The old Honda dealership at Market and Van Ness may come down

The two-story building at the corner of Market Street and South Van Ness Avenue sold Hondas for years. Lately it has been an event space. On Oct. 23, its owner filed to tear it down.

The filing is short. Demolish a two-story commercial building, estimated cost $1 million, existing use "automobile sales." What it clears the way for is not short at all: a 67-story, 820-foot tower with 1,019 homes, approved by the city last December, that would be San Francisco's third-tallest building after Salesforce Tower and the Transamerica Pyramid.

This is a story about whether the biggest housing approval in the city actually turns into a building, and what the demolition filing does and does not tell you. The blocks around it are some of the least expensive in San Francisco. According to Houseberry data for Van Ness and Civic Center, the typical home there was worth about $766,600 in October 2026, about a third of the citywide figure.

What the approval allows

Miami-based Crescent Heights has owned the corner for years and built the NEMA apartment towers a block away at 10th and Market. Its approved plan, as The Real Deal reported, is two buildings in one: 363 rental apartments in the podium, including 89 below-market units, and 656 condominiums in the tower above. The company also bought and donated a lot next to the 16th Street BART station for future affordable housing.

SF YIMBY's summary of the filings adds the rest. A two-level basement garage for 255 cars. Room for 388 bikes. About 11,820 square feet of shops at street level.

The approval came through SB 423, the state law that forces a fast, ministerial yes for mixed-income housing in cities behind on their housing targets. That matters here. It means there is no further hearing that can kill the project. What can kill it is money.

The event permit tells you more than the demolition filing

In May, an event company called NPU Inc. applied for temporary use permits to host community and private events at 10 South Van Ness, four to six a month, for three years. That runs to mid-May 2029.

Developers do this all the time with sites they are not ready to build on. A former dealership with a big open floor is a decent party venue, and the rent covers the property taxes. It also tells you the owner was planning, as recently as this spring, for a site that might still be standing in 2029.

So which is it? We read the two filings together. Crescent Heights is doing the cheap, necessary paperwork that keeps a 2027 start possible, while keeping the building earning money in case it is not.

We think this tower gets built. We do not think it starts in 2027. A 67-story concrete tower needs construction lenders who believe in San Francisco condo prices three years out, and the closest comparison is not encouraging. Lendlease's 47-story Hayes Point a block away at 30 Van Ness has been halted since August 2023.

Crescent Heights is not alone in clearing ground. San Francisco's building department has logged 61 demolition permit filings from Jan. 1 to Nov. 10, 2026, according to the city's permit dataset. Over the same stretch of 2025 there were 39. That is a 56 percent increase.

What it would mean for Hayes Valley and the Civic Center blocks

Prices around the site have been moving up from a low base. Houseberry's figure for Van Ness and Civic Center rose from about $695,800 in November 2025 to about $766,600 in October 2026, a 10 percent gain. Houseberry data for South of Market, across Mission Street, shows about $766,600 in October, up 3 percent. In Hayes Valley, a few blocks northwest, the typical home was about $1.25 million.

The citywide typical home was about $2.2 million.

Houseberry's safety score for Van Ness and Civic Center is 1.5 out of 5, and the neighborhood ranks 91st of the 92 we score in the city overall. Its amenities score is 3.4. More than a thousand households at the corner would not change the score by themselves, but they would change who is on the sidewalk at 9 p.m., and the street-level shops would face Market Street instead of a dealership's blank wall.

If the tower opens, the condos would likely be priced well above the neighborhood's current typical home. That gap is the bet the lenders have to take.

The wrecking crew is the next thing to look for at Market and South Van Ness. Until then, compare the blocks around it on Houseberry's San Francisco neighborhood ranking.

Sources

• San Francisco Department of Building Inspection, demolition permit 202609047753, filed Oct. 23, 2026
• The Real Deal, San Francisco approves 67-story housing tower, Dec. 31, 2025
• SF YIMBY, temporary use proposed for 10 South Van Ness, May 30, 2026
• SFist, the tower moves forward, Dec. 3, 2025
• San Francisco building permit dataset, queried Nov. 11, 2026