220-unit housing complex approved to replace Tower Car Wash

The Tower Car Wash and Chevron gas station at 1601 Mission St. The Tower Car Wash and Chevron gas station at 1601 Mission St. Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 47 Caption Close 220-unit housing complex approved to replace Tower Car Wash 1 / 47 Back to Gallery

A 220-unit condominium complex is set to sprout from the site of the busy gas station and car wash where South Van Ness Avenue meets Mission Street.

After a hearing that was notable mostly for its lack of opposition, the San Francisco Planning Commission on Thursday night unanimously approved 1601 Mission St., a 12-story mid-rise that proponents said would inject a shot of street life on a wedge-shaped parcel that currently serves 500 cars a day. The property is home to Tower Car Wash, which is frequently jammed with police cruisers getting washed and Uber drivers filling up their gas tanks.

The project is part of a fast-growing part of town that city planners are calling “the Hub,” a cluster of large projects in and around the intersection of Van Ness Avenue and Market Street. In total the projects will bring about 4,300 housing units, although that number could increase to 5,600 under a rezoning the city is contemplating.

While the project at the car wash site will not have any on-site affordable units, it will pump $17.6 million into the city’s affordable housing fund.

Residents to the south at 1640 Mission St. opposed early iterations of the project, but developer Trumark Urban worked provided a wider setback between the two buildings. Also, windows were moved and their number reduced to provide more privacy.

Robert Ristelhueber, who lives at 1640 S. Van Ness and whose unit overlooks the site, said “none of us were thrilled about the idea of losing our view, but that is the way it happens in a city. We feel they have been pretty responsive in listening out our concerns,” he said.

The project design features “undulating massing” with large vertical cuts along the facade. A mid-block passage allows the retail to wrap around the front of the building. A bike lounge and residents’ entrance will be located in the mid-block passage.

“These triangular sites are difficult to design yet are very dynamic when they are completed,” said project architect Glenn Rescalvo of Handel Architects.

Tower Car Wash is one of more than a dozen gas stations in San Francisco that will be closed and developed as housing in the next few years.

“At some point we are going to have to understand our inventory of service stations,” said Planning Commissioner Dennis Richards. “I’m afraid I’m still going to have a fossil-fuel car and nowhere to get gas.”

J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jkdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen