The Position This Record Supports
The Planning Department approved a 67-story tower at 10 South Van Ness Avenue on 30 December 2025. The Planning Commission issued final approval for a revised scheme on 11 September 2026. The entitlements that follow from the second decision run three years, to August 2029.
The record at this address supports one narrow position. The city has granted the right to build. The permit file holds the instrument that turns that right into housing.
The Capacity on the Corner
Crescent Heights holds the entitlement. Arcadis designed the building. Neither firm has published a construction cost for the approved design or a construction schedule.
The lot holds 1.1 acres in a triangle bound by Market Street, South Van Ness Avenue and 12th Street. The approved building reaches 820 feet. The revised programme yields 1.59 million square feet across 1.49 million square feet of housing, 38,280 square feet of basement garage and 2,360 square feet of ground-level retail, with 105 car spaces and 352 bicycle spaces.
The December 2025 record carried a larger programme and 11,820 square feet of ground-level retail. The two records carry different retail areas, and no published document reconciles them.
Three Approvals on One Triangular Lot
The first planning application for the site went to the city in mid-2015. A 55-story scheme won approval in 2023. The 67-story design replaced it, and the September 2026 revision replaced that. Three approvals sit on one lot across eleven years.
SF YIMBY reports that the application used Senate Bill 423 and the State Density Bonus law to reach its residential capacity and to streamline the approval process.
What the Permit File Records
The Department of Building Inspection publishes its permit record on data.sf.gov. Read on 16 October 2026, the file for the assessor parcel block 3506, lot 004, holds 19 entries.
The single new-construction application is permit 202206176565, created on 17 June 2022. It describes a 55-story building over two basements with 966 dwelling units, at an estimated construction cost of $430 million. Its status reads filed. That application describes a design the city has since replaced.
The newest entry is a demolition application. Permit 202609047753 entered intake on 4 September 2026 for the two-story commercial building on the lot, at an estimated cost of $1 million. Its status reads triage.
Two further permits covered a digital sign at the corner facade facing Market Street and Van Ness Avenue, and the infill of a second-floor corner window behind it. Both were issued on 13 July 2026 and completed on 14 October 2026, citing enforcement case 2026-004278enf.
The 2029 Expiry Is the Only Deadline
The September 2026 approval extends the entitlements for three years, and they expire in August 2029. No other dated deadline appears in the file. A lapsed entitlement returns the lot to its base zoning.
The Cost Basis on the Record
No construction cost and no construction schedule was published with either approval. Douglas Sams of the San Francisco Business Times reported that construction could start in 2027. That report is the only published start estimate on the record. The $430 million figure on the permit file belongs to the superseded design.
The Housing at 1979 Mission Street
The strongest counter-argument sits one address away. Crescent Heights bought the 1979 Mission Street parcel from Maximus in 2021 for $40 million and transferred the 1.3-acre site to the city to satisfy its off-site affordable housing requirement. SF YIMBY reports 382 affordable apartments across three phases on that site, with the first phase, La Maravilla, under construction. On this reading the eleven years have produced housing. The entitlement at 10 South Van Ness Avenue is the consideration the city took for it.
Take that reading at full strength. A sponsor holding a 2029 deadline has a reason to move, and the demolition application filed on 4 September 2026 is the first entry in five years that describes removing structure instead of revising plans.
The soft spot is the parcel line. Off-site delivery at 1979 Mission Street is a different site's housing programme, and it is the price the sponsor paid for a market-rate tower at this address. The 2029 expiry disciplines the sponsor without producing a permit. A demolition application in triage is the earliest stage of plan review, and it covers a two-story building.
What Would Change This Reading
Two events would. A new-construction permit issued for the approved design would settle it. A demolition permit moving out of triage into issuance would confirm that the corner is being cleared for construction.
Until one of those appears, the dated facts at 10 South Van Ness Avenue are the two approvals and the August 2029 expiry. The Department of Building Inspection record for block 3506, lot 004 carries the status field, and it is public and updates daily.