By Aldo Toledo, City Hall Reporter April 3, 2025 San Francisco Chronicle
The owner of a century-old North Beach building gutted by fire is racing to demolish it to make way for a mixed-use project as an effort to make the neighborhood a national historic district moves closer to reality.
Opponents say the project will destroy a significant structure and cast shadows on a neighboring park, and accuse the owner, Jeff Jurow, of abusing the historic designation process.
Jurow, who is part owner of the Verdi building at 659 Union St., told the Chronicle in an interview that high costs have killed an original plan to replace the burnt husk of a building for a five-story, 23-unit apartment complex with a rooftop restaurant, preserving the still-standing historic facade. The site has been an eyesore in the neighborhood for years after two fires in 2013 and 2018.
Now Jurow is working to submit a new application in the next few months for a more dense and likely taller development that would eliminate the facade, add a hotel and more apartments, taking advantage of a state law that lets developers build bigger projects than what local law allows in exchange for affordable housing.
Jurow revealed the new plan details after the Chronicle acquired emails between Jurow’s development consultant and city officials inquiring about demolition permits and how to apply the state density bonus law to build a new project there.
In the emails, the consultant said Jurow wants to move quickly with developing the site because of concerns that a proposed North Beach Historic District — an effort by the Northeast San Francisco Conservancy to preserve more than 600 buildings in the neighborhood — would make it impossible to build.
Exclusive: North Beach building owner rushing to develop property before neighborhood becomes a hist
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