Developer partners Will Goodman, left, and Nikolas Krukowski pose for a portrait at the Quincy apartment building on Bryant Street in San Francisco, Wednesday, July 10, 2025. (Minh Connors/For the S.F. Chronicle)

In May when Strada Investment Group opened its new 501-apartment building at 555 Bryant St. in SoMa, they set an optimistic goal of leasing 25% of the units in the first three months.

It was an ambitious target but one they thought feasible, in part because the crisp 16-story black-white complex, dubbed Quincy, is the only large market rate rental building of its kind opening in San Francisco in 2025. It's also highly visible for drivers whizzing to and from the Bay Bridge and its location is a few blocks to the Caltrain station, South Park, and the Giants' ballpark.

"We knew there was some pent-up demand - we knew people were eager to move in - but that was a pretty aggressive number," said project manager Will Goodman, a partner with Strada.

The Quincy apartment building on Bryant Street in San Francisco, opened in May. It's already leased half of its units. (Minh Connors/For the S.F. Chronicle)

But it turned out they were off by a long shot, in a good way: In two months Quincy has leased 50% of the units.

The building is filling up faster than any apartment complex since 2013, when the last tech boom was gaining momentum following the Great Recession, according to Strada Partner Michael Cohen.

"Leasing has been phenomenal," Cohen said. "We haven't seen anything like it for a long time."

The Quincy opening comes as tens of thousands of approved housing units are stalled out across the city, victims of a slow pandemic recovery, high interest rates, lofty construction costs and uncertainty around tariffs and the economy. Just 1,200 new homes were completed in 2024 - half affordable, with most of them built on Treasure Island.

The view of downtown and the Bay Bridge from the amenity deck at the Quincy apartment building. (Minh Connors/For the S.F. Chronicle)

Anne Taupier, director of the city's Office of Economic and Workforce Development, called the Quincy's leasing velocity "unprecedented."

"I've never seen anything lease up like that," she said. "Our hope is that developers and investors are going to see that and start thinking, ‘We want to make sure we are not left out of this.'"

Cohen said the project represents "a really good proof of concept," but that there are still enough uncertainties to give builders pause.

The question of whether the rents are enough to cover construction costs - which are unpredictable in part because of President Trump's ever-changing tariffs - and generate a high enough return to satisfy lenders is still a moving target. Rents in the market rate units start at $3,200 for a studio, $4,300 for a one-bedroom, and $5,200 for a two bedroom apartment. Strada is offering "up to" two months free rent at signing. Of the 501 units, 71 are below market rate.

The view from a bedroom in a unit at the Quincy apartment building. (Minh Connors/For the S.F. Chronicle)

"Any doubt about whether there is demand here, whether we have a healthy enough economy to support renters coming into a new building, we answered that unequivocally," Cohen said. "The success of this building hopefully will give folks a courage pill."

Even if the success at Quincy emboldens other developers and lenders to take the plunge and break ground, the next wave of larger new buildings wouldn't open until late 2027 or early 2028. Strada's pipeline includes two other projects within a block or two of Quincy: a 525-unit project at 395 Third St., and a 1,500-unit, two-tower development at 88 Bluxome.

"It's still a challenging development market, that is why we don't think we are going to see any new buildings to compete with this one for at least a couple of years," Cohen said. "If you were going to be delivering by '28, you'd have to be in the ground right now, or pretty damn close."

A pool table is available for use at the rooftop lounge at the Quincy apartment building. (Minh Connors/For the S.F. Chronicle)

While the building has all the hotel-like amenities of contemporary luxury rental communities - the rooftop gardens and fitness facilities, the co-working spaces and conference rooms, a library and a game room - Strada attributes the building's success to the return-to-office mandates that accelerated in January.

The building has attracted the normal San Francisco mix of tech workers, with a heavy representation from the AI industry, but also doctors and nurses and researchers from the UCSF Mission Bay campus. There are already 20 children in the building - an unusually high number for San Francisco.

Corey Smith, executive director of the Housing Action Coalition, said he noticed a shift in sentiment over the last few months. For the first time since the pandemic builders are talking seriously about reviving stalled jobs.

Seating is available at the coworking lounge at the Quincy apartment building. (Minh Connors/For the S.F. Chronicle)

"I have had a handful of conversations with market rate builders who are feeling the uptick in optimism," he said. "The housing industry is sitting up and saying, ‘There are opportunities.' We are not at a point where all projects pencil, but we are in a better place than we were."