Location: San Francisco, California
Developers: Mercy Housing California and St. Anthony Foundation
Designer: HKIT Architects

Mercy Housing California and St. Anthony Foundation (SAF) jointly redeveloped 121 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco, resulting in a ten-story, 66,588-square-foot (6,186 sq m) building that includes the rebuilt St. Anthony’s dining room, a new social work center, a clothing program, and 90 units of affordable housing above. SAF, a nonprofit organization that has provided support to the local homeless and underserved community for 65 years and has provided over 40 million meals through its food program, had outgrown its aging existing facilities and was in need of larger up-to-date spaces for its programs. SAF approached Mercy with the idea to collaborate and further enhance the project’s social impact with an innovative financing structure consisting of separately owning and financing each of their respective developments on separate air-rights parcels while constructing the building as one development. The project includes social service programs on the first two floors with eight stories of affordable seniors’ housing above.

Completed in October 2014, this LEED Gold building includes many innovative sustainable features, including an on-site stormwater reclamation/reuse system. The new Vera Haile Senior Housing/St. Anthony’s Dining Room building constitutes an important new urban landmark assisting the homeless and underserved in one of the poorest neighborhoods of San Francisco.