San Francisco landlords are turning ‘crappy old storage rooms’ into apartments—and it’s good news for the city

By Emmie Martin | December 27, 2017 | Published 1:57pm | CNBC

In 2014, San Francisco passed legislation allowing property owners to add accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, to their homes and buildings. The law was then expanded in late 2016 so that any building with at least five existing apartments could add an unlimited number of units, the San Francisco Chronicle reports...."Pretty much every multi-unit building with crappy old storage rooms is taking a look at this," John Pollard of the SF Garage Co. told the Chronicle. "You've got all these property owners that realize they are sitting on dead equity." ...[click to continue]

Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle

December 10th, 2017

New trend: Random spaces in existing buildings becoming rental housing

By J.K. Dineen | December 10, 2017 | Updated: December 11, 2017 9:26am | San Francisco Chronicle

Regulations allowing San Francisco property owners to convert common spaces into accessory dwelling units have brought forth a flood of applications to carve new apartments out of everything from garages and basements to old boiler rooms...“We are getting a ton in the Sunset, the Richmond, the Castro, Noe Valley, Haight-Ashbury, Russian Hill, Telegraph Hill,” Pollard said. “Pretty much every multiunit building with crappy old storage rooms is taking a look at this. You’ve got all these property owners that realize they are sitting on dead equity.” ...[click to continue]

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

September 18th, 2017

Nearly 500 property owners miss deadline for soft story building retrofit program

September 18, 2017 | Published 9:54 pm | Bay City News Service

The owners of nearly 500 "soft story" buildings missed a city deadline Friday to apply for permits to do seismic retrofitting work, a San Francisco building department official said today. Out of the 3,464 buildings required to get permits to start seismic improvements by Friday, 484 are still out of compliance...Contractor John Pollard talks about the soft story retrofit on this apartment building (middle) on 1230, 1232, and 1234 Haight St. on Monday, July 25, 2016, in San Francisco. ...[click to continue]

Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle

April 9th, 2017

For SF landlords, deadline looms to retrofit soft-story buildings

By J.K. Dineen |April 9, 2017 | Updated: December 31, 1969 4:00pm | San Francisco Chronicle

Owners of nearly 2,000 apartment buildings in San Francisco have done nothing to bring their properties up to current seismic safety standards, despite an approaching deadline and possible fines if the mandatory work is not completed....The September deadline is setting off a frantic dash among property owners, according to John Pollard of SF Garage Co., who said many landlords are just waking up to the fact that time is running out. While tier three owners have to submit their permit application by Sept. 15, they have an additional two years to complete the work. Pollard’s company offers soft-story retrofits. ... [click to continue]

September 15th, 2016

Hundreds of SF Property Owners Will Miss Seismic Upgrade Deadline

By Joe Rosato Jr. |Sep 15, 2016 | Updated: September 15, 2016 at 7:05pm |NBC Bay Area

About 200 San Francisco multi-unit property owners are expected to miss a deadline requiring them to file paperwork to begin seismic upgrades as part of a new ordinance aimed at making city buildings more earthquake resistant.... “The danger is during an earthquake,” said John Pollard whose SF Garage Company is performing retrofits, “the building could collapse, it could fall one story, it could fall into a public way.”... [click to continue]

Infographic: Terry Forte

July 27th, 2016

Deadline for retrofitting S.F. buildings for quakes looms, with fines on the horizon

By Riley McDermid | Jul 27, 2016 | Updated Jul 28, 2016, 5:59am |San Francisco Business Times

Around half of San Francisco residential building owners required to comply with a mandated seismic retrofit program have yet to apply — and face significant fines and penalties if they don't do so by Sept. 15, city representatives told the Business Times on Wednesday....“All of our clients are focused on adding the ADUs — we have four architects cranking out designs” John Pollard, owner of SF Garage Co., told the San Francisco Chronicle. “If you think about it, you might get $250 a month for a parking space. A good-sized studio might get $2,100 or $2,200.” ... [click to continue]

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

July 27th, 2016

SF residential building owners slow on quake retrofits

By J.K. Dineen |July 27, 2016 | Updated: July 27, 2016 12:36pm | San Francisco Chronicle

Hundreds of San Francisco residential building owners have yet to comply with the city’s mandated seismic retrofit program and face penalties if they don’t initiate the safety improvements in the next 60 days, according to the Department of Building Inspection...The program has created a cottage industry for soft-story seismic specialists, as thousands of property owners scramble to get work done. One such company, the SF Garage Co., has 20 soft-story projects going at any one time and has a waiting list of 80 more buildings, said owner John Pollard ... [click to continue]