The Fall of Potrero Annex

The Potrero Annex and Terrace section 8 housing in Potrero Hill, San Francisco, is undergoing redevelopment. Clusters of buildings are being evacuated, demolished, and rebuilt in phases.

The project has just entered the two year "Phase 3" and demolition is underway. But our story goes back a few years earlier.

Where There's Smoke...

My wife smelled the smoke first. I've been calling her a bloodhound ever since the birth of our daughter a few months earlier. I rushed to the window and saw water flowing down the gutter on our hilly street.

I grabbed some gear and went outside. I wasn't exactly sure where the fire was so I followed the stream of water.

Once I reached the Turner Terrace street it became clear that one of the barricaded buildings had caught fire. Firefighters tore down the barricade and went inside. Potrero Annex residents filmed from across the street.

From what I could gather someone in the northern-most C7 unit and had started a fire. Whether intentional or accidental I'll never know but the barricaded door suggested they weren't supposed to be there.

Three months later and the alarm went off again. I don't remember if it was my police scanner app or my bloodhound but once again I followed the stream uphill.

Another fire had broken out in the same C7 building, only this time it happened during the day. I couldn't help but wonder if it was the same fire fighting crew on scene.

Now it seemed like a fire could break out any day. Every evening I kept at least one window open. It seemed obvious that they would one day be demolished; I assume it's expensive to keep putting out fires.

I kept my eye on the neighborhood. It seemed that more and more buildings were boarded up each month.

The Demolition Phase

One day while driving back from daycare I saw some work crews and fences up and figured I'd stop by. I dropped the car off at home, grabbed some gear, and went there on foot.

I really lucked out with the timing. There were construction workers all around the area. I spoke with a couple and they let me go upstairs in one of the buildings before they fenced it off to the public.

There was also an AT&T crew climbing up poles and wandering between buildings. I spoke with them and got confirmation that I could tag along and photograph what they were doing.

The B5 building had seen a pretty rough fire a few years back. The walls were destroyed and there was charred wood everywhere. Surprisingly the structure still stood.

The AT&T crew climbed up another pole to cut wires and mark it with spray paint. I ran up the exterior stairs of nearby building to capture it. There was a construction crew wearing PPE and performing asbestos abatement the next building over.

I spoke with other construction workers as well. They mentioned that a squatter had just left one of the buildings and wandered off. Even without power folks still find the shelter useful.

I kept coming back to the neighborhood. Each day I found that something had moved or a new item had appeared. A door was left ajar. A mattress was left on the sidewalk.

On paper the buildings were closed for good and the residents had been relocated in some way. But the neighborhood still seemed at least a little alive.

While the fences kept people out of the buildings the streets are still in use. Cars drive by and commuters walk through. The buildings are about to fall but San Francisco is still going.

While the neighborhood was void of power it did still have gas lines hooked up. Of course, you shouldn't knock over buildings with active gas lines, and so another crew needs to come in and shut them off.

Two SFPD SUVs oversaw the gas shutoff process. I spoke with one and he said they were guarding the workers and would fence the side streets off. I wandered down a side street and an SUV rushed up to tell me it was off limits.

Demolition began a few days later. An excavator started tearing down building A2 on either Monday or Tuesday of that week. It was the easternmost building and could only be seen from Pennsylvania Ave.

I made a friend with someone at the Muni building and he escorted me to the roof to get a closer view.

By Wednesday the first building was completely demolished, a two to three day process. There are 23 buildings in this phase. Assuming three days per building and five working days per week they might be complete in as early as fourteen weeks.

Another week went by and building B4 was also demolished. The rubble from the first building looks to have been sorted. An asbestos abatement crew still run generators and walks around some of the standing buildings.

I'm not sure when the phase 3 demolition will be complete but I'll keep popping in with my camera. On the bright side I can finally shut my windows.

For more information on the schedule visit the Rebuild Potrero website.