Two of the guests to our class (Patrick Kennedy and Will Travis) mentioned the
Hayes Valley area of
San Francisco as a potential model for development in the Berkeley Area. The comparison is an interesting one, as
Hayes Valley certainly faced its problems, not too long ago. Now, the area has been revitalized into a place that I’m rather fond of, and I wondered how this transformation happened.
First, a little background: The Hayes Valley areas is bounded by Van Ness to the east and Fillmore to the west, Oak to the south and Fulton to the north, with Hayes cutting through the middle. It is the former site of the central freeway, which was torn down following the 1989 earthquake. More recently, the off-ramp for Highway 101 has been extensively re-done, with a large green space running down Octavia St. This space looks very similar, at least on paper, to the South Park that we saw proposed last night.
According to U.S. Census figures, the area has some demographics figures that are similar to what a future downtown Berkeley might look like:
- Median Age: 38.2 (Berkeley has a median age of 33.4, but given a potential desire to have older people coming to live downtown, we might see a “graying” of this number)
- Renter Occupied Units: 94.8% (This number is quite high, and different from Berkeley as a whole (57.3% renter occupied), but if the proposals for renter-only apartments in the downtown area are successful, the Downtown Berkeley’s figure might come closer to this)
- Median Income: Between 50-70k per year. (Berkeley comes in at around $51,000 currently).
A number of physical changes in Hayes Valley has spurred some of the recent development. First, the Davies Symphony Hall opened, bringing upper-class consumers in search of a tasty meal before their show. Bounded by the Tenderloin and the Civic Center on the other side, Symphony Hall guests brought their spending money into a concentrated area. Second, after the freeway came down, the two sides were “reunited.”
As the Berkeley downtown develops, they might learn some lessons from Hayes Valley. First, the height limits imposed by zoning are similar – between 65 and 85 ft. The redevelopment didn’t require the 20 floor buildings that Patrick Kennedy and others have suggested for downtown Berkeley.
Additionally, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a change to the city planning code that would ban all chain stores in a four-block area of Hayes Valley. This is the strongest language against chain stores in the entire SF planning code, though other areas, such as Cole Valley and Union Square, have anti-chain store ordinances.
Last, Hayes Valley has encouraged a significant number of new residential units, particularly along the Octavia St. Corridor. In partnership with the Redevelopment Authority, this has brought new residences for a variety of income levels into this part of the city.
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