Mission Housing Moratorium Could Become Ballot Measure
An alliance of affordable-housing and progressive groups is preparing to propose a ballot measure that would declare a temporary moratorium on market-rate housing in the Mission. A group called the San Francisco Latino Democratic Club told the San Francisco Business Times that they will propose to delay market-rate housing construction in the Mission District for up to 18 months. A draft of the measure reportedly covers the entire Mission, and not just the portion around the 24th Street BART station that Supervisor David Campos had been eyeing for a freeze on new market-rate housing.
Attention! Curbed SF Seeks a Freelance Contributor. Is It You?
Effective immediately, Curbed SF is seeking a freelance contributor to write 3-5 blog posts on a weekly basis. We're looking for some combination of urban planning nerd, cranespotter, and San Francisco news junkie to help us track neighborhood happenings and the many new developments going up around town. Research chops help a lot—if you find yourself searching through Planning docs just to see what's going on, let's talk. If you find yourself scoping out construction sites or gaping at high-rises while everyone else hurries past, do read on.Under-Construction Mission Triplex Asks Buyers to Finish Their Own Flip
Last fall, two flippers purchased the triplex at 1227-1231 San Bruno Avenue in the Mission off-market. At the time, the building had been vacant for two years and was quite a mess, with pigeons as its only inhabitants. The buyers set about renovating the property for resale—which is par for the course for many fixer-uppers in the Mission these days—but decided to market it a bit differently from most flips. Instead of putting the units back up for sale post-renovation, the developers of the triplex gave potential buyers several options. Option one, "Buy Now & Build," allows buyers to come in with their own contractors to finish the renovations, while option two, "Buy Now, We Build," lets buyers work with the developers' team to design and finish the space. There is also the option to wait until the triplex is finished if no one else scoops it up before then. 
Plans are under way for a five-story, eight-unit development with a glass facade on a narrow lot at 311 Grove Street near Civic Center. The developers behind the project are Amenity-Laden One-Bed Near the Embarcadero Asks $499K
It's getting harder and harder to find candidates for our Under $500K Club, especially in locations as central as the North Waterfront. The latest listing to fit the bill is a compact little one-bedroom asking $499,000 at 240 Lombard Street, a complex built in 1993 that sits just a block from the Embarcadero. Unit #331 in the building, which is known as the Parc Telegraph, is a compact 525 square feet but is a true one-bedroom, not a studio. There's a decent amount of counter space in the little corner that is carved out as a kitchen and room for a couch and a small table and chairs in the adjacent living room area. 
Supervisor Scott Wiener plans to introduce legislation requiring landlords to notify tenants of illegal units when they plan to take units out of service. Because landlords need only a building permit to demolish—that's Planning parlance for taking a unit off the rental market, even if the building structure remains the same—an illegal unit, landlords can proceed without notifying tenants. Wiener's legislation would provide tenants of illegal units with a 15-day appeal period, the same window already available to legal tenants. The new law has support from the Board of Appeals and is expected to be introduced in the coming weeks. [SF Examiner; previously]Are Warren Buffett's Neighbors Trying to Force Him to Buy Their House?
Warren Buffett's across-the-street-neighbors in Omaha, Nebraska, are not above using their celebrity-adjacent location to help sell their home. Actually, "not above" is quite the understatement—the neighbors, Phil and Anne Huston, have created a website called www.livenexttowarrenbuffet.com (complete with photos labeled "THIS IS WARREN'S HOUSE") and their asking price is 10 shares of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett's company. The message seems clear. Either Buffett can buy the house, for more than it's probably worth, or the Hustons will sell to one of his fanatical shareholders who will spend all day pretending to mow the front lawn in hopes of being able to engage the Oracle of Omaha in conversation. It's the rare case of real life turning out to be even worse than an Onion article.
Rumor has it that the San Francisco Giants will soon announce that they are putting their massive Mission Rock development on the November ballot. The team's plans for the 24-acre site, if approved, will include about 10 apartment and office buildings that could rise up to 280 feet in height. The Giants must go to the ballot because of last year's Proposition B, which requires voter approval for all waterfront buildings that rise beyond current height limits. The Giants haven't officially stated when they will be heading for a vote, but Supervisor Jane Kim and former mayor Art Agnos both say they have been informed about the November timeline. [SF Business Times]Last Week's Biggest Sales: 2939 Vallejo Nabs a Cool $12M
Listed for: $11.5M
Received: $12M
Size: 5-bed, 6.5-bath single family home
Location: 2939 Vallejo St, Pacific Heights
The skinny: On the outside, 2939 Vallejo is a stately Pac Heights address just off the Presidio. On the inside, it's got all the designery touches a Noe Valley newcomer could want. That's a good thing if you like the sleek cavernous box thing but wouldn't entertain the idea of living below California Street—and a bad thing if you expect laying down the big bucks to mean dibs on those designer light fixtures, some of which are not included in the sale. The property last changed hands for $9.5 million back in 2010, but at the time also included a next-door lot that doesn't seem to be part of the deal this time around. Commenter sethgreen perhaps had the right idea: "i tell you what. i'll throw in a couple lindsey adelman chandeliers but I'm keeping the lot next door. cool?"
POPULAR
Google's Glass-Tent Thingies in Jeopardy; Flaming Tour Bus
Photo via Scott Cox· Google may not get to build two of its four proposed glass-tent thingies [Silicon Valley Business Journal]
· Photos: tour bus drives down Haight Street on fire [SFist]
· Oakland condo tower: urban boon or land grab? [SF Chronicle]
· Concord fault that saw 3.6 magnitude quake has potential to do major damage to East Bay [CBS]
· Stabbed Uber driver files class-action lawsuit [SF Examiner]
· Palo Alto testing out new Caltrain suicide watch system [NBC]
· Levi's Stadium architect Fernando Vazquez dies [SFGate]
· The best and worst places to grow up: How SF compares [NYT]
· Bernal neighbor has video of his own car being stolen [Bernalwood]
Warriors Arena Neighbors Somewhat Baffled By Fly-By Critics
Rendering via Manica Architecture/steelblueAs contentious and, well, shouty as community meetings over proposed housing in the Mission can get, the process of public participation remains remarkably constructive around projects elsewhere in the city, notably the Warriors arena planned for Mission Bay, adjacent to UCSF. Nearly every month since last summer, the Mission Bay Community Advisory Committee has been gathering at the Mission Creek senior apartments to delve into all the gloriously wonky details of the Warriors' proposed 18,000-seat arena and two office towers. And so when a member of the Mission Bay Alliance—the anonymous but spendy group that recently came out against the Warriors arena—got confrontational at last night's meeting, audience members mostly gawked.
Weekend Open House Report: NoPa Edition
Location: 560 Lyon St. at Fulton St.Size: 5-bed, 3-bath, 2,469-square-foot condo
Price: $1.899M
Pitch: "In the HEART OF NOPA, Enjoy over 2400 sq ft of Quintessential SF Living! Entertain in this Gracious Space; Living Room with Gas Fireplace, Bay Window & Pocket Doors, Formal Dining Seats 8 Comfortably w/ Bay Window & Gas Fireplace, the Chef's Kitchen Offers Carrera Marble Counters, Farm Sink, Laundry & Deck, 2 Bedrooms & 2 Bathrooms Complete the Floor. Exquisite Details; Gleaming Softwood Floors, Wainscoting, Mouldings & Loftlike Ceilings. Up the Grand Stairs to a Family/Entertainment Room, 3 Bedrooms, Skylight, Bathroom & Deck. The 380+ Sq Ft adjacent Artist Studio offers MORTGAGE RELIEF = Income of $1,225/month! Central to Everything; NoPa, Nopalito's, Little Star Pizza, Bi Rite Market, Farmer's Market, Golden Gate Park & Alamo Square."
Open House: Saturday and Sunday, 2 to 4pm
Unlike the spaceships, hobbit Walmarts, and crabot-assisted glass tent farmsSilicon Valley tech firms like to commission, Samsung's new NBBJ-designed San Jose campus is a veritable skyscraper compared with the valley's normally sprawly compounds. At 10 stories, it's unusually tall, notes Allison Arieff, observing that "the company's decision to go vertical and urban feels far more disruptive than the suburban spaceships envisioned elsewhere in the Valley." [California Sunday Magazine; previously/Photo: Michael Light]495-Square-Foot Castro Studio Has Murphy Bed, Wants $495K
Lately the only new members of our increasingly sparsely populated Under $500K Club are studios with Murphy beds in the living room. At 495 square feet, this latest specimen is more spacious than both Nob Hill closets that are asking prospective buyers to sleep with their shoes. Unit 3, a corner studio at the triplex at 4400 19th Street, has a built-in bench, a self-consciously worn brick fireplace, a kitchen large enough for a small table, and a remodeled bath with hex tile and a clawfoot tub. The bathroom even has a window, something that $2.3 million one-bedrooms can't always get right. The condo is looking for $495K, an even $1,000 per square.
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