Sister Lillian Murphy Community
(Mission Bay South 6 West)
Sister Lillian Murphy Community (SLMC) is a 152-unit affordable housing development located in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood. It has unit types ranging from studios to five-bedrooms. The property serves households earning up to 80% of area median income and was awarded 38 project based Section 8 vouchers. The development was the first completely affordable rental building in San Francisco to serve households earning up to the middle income range.
The ground floor commercial spaces are occupied by a 45-slot childcare center and a non-profit organization that provides music classes for families and children. Both commercial tenants provide subsidized and reduced-cost services to residents of the building, which was negotiated as part of their lease agreements. Additional building amenities include onsite property management and resident services offices, 24/7 desk clerks, 26 car parking spaces (including EV charging), 132 bike parking spaces, laundry rooms, community rooms, and multiple interior courtyards and open spaces.
Total Development Costs: $121.6 Million
Funding Sources: San Francisco Office of Community Investment & Infrastructure, 4% Tax Credits, Tax-exempt bonds, State of California Dept. of Housing and Community Development - Infill Infrastructure Grant, Traditional Perm Mortgage, General Partner Equity, Deferred Developer Fee
Awards: 2023 American Institute of Architect Housing Award, 2023 American Society of Landscape Architects Honor Award, and 2022 Architect Magazine Honor Award
Challenges & Lessons Learned
The Mission Bay South neighborhood is built on filled land that is prone to subsidence. To account for this, the building and interior courtyard were designed to sit on a mat slab that was supported by several piles that extended to the bearing layer. The entire perimeter of the property consists of hinge slabs, planters, and other materials that are designed to conceal differential settlement with the abutting sidewalks and streets. Utility connections are designed with flexible connections and sub-grade piping was wrapped in foam to prevent sag.
SLMC was under construction when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Even with a significant pause in construction, and substantial changes to safety protocols that impacted efficiency, the property was able to receive its Certificate of Occupancy on time. The team adopted creative staffing and workflow strategies to maximize social distancing, combined with judicious use of overtime.
The property was slightly delayed in achieving full lease-up, primarily due to interested households’ general concerns about moving into a downtown multi-family building in the direct aftermath of the pandemic. Additionally, because the property was the first 100% affordable development in San Francisco to include units for middle-income households, and because downtown multifamily rents were significantly depressed during the pandemic, the middle-income units became a challenge to lease. Despite all these challenges the project was still delivered within budget.
Role: Sr. Project Manager / Associate Director of Real Estate Development
Managed project from concept through lease up and stabilization.
Selected development team and negotiated contracts with all consultants, including the architect and general contractor.
Prepared all funding applications, secured awards, and managed construction finance closing
Oversaw all design, entitlement, finance, construction and lease-up efforts.
Managed commercial tenant selection process and negotiated lease terms.
Provided direction on how to recover project schedule due to pandemic related delays while minimizing budget impacts.
Image credits: (top to bottom) Bruce Demonte (header), Bruce Demonte, Kai Ming, Paulett Taggart Architecture, Bruce Demonte