Four actions on 19 March 2026
The Planning Commission approved the One Oak Downtown Project Authorization on Thursday 19 March 2026. Motion 21904 clears a 41-story tower with 541 apartments at 1500-1540 Market Street. Emerald Fund filed the application for the owner, Washington Capital.
The same hearing adopted the CEQA findings under Motion 21903 and the shadow findings under Motion 21905. A zoning map amendment that lifts the podium limit from 120 feet to 140 feet carries a recommendation for approval under Resolution 21902, sponsored by Supervisor Dorsey. The ordinance sits with the Board of Supervisors under Board File 260083.
The vote ran 5-1. Commissioners So, Williams, Braun, Moore and Campbell voted aye, Imperial voted no, and McGarry was absent.
A variance closed the set. It grants relief on the above-grade parking setback and a height exemption for the elevator penthouse. The zoning administrator closed the hearing with an intent to grant.
The building the record describes
The project demolishes two non-residential buildings and a surface parking lot on lots 001 to 005 of Block 0836. It builds a tower over podium of about 508,000 square feet with 541 dwellings.
The podium runs 14 stories to a roof near 139 feet. The tower runs 41 stories, with a roof at 400 feet, about 416 feet with mechanical equipment, and 436 feet with the elevator overrun and rooftop screening.
The count carries 135 off-street parking spaces, three car-share spaces, one freight loading space and two service loading spaces. It carries 210 Class 1 and 27 Class 2 bicycle spaces.
The Oak Street frontage adds Oak Plaza, a public plaza and shared public right-of-way inside a portion of the right-of-way. The site sits in the C-3-G downtown general district, inside the Van Ness and Market Downtown Residential Special Use District.
From 516 homes to 541
YIMBY reported the June 2024 filing at 516 apartments in a 437-foot tower, with a three-level basement garage and 2,465 square feet of retail. The developer used 2023 city legislation to cut the in-lieu fee from over 20 percent to 16.4 percent.
The 2025 filing raised the count to 541 and redrew the facade with SCB, Solomon Cordwell Buenz. The commission approved that version.
The environmental review trails back further. The commission certified the project's EIR on 15 June 2017 under Motion 19938, and the Planning Department published an addendum on 4 March 2026 that found no supplemental review was required.
What the approval opens on Market Street
The entitlements now cover a residential building on a block that carries two commercial buildings and a parking lot. Demolition follows a building permit, and no demolition permit appears in the record.
The map amendment is the next gate. The Board of Supervisors holds Board File 260083, and the podium height depends on it.
What the record leaves out
No document in the record dates a construction start, names a contractor, sets a completion date or quotes a rent. The March reporting carried no start either.
A hotel or a restaurant reading this block plans against a number of homes, a height and a frontage. The date those homes arrive is not published.