A Church Site Once Approved for 261 Homes Heads to a Foreclosure Auction

• A Christian Science church site in San Francisco’s Tenderloin headed to a foreclosure auction
• The lender is pursuing a $6.8 million loan that matured in January 2024
• Outstanding debt on the two parcels exceeded $8.4 million
• The site had approval for a 17-storey, 261-unit tower with a new church space

A church property in San Francisco that was meant to deliver hundreds of new homes has ended up at a foreclosure auction, The Real Deal reported on 19 February 2026. Lender AGP Funding REIT, a private debt fund of AGP Capital, moved to sell two neighbouring parcels at 450 and 474 O’Farrell Street in the Tenderloin, home of the Fifth Church of Christ, Scientist.

The lender issued a notice of default the previous May on a $6.8 million loan originated in March 2022 that matured in January 2024. Debt outstanding across the two properties exceeded $8.4 million.

The site’s plans went through several versions. It began as a 13-storey, 176-unit apartment building, then went to the Planning Commission in 2021 as group housing with more than 300 units. After neighbourhood opposition, the Board of Supervisors rejected it that year. Following litigation and a 2023 settlement, developer Forge Development Partners and the church won approval for a 17-storey, 261-unit building with ground-floor retail and a new space for the church.

In early 2024 Forge filed plans for a 20-storey version, but the city issued a notice of incomplete application that March and the proposal stalled. Forge still holds approvals for the 17-storey design but has not started construction, one of several developers holding back as building costs rise. Chief executive Richard Hannum said the church remained committed to its project and was “in ongoing negotiations regarding this process”.

Partnering with a developer is increasingly how churches try to turn valuable land into housing and a new sanctuary at the same time. The San Francisco case shows the risks: years of planning battles, rising construction costs and debt that keeps growing while nothing is built. Jamaican churches weighing joint ventures on their land, and diaspora congregations considering similar deals abroad, should look closely at who carries the loan, what happens to the church’s title if the developer defaults, and how long approvals are likely to take.

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