In the works for five years, the groundbreaking ceremony of the five-floor mixed-use development next to Beck's Motor Lodge took place last Friday with District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman in attendance.

The project plans to retain most of the funeral home's structure, which is a two-story, wood-frame building designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style.

The housing development will have 44 condos for sale, along with five below-market-rate rentals. Neighbors can also expect more than 5000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor of the former site of Sullivan's Funeral Home and the adjacent parking lot at 2238 Market St. (between Noe and 15th).

The mortuary, which was established in 1924, was known as one of the few funeral homes in the city that would handle the funerals of victims during the early days of the AIDS epidemic.

Since leaving the Market Street location in 2016, the Sullivan family has partnered with the Duggan family and are now called "Sullivan's and Duggan's Serra Funeral Services" with outposts on 6201 Geary Blvd. and in Daly City.

The former mortuary with the adjacent parking lot last week. | Photo: Teresa Hammerl/Hoodline

According to Planning Department documents, the Market Street development project will include studios, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom, and four-bedroom units. The below-market-rate units include two two-bedroom units, a one-bedroom residence and two studios.

Future tenants can also look forward to about two dozen off-street parking spaces in a parking garage under the building.

"The project was inspired by the area’s diverse heritage and is designed to celebrate the surrounding character and personality, in part by preserving the existing Market Street building," Dan Safier, CEO and president of Prado Group, the developer behind the project, said in a statement.

According to the project website, BAR Architects will be the team’s design architect, while GLS is the landscape architecture firm behind the development. The Prado Group and BAR Architects previously worked together on 38 Dolores St. (and Market), where the Market Street Whole Foods is located.

The development seen from 15th Street. | Image: Via 2240marketsf.com

Brittney Beck, owner of neighboring Beck's Motor Lodge, said she hopes the housing development will improve the area overall.

"While we’re never excited about the way construction and the associated noise will impact our guests, we very much look forward to the vibrancy this project (upon completion) will bring to the neighborhood," she said.

She also hopes that more people living in the neighborhood will activate the area, and help with cleaner and safer streets, "which will ultimately benefit my guests," she said.

"Right now the street conditions are unacceptable — to me and my guests — so hopefully having occupied units and ground floor retail will keep our block and neighborhood on the up and up," Beck said.

Neighbors can expect construction to take about 18 months, B.A.R. reports.