San Francisco's Stonestown Galleria redevelopment could include housing

SAN FRANCISCO - These days at San Francisco's Stonestown Galleria, shoppers co-exist with construction. Whole Foods is replacing Macy's. An 11-screen movie theater is also on the way as well as a Sports Basement.

But it appears the construction project is only the beginning for the 40-acre mall on the western side of San Francisco.

Brookfield Properties, the owner of the mall is proposing to build what San Francisco desperately needs: housing.

"The only way to create an affordable city is to create housing at all income ranges. A place on this side of the city would be a natural lace to do that," says Jack Sylvan, senior vice-president of Brookfield Properties.

Brookfield says there's plenty of space at Stonestown for housing with about 28 available acres. It includes the parcel where the movie theaters now stand, but there are no details to report yet.

Brookfield says it doesn't know how many units it should build or what they would look like, but there is rooms for hundreds of homes, if not more.

The developer says the homes would be a mix of market rate and affordable housing.

"We are hearing a lot of support for senior housing, housing for families. There's a lot of demand for student housing. What the form, shape, density of that is, we are at the beginning stages of a learning process," said Sylvan.

For the past few months the developer has been meeting with neighbors to get a read on what they would like.

One neighbor, the Stonestown YMCA, likes the idea of new housing there.

"It gets harder and harder for families like mine to be able to survive in in the city. It's hard for my staff to live in the city they work in," says Josh Leonard, executive director of the Stonestown YMCA. 

The developer hopes to have a plan in place to present to the public early next year. But any ground breaking wouldn't happen for at least four years.