SF Launches Ambitious Historic Preservation Push

Mayor Lurie and Board President Mandelman unveiled a three-part plan to complete San Francisco's long-delayed citywide historic property survey, dramatically expand landmark protections, and cut red tape — a direct response to fears that the city's pro-housing reforms could erase irreplaceable buildings before anyone catalogues what's being lost.

• City targets 2,500 new landmarks after decades with just 321; 14 already designated in District 8, 52 more under review across four districts

• Mandelman introduces legislation to eliminate redundant hearings that add months to landmark designation

• Mayor and board president ask the state to recognize San Francisco's local landmarks on the California Register of Historic Resources

• Preservation package framed as a promise kept from last year's Family Zoning Plan debate, when Mandelman warned ministerial demolitions could destroy unidentified historic resources

Why it matters: San Francisco's aggressive push to build housing — through the Family Zoning Plan, Permit SF, and expanded ministerial demolition authority — created a policy blind spot: the city had never finished surveying which buildings actually merit protection. The preservation package announced May 28 is designed to close that gap before it becomes irreversible.