$5M Dream Home In North Beach Was Illegally Converted From Four Units; Board of Supes to Decide Its Fate

"It does indeed look like a beautiful, newly renovated home, tucked in the middle of a block of mostly apartments on Vallejo Street, just below Telegraph Hill. The listing photos, apparently from when it was last on the market in 2021, show an open floorplan on the top level, featuring a well appointed kitchen, and skylights bringing in light from the roof deck above."

"The listing says the building type is "multi-family," which would probably raise eyebrows, because the photos say otherwise. And as a realtor, Jennifer Rosdail, tells the Chronicle, the current owners took a "calculated risk" in purchasing the home, hoping that they would be able to navigate the bureaucracy necessary to get an illegal conversion legitimized."

"Their case landed before the Planning Commission last year, as the Chronicle reports, which deadlocked 3-3 on whether to approve the couple's plan to add back a studio unit on the ground floor adding back another kitchen. And now their appeal will soon go before the Board of Supervisors."

A family purchased a renovated property at 524-526 Vallejo Street in North Beach, believing it to be a single-family home with four bedrooms and a roof deck. However, the property was illegally converted from a multi-family building in previous renovations. Listed as multi-family despite appearing as a single-family residence, the current owners Katelin Holloway and Ben Ramirez have lived there for nearly five years. They sought to legitimize the conversion by adding back a studio unit with a kitchen on the ground floor. The Planning Commission deadlocked 3-3 on their proposal, and their appeal now goes to the Board of Supervisors. Tenants' advocates argue the owners shouldn't receive approval simply because they paid $4.75 million and weren't responsible for the original illegal alterations.

Read at sfist.com