is "50//85-R-4." The building already standing on the lot decides which of those numbers a developer can actually use. For anyone pricing a home or a small apartment building near Geary Boulevard, the zoning map now tells you less than the building does.
The first nine months of filings along the corridor show a consistent pattern. Under the city's program, the taller height goes to boarded-up buildings, a former tire shop and a fire-damaged restaurant site. Projects that took a different legal route ended up just as tall, but they gave up affordable units to get there. Existing apartment buildings with several rent-controlled units are mostly outside the city's program for demolition and rebuilding.
The Number After the Double Slash
The taller figure belongs to the Housing Choice-San Francisco program, or HC-SF, which the Family Zoning Plan created as an optional alternative to the State Density Bonus. A project using HC-SF can build to the higher R-4 height. Any other bonus program, including the state's, starts from the base height on the left. You can't combine the two. HC-SF excludes projects that seek density bonuses or relief from standards through any other local or state program.
Here is how the two routes compare, based on SF Planning's director bulletins for HC-SF and the State Density Bonus:
| Housing Choice-SF | State Density Bonus | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting height | The higher mapped R-4 height | The base height, left of the double slash |
| What unlocks the extra capacity | Eligibility. No on-site affordable units required to access it | On-site affordable units. The bonus and incentives grow with the affordability level and share |
| Ceiling on the bonus | The mapped envelope, plus a discretionary Major Modification process | Up to 50% more density and up to five incentives or concessions, plus waivers of standards that would block the project |
| Approval path | Streamlined administrative approval | Depends on the project. Projects with recent residential tenants may need Planning Commission approval when a conditional use authorization applies |
| Who is excluded | Projects demolishing any unit on a site with three or more rent-controlled units, plus landmarks and hotels | Projects must meet state replacement-unit rules |
HC-SF projects still have to meet the city's separate inclusionary housing requirement. The program lets them do it through on-site units, an in-lieu fee, the rent-control option, land dedication, or an off-site alternative. Any off-site location has to be within the R-4 district or within half a mile of the project. That requirement got much lighter this summer. Under the ordinance that took effect August 22, 2026, projects under 25 units are exempt from the Inclusionary Program. Larger projects need 5% of units on-site citywide, or 8% in the Mission, or they can pay a fee of 10% in most areas and 15% in designated districts.
So an eight-condo building on the HC-SF route owes no affordable units at all, and it is allowed the taller height.
What Has Used the Taller Height So Far
The citywide start was slow. In its August 8 review, the San Francisco Chronicle counted seven projects filed under Family Zoning in its first seven months, adding fewer than 40 units in total. On and near Geary, though, the pipeline has grown quickly. By early September, Hoodline, citing the Chronicle, counted six new housing projects along Geary Boulevard totaling about 300 units. Look at what currently stands on the corridor sites that went the HC-SF route:
- 230 Anza St. A vacant two-story building, boarded up for about ten years. On July 24, 2026, the Planning Commission approved an 85-foot, eight-story building there with eight condos. The Chronicle called it the first housing project approved after the Family Zoning Plan. IvyHills LLC is the owner and developer, and C.M. Wong Architecture designed it.
- 2800 Geary Blvd. The former Firestone Tires shop, where builder Sean Sullivan plans 49 condos under HC-SF. A February filing report described seven stories at about 78 feet. Later coverage describes six stories.
- 3300 Geary Blvd. The former Hong Kong Lounge II site in Jordan Park, damaged in the 2019 gas-line fire. Five Stars Investment LLC proposes 89 for-sale condos at eight stories and 84 feet, with 13 deed-restricted affordable units. According to Hoodline's summary of the Chronicle's reporting, the developers delayed their application to use HC-SF and the lower affordable requirement, which went from 15% to 5% for this project. The proposal had grown from 41 units to 62 and then to 89.
SF Planning chief of staff Dan Sider described the sites he expects to attract interest as "closed gas stations or single-story vacant retail buildings." Two of the three HC-SF sites above are that kind of site, and the third, at 230 Anza, is a long-vacant two-story building.
The Rule That Leaves Most Apartment Buildings Out
The eligibility rules help explain that pattern. HC-SF is not available to any project that would demolish a residential unit on a site with three or more existing rent-controlled units. Much of the Inner Richmond's multi-family housing consists of the kind of older small apartment buildings that rule covers. For a site like that, the number after the double slash isn't available for a demolition and rebuild. A builder would have to work from the base height through another route, and the State Density Bonus brings state replacement-unit requirements. SF Planning's Family Zoning Plan page describes SB 330 as requiring replacement of demolished affordable or rent-controlled units, relocation assistance, and a first right of return at the same rent.
The exclusion is written around demolition. HC-SF does allow additions and conversions that add at least one unit and leave the site with two or more, as long as the new or converted space meets the program's residential-share rules. An owner of a small apartment building, or a buyer looking at one, is dealing with a different set of rules than the owner of a single-story retail building down the block, even when both sit under the same mapped height. Our earlier guide to investing in small multi-family property in the Inner Richmond covers the operating side. This rule affects a different part of the valuation, which is what a builder could someday do with the lot.
The Corner That Took the State Route
Not every corridor site has picked HC-SF. On October 9, 2026, SF YIMBY reported permit filings for 228 Collins Street at Geary. Owner Tim Brown, filing as 228 Collins LLC, proposes an 87-foot, eight-story building with 38 for-sale apartments above a 300-square-foot shop. The application requests a 24.5% density bonus under SB 330 and the State Density Bonus Law. It includes four affordable units for households earning around 80% of area median income and asks for waivers on height, open space, facade articulation and dwelling size mix.
The filing doesn't say why the owner chose that route. The program rules do show what the choice involves. The state route gives up the HC-SF height in exchange for affordable units, and in return it gets waivers the city must grant when a local standard would block the bonus project. At 228 Collins, the state route still produced a building as tall as the HC-SF projects.
Farther west, at 5420 Geary between 18th and 19th avenues, Kieran Woods Construction proposed an eight-story, 42-unit mixed-use building in March. The application listed both the State Density Bonus and the Family Zoning program as possible routes. The Chronicle reported that 42 units is more than twice what the old rules would have allowed on that 0.16-acre lot. The developer kept both routes open in the filing, and that flexibility only exists on a site HC-SF doesn't exclude.
What the Neighbors Are Pricing In
The project at 230 Anza is eight stories, while the homes around it are mostly two and three stories. The Chronicle reported that a three- or four-story building had been expected. Commission President Amy Campbell called the project a "poster child" for the plan.
The process is faster now too. Hoodline, summarizing Chronicle reporting, wrote that SF Planning has six months to approve 3300 Geary once the application is deemed complete. Two blocks away, the Coronet Theater senior housing project took six years to clear the city's process. Architect Jonathan Pearlman noted that the new streamlining rules no longer require community meetings. For a buyer looking at a house or condo next to a vacant lot or one-story commercial building in the rezoned area, the time between a filing and an approved building is now measured in months.
The corridor's retail is also changing. David Heller, president of the Geary Boulevard Merchants Association, said that recent westside housing complexes have been built with no ground-floor commercial space. Of the projects above, 228 Collins includes a 300-square-foot shop and 3300 Geary includes 1,400 square feet of retail. The question of who fills existing storefronts, which we looked at on Clement Street this fall, now overlaps with how much retail new buildings choose to include.
Developers are still being cautious. The Chronicle attributed the slow start to high construction costs and interest rates. Bora Ozturk of March Capital Fund told the paper his firm is "very seriously analyzing a few sites right now on the transit corridors," naming Geary, California and Van Ness, and said that "some of the projects will pencil."
FAQ
Has Family Zoning raised property values in the Inner Richmond? None of the reporting reviewed for this post shows a measurable change in values or sales on Geary or Clement caused by the rezoning. What has changed is what can be built, and on which lots, as the filings above show. For current neighborhood figures, see our market reports.
Is the plan settled law? The Board of Supervisors adopted it on December 9, 2025, and it was signed December 12. The San Francisco Standard reported in August 2026 that a CEQA challenge filed by neighborhood groups in January and a separate February lawsuit over housing capacity had not been resolved in the coverage at the time.
Does the state's SB 79 add another height limit on top of these? SB 79 took effect July 1, 2026. San Francisco adopted its own alternative plan by an ordinance signed May 8, 2026, and SF Planning says no parcel in the city is subject to SB 79's default height and density standards. In August, housing groups sued over that alternative plan. HCD had conditionally approved it, and the city said it would respond in court.
Whether a Richmond property can use the taller height, or only the base height, depends on its zoning designation, its rent-control status and which approval route fits it. If you're looking at a building near Geary, Clement or California, or wondering what your own lot could support, Omari Williams can go through the designation, the filings nearby and the numbers with you before you make an offer or set a price. Book an appointment to start with your lot.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
