The Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation has resubmitted preliminary permits for a 199-unit affordable senior housing project at 1234 Great Highway in the Sunset — but the project's own manager is calling it "on hiatus," and no construction starts until a financing lifeline arrives from November's statewide ballot at the earliest.

A $181 million plan to replace the Motel 6 at 1234 Great Highway with low-income senior housing is stalled by federal policy shifts and a lost state grant, with TNDC's only visible path forward running through California's Proposition I housing bond in November — a reminder that clearing regulatory hurdles in San Francisco means little without the money to build.

The Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation has resubmitted preliminary permits for a 199-unit affordable senior housing project at 1234 Great Highway in the Sunset — but the project's own manager is calling it "on hiatus," and no construction begins until a financing lifeline arrives from November's statewide ballot at the earliest.

That lifeline is California's Proposition I. The measure, on the November ballot, would authorize $11.25 billion in state bonds for income-qualified housing. If it passes, TNDC project manager Jacob Goldstein wrote in the permit resubmission, the organization plans to restart the financing process in January 2027, according to Mission Local. Construction would then take nearly two years — putting best-case occupancy sometime in 2029.

The site is currently a Motel 6, operating normally.

TNDC's design, by Paulett Taggart Architects, calls for two eight-story apartment buildings on the parcel between Great Highway and La Playa Street, totaling 199 units — studios, one-bedrooms, and two-bedrooms — with some units reserved for formerly homeless seniors. The complex would include a healthcare center operated by Self-Help for the Elderly, offering nursing care, physical and occupational therapy, and mental health counseling. Estimated cost: $181 million, per Mission Local.

The project lost traction when the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development shifted policy, destabilizing the financing structure, and TNDC lost a key state grant. Mission Local, which reported the permit resubmission on July 17, did not identify the specific grant.

The setbacks come despite a run of legislation designed to fast-track exactly this kind of development. San Francisco's constraints-reduction ordinance made it easier to build new senior housing citywide. SB 423, a state law, expedites projects in jurisdictions failing to meet housing production targets — a category that includes San Francisco. Those laws cleared the regulatory path. Federal financing and a missing grant check closed it again.

The development has drawn neighborhood opposition since it was first proposed, according to Mission Local, though that resistance has not halted the permitting process.

Proposition I is the only visible route back. If it fails in November, the future of 1234 Great Highway as affordable senior housing — rather than a two-star motel with mixed reviews — becomes considerably less certain.