Neighborhood residents watched on with excitement as a crane lowered the first beams of the future Sunnydale Community Center last month. By next year, this large construction site will have transformed into a thriving hub of community life. The 28,000 square foot community center will hold an early childcare center, a Boys & Girls Clubhouse, and many more amenities that Sunnydale families have identified as things their neighborhood needs.

Learn more about the Community Center planned Sunnydale Hub.

The Community Center is being built with mass timber, an innovative all-wood construction technique.  Using mass timber has helped Mercy Housing shave almost a month off our build-out time, and we can’t wait to open this exciting community space in 2024.

Mass timber installation in action

Sunnydale is starting to look different, and not just at the site of the community center. We also started construction on our third and fourth residential buildings this summer. These new communities will bring 170 affordable homes and 20,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space to the neighborhood. Shops, services, and food vendors will soon fill these brand-new commercial spaces. Most importantly, when the resident-led transformation plan is complete, every Sunnydale family will have the opportunity to move into a new, modern, affordable home.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed spoke to the uniqueness of the Sunnydale neighborhood transformation plan when she visited the community in December. “Our plans are to ensure that at least 1,700 units exist with a one-for-one-replacement so that the people who actually live here are the ones benefitting from this new opportunity,” she said. “This is not just about developing new units – it’s about supporting the community.”

Mercy Housing California is grateful to our co-developer Related California, supporters of our Build the Hub Capital Campaign, and especially the many Sunnydale community members who have contributed their time, energy, and ideas to the transformation plan.