501 Brannan St: Solbach floats 49-story, 538-unit SoMa tower
Solbach Property Group's pre-application proposes a 49-story, 553-foot tower with 538 homes at 501 Brannan Street in SoMa. It is not yet approved.
Illustration- Source Briefing
- Public record
- Also reported by SF YIMBY
A 49-story tower of about 553 feet is on the drawing board for 501 Brannan Street in SoMa, with Solbach Property Group as sponsor, SF YIMBY reported Nov. 3. The plan is at the pre-application stage. It has not been filed as a formal development application and nothing has been approved.
Why it matters
The tower would be among the larger residential proposals in SoMa, at 538 homes on a site of about 0.7 acres. It sits across from the Muni T Third Street station and a block from Caltrain, per the report. The plan relies on the State Density Bonus law and, per the report, requests waivers on height, bulk, open space, unit exposure and wind.
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Planning’s parcel records show how the site has been used before. Record 2012.1187 covers a six-story office project at 501 Brannan, now closed, and record 2015-009704PRJ was a 2015 application for a vertical office addition that remains on hold. We found no residential application on the parcel in Planning’s dataset as of Nov. 5, which fits a project that is still pre-application.
The numbers
- 538 homes: 424 apartments and 114 condominiums, per the reported plans.
- Unit mix: 129 studios, 219 one-bedrooms, 165 two-bedrooms and 25 three-bedrooms.
- 41 deed-restricted affordable units, tied to a 32.5% density bonus.
- About 714,590 square feet overall, including 623,650 square feet of housing and 7,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.
- An earlier version of the plan, SF YIMBY reported, was 47 stories with 520 rental apartments. The new design merges two lots.
Solomon Cordwell Buenz is the reported architect. Cost and timeline have not been disclosed.
What’s next
The next step is a formal application to Planning, which would generate a public record and an environmental review path. The reported waiver requests would need Planning Commission action. Watch for a filing number, a financing partner, and how the plan treats the 41 affordable units once numbers are fixed. This is separate from Solbach’s other SoMa proposal at 4th and Bluxome streets. See more on San Francisco development.
Quick answers
- What is the latest on 501 Brannan Street?
- Solbach Property Group's pre-application proposes a 49-story, 553-foot tower with 538 homes at 501 Brannan Street in SoMa. It is not yet approved.
- Who is developing 501 Brannan Street?
- Solbach Property Group, according to SF YIMBY.
- What are the key numbers for 501 Brannan Street?
- stories: 49; proposed homes: 538; affordable units: 41.
On the record
SF Planning's project records for 501 Brannan St (block 3786, lot 038) show a closed 2012 six-story office approval and a 2015 vertical office addition application that is on hold, and no residential application as of Nov. 5, 2026.
Public record · sfplanninggis.org
Primary record
- SF Planning Property Information Map, record 2012.1187501 Brannan St (aka 501-505 Brannan St), six-story office project, closed
Also reported by