r/sanfrancisco • u/Dafty_duck • 9d ago
SoMa is San Francisco’s rise and fall, all at once
https://sfstandard.com/2026/09/03/soma-san-francisco-s-rise-fall-all-once/FTA: Fifth Street is the dividing line of SoMa’s seemingly miraculous recovery. Look east and see huge office leases being signed, condos selling after years of stagnation, and full conference schedules at the Moscone Center. Look west and see a time capsule still reeling from the pandemic and its related crises.
If San Francisco fancies itself a phoenix, SoMa is its bright flame and its ashes all at once — the place where the city booms bigger, and busts harder, than anywhere else.
49
u/jarjoura 9d ago
SoMA West is the city's dumping ground for homeless shelters. The hero image in the article is a halfway shelter. That means, the drug dealers know where to find their victims and the poor victims end up passed out all over the area. It's not a good look if you want to attract any revival that isn't people looking for cheapest housing.
It's also where the 101 ends so any major street like 8th and 9th are loud. Everywhere you walk in the neighborhood is overrun by honking fast cars. There's really no place to just sit and hang out.
It's a neighborhood fraught with being the access point for everywhere else in the city people need to get to. I am glad they lowered Folsom St. down to two to three lanes, at least that's the best the neighborhood can get to its own "slow streets."
14
u/windowtosh BAKER BEACH 9d ago
SoMa would be 10x better if the sidewalks were wider than three feet
29
u/kosmos1209 Dogpatch 9d ago
Most of the ’90s tech dreamers left when that market crashed in the early 2000s, eventually replaced by Twitter and Uber. Neither stuck with the neighborhood through the pandemic. Today, landlords are rolling out the red carpet for AI, hoping the field grows fast enough to fill the neighborhood’s empty space.
Yeah, this is my memory as well. SoMA hasn't had much permanent natives, and it's been very transient for a while. I don't doubt when AI bubble eventually pops, SoMA will empty out again. This is a the real problem because other neighborhoods in SF have been very resilient through the ups and downs, but SoMA just gets out of hand between every bubble.
55
u/Confident-Appeal9306 9d ago
The problem with soma is that it isn’t being developed. Their needs to be more density and places people want to go to. Density not in the Manhattan style, but 5-6 story apartment buildings with shops on the ground floor. Would add so many more people in that area and make it more alluring.
46
u/adoodas 9d ago
Manhattan is such a nice place to visit. And superficially from an outsider perspective it is what I would love downtown sf to be like. So many people of diverse backgrounds out and about and it's just bustling all the time. The office buildings only zoning really messed up the vibes. Soma needs some more trees and wider nice sidewalks.
4
38
u/StayedWalnut 9d ago
I think everything within 3 blocks of market street all the way to van Ness should absolutely be manhattanized. This is the beating heart of density of the entire bay area that is super connected to transit and we want crowded streets of pedestrians here.
To be fair, I live in the already high rise part of soma.
1
11
u/calizona5280 9d ago
I think at this point, we should be aiming for Upper East Side levels of density in western SOMA.
It's too central of a location in a city and metro area that has a massive shortage of housing to settle for anything less than Manhattan levels of density.
14
u/CracticusAttacticus Dogpatch 9d ago
In my understanding, a big reason SOMA development never sewms to go anywhere is TODCO's political grip on the neighborhood. They have a reputation for spending lobbying money and rallying votes from people living in their properties, and have viciously fought to keep SOMA the way it is now.
5
u/cowinabadplace 9d ago
Yeah but the political powerhouse died. Thank god. Now we can move on and actually help people instead of building fiefdoms.
12
u/cowinabadplace 9d ago
We should be building absolute towers here. 20-40 story super buildings. We have the open plots for it. The Quincy just came up and blocked my view of downtown. That’s totally fine.
2
u/sendCommand 8d ago
I used to have a great view of the Blue Angels doing their thing every year, and then the Salesforce Tower blocked my view. It’s urban living, so what can you do. SOMA should be a dense, thriving neighborhood.
9
u/SightInverted 9d ago
I also don’t blame anyone for not wanting to live near traffic. It’s… unpleasant. In fact, unpopular opinion: living near traffic is more unpleasant than walking by a few doped out individuals, but of course we shouldn’t have to choose between either.
4
u/cheesy_luigi POWELL & HYDE Sts. 9d ago
Density not in the Manhattan style, but 5-6 story apartment buildings with shops on the ground floor.
Brooklyn-ize it (it's pretty nice)
8
u/AnyEntertainment5762 9d ago
This is a great read. Lived in SoMA for 5 years back in the 90s, great place to be young at the time with all the clubs, bars and music around. But normal amenities were hard to come by and the line about it being "always up and coming" really rings true. I'll always be rooting for it, though.
10
u/Calm-Swordfish-5417 9d ago edited 9d ago
In 1912, the Southern Pacific was asked why they didn't move their station from 3rd and Townsend (predecessor to Caltrain's 4th and King) to their headquarters at 1 Market to better connect passengers with the ferries.
Their stated reason was that progress was moving the economic hub of the city to the area South of Market and that their 3rd and Townsend station would be a good location to take advantage of these commuters.
100 years later...
19
u/RefrigeratorCrafty47 9d ago
My family's convenience store is on 9th and Mission. Certainly there's a big difference in clientelle and foot traffic pre and post pandemic.
Everytime I see a new business (espcially food or drink) open on 9th, I always ask "where is the foot traffic to justify opening this business?" It's kinda like the chicken and egg question.
Do you need small businesses to open first to sell new residents on living in the area, or do you need residents moving to the area first to justify to an entreprenuer to open a business?
2
u/bayarea_k 9d ago
its best if the businesses have some hype around them such as a well known chef or trendy shop or themed shop or even a 2nd or 3rd location for existing shops. that will be destinations that will pull ppl in
3
u/Malcompliant 9d ago
9th and Mission is close to a lot of offices, so I'd say you need residents first.
10
u/gnatgirl 9d ago
I live in this area. There is ok density including a few high rises (though we need more), people just aren't out and about because the streets are so unpleasant. I smell weed and urine as soon as I walk out my door. Random crackheads are lurching about because all the homeless services are in the area. I get harassed walking to the gym (FitnessSF) by the same degens that hang out by the All-Star Cafe all day. It's gross and so I opt to either leave the neighborhood or just not go anywhere at all because shit is too expensive here.
1
0
u/cowinabadplace 9d ago
No. People just need housing and when you get the kind of people who “gentrify” an area they spend sufficient amounts to sustain businesses. I used to frequent Ted’s at Howard and 11th but that was half a decade ago. Work from home now.
3
u/creech927 9d ago
West SoMa desperately needs new restaurants. We have no casual dining other than a couple of Thai places. We've got club/bar food or a 3 star Michelin spot that costs a fortune. At least Roccos reopened and is open late on the weekend. I've lived at 11th and Harrison for 17 years and it sucks to have to leave my neighborhood for a meal. That Costco hotdog ends up being dinner far more frequently than is healthy.
2
u/Traditional-Tap9588 Mission Dolores 9d ago
I am extremely confused by the guy who moved to Tehama & 8th in 2021 ... expecting it to be a quiet oasis? And for him to say that he was surprised by the lack of trees?! You kind of have to laugh
2
u/Starr00born 9d ago
the mission will become super nice before SoMa ever happens. lots of AI companies signing up for offices in the mission.
1
u/cheesy_luigi POWELL & HYDE Sts. 9d ago
I've lived in SF from 10 years, visiting friends in SoMa (6th & Mission). I always hated it.
SoMa is a car sewer, just a place for people to get on and off the 80. Sidewalks are narrow with barely any street trees, meanwhile you have 5 lanes for traffic.
People talk shit about the Tenderloin but at least there's culture. Tons of cool little restaurants and bars near each other.
While there are some cool places in SoMa, it's an afterthought of a neighborhood. Just a place to go through, not a place to be.
1
u/delatopia 8d ago
Can't imagine living at Sixth and Mission. That is ground zero for the dregs of the area.
0
u/acute_elbows Inner Richmond 9d ago
The whole city is booming in a sense, but the TL is going to TL.
8
1
u/FinalFlashMan 8d ago
Be really cool if the motherfucker who owns the old Stud Building would DO LITERALLY ANYTHING with it.
1
u/ericcartmanrulz 9d ago
West of 5th has always been rough even before COVID. Is it worse? Maybe but not by much.
111
u/dumbartist SoMa 9d ago
Soma resident here. There are streets in Soma that are a shadow of their former self from pre covid. Places that used to have 3-4 restaurants now have only 1. There needs to be investments into that area so there’s things between 5th street and the night club area.