Freedom West

Freedom West Homes is a nonprofit limited equity housing cooperative formed in the late 1960’s in response to government sponsored Urban Renewal which displaced over 20,000 predominately African American Fillmore District residents and closed over 800 businesses. Reverend J. Austell Hall of the Bethel AME Church lead the creation of the cooperative housing development as a way to mitigate the losses of urban renewal and maintain home ownership for existing residents. The proposed project aims to rebuild and revitalize the Freedom West Homes Cooperative, which after 40 years of deferred maintenance has fallen into disrepair and is at the end of its useful life.

The Freedom West Project site is located on two city blocks generally bounded by Gough Street to the east, Golden Gate Avenue to the north, Laguna Street to the west, Fulton Street to the south and bisected by McAllister Street. The site includes 382 cooperative housing units, along with almost 2 acres of surface parking. Freedom West is currently home to approximately 1,000 residents, the majority of whom are seniors. The project is adjacent to an entitled 115 affordable senior building located at 880 McAllister that will also serve co-op members and the greater community.

The project proposes to demolish the 22 existing low-rise buildings for the construction of a 15-building mixed use development. Heights of the new buildings would range between 85 and 335 feet. The project proposes up to 2,393 housing units including the replacement of 267 co-op units, an option for a 150-room hotel, 68,600 GSF commercial use and 14,800 GSF cultural/institutional/educational uses, up to 1,640 parking spaces and, 1,732 bicycle parking spaces.

The 10.37-acre privately-owned site would also provide publicly accessible open space, and a mix of residential common and private open space. It will also provide enhanced connectivity throughout the site, including a new Octavia North and improved pedestrian connectivity along Octavia Boulevard, new bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and new vehicular passenger loading.

The sponsor envisions the proposal as the progression of the original vision of Reverend Hall of Bethel A.M.E. Church for the creation of Freedom West in 1966, thus honoring the legacy of the Fillmore while creating a new model that advances restorative justice. To these ends, the project proposes to replace the 382 affordable co-op units, maintain Freedom West cooperative ownership, and develop a long-term, sustainable financial plan for the co-op.

MacFarlane Partners (Project Sponsor) proposes to enter into a Development Agreement (DA) with the City accompanied by a site-specific rezoning of the property to include a Special Use District (SUD) that implements the project.