656 Spruce St, San Francisco, CA 94118

The property at 656 Spruce Street is a two-story, two-unit multi-family residential building constructed in 1900, currently owned by Shin Lie Hua. The building has experienced several significant issues over the past decades, with the most concerning events occurring between 2011-2012 when it suffered fire damage, leading to extensive repairs for smoke and water damage estimated at $20,000.

Following this incident, there were serious electrical safety concerns about the rewiring work, with complaints filed about potentially unsafe conditions. In 2012, the building underwent a legal compliance process to remove an unauthorized basement unit, which included the removal of an illegal stove and the conversion back to a single-family configuration, though there are still active complaints from 1994-1995 regarding possible illegal units and garbage issues that remain unresolved. More recent history shows ongoing maintenance and compliance efforts, including a reroofing project completed in 2015 costing $9,500, and plumbing and electrical upgrades in 2012, such as sink replacement, electrical work, and various fixture updates.

The building has experienced some infrastructure challenges, including sewage backup issues in early 2015, which were subsequently resolved. Recent 311 calls have primarily been related to parking enforcement matters near the property, with multiple reports of driveway blocking between 2020-2024, though these are not directly related to building conditions. The property appears to have maintained basic compliance with housing codes since the major compliance work in 2012, with no new major building violations reported in the past decade.