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Investor's Corner: S.F. Housing Projects Emerge from Deep Freeze

City lifts 2-year condo 'moratorium'

By J.K. Dineen
San Francisco Business Times
August 16, 2008

A 2-year-old Planning Department moratorium that put some 2,000 proposed housing units indefinitely on hold in the eastern neighborhoods of San Francisco has been lifted, giving developers hope that dozens of condo and apartment projects that have been stuck in political limbo will finally be revived.

On July 31, the Planning Commission passed a new "loss and replacement policy" for light industrial uses known as production, distribution and repair, or PDR. The ruling establishes a legal definition for what does and does not constitute PDR, which in turn will allow builders to move forward on housing projects that include some light industrial uses, even before the Board of Supervisors approves the larger eastern neighborhoods rezoning, which is expected by Thanksgiving.