1,800 Homes Proposed At Long-Vacant Safeway Site In Western Addition

Developer Align Real Estate has filed plans to build more than 1,800 housing units on the site of a long-shuttered Safeway in San Francisco’s Western Addition, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. It is one of the largest residential proposals in years for the neighborhood. 

The preliminary application covers the 4-acre property at 1335 Webster St., which is occupied by the vacant grocery store and surface parking. 

When Align purchased the property earlier this year, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors had passed a proposal to ease restrictions on formula retail in another area that included a special exemption for the Webster Street Safeway. Align Real Estate would only qualify for those benefits by filling the Safeway space with another grocer. 

Align reimagined what was initially a more modest housing project proposal to take advantage of state housing incentives that allow larger-scale development in exchange for affordability. Around 15% of units would be income-restricted. If approved, the project would add roughly triple the number of homes built in the Western Addition over the last two decades. 

The proposal includes a mix of mid- and high-rise buildings that could reach a maximum of 30 stories. It will include a 20K SF grocery store on the ground floor of one of the residential towers. 

The developer told the Chronicle it plans to file applications for more than 3,500 new homes across the city, including 500 affordable units. 

San Francisco must build 82,000 new housing units by 2031 to meet a state-mandated housing quota. Align’s project comes just as the San Francisco Planning Commission advanced Mayor Daniel Lurie’s family zoning plan, a program to increase housing density to meet the state-mandated target. Lurie’s rezoning plan would add capacity for roughly 36,000 homes by 2031.

The board of supervisors must pass that legislation before Jan. 31, 2026, to avoid penalties from the state.