Thousands of condo owners in 126 pre-1975 San Francisco high-rises will have to individually pay $300,000 or more — and face potentially lengthy displacements — under an ordinance requiring towers built before 1975 to install automatic fire sprinklers in every room of every unit.
While the sprinkler installation doesn’t have to be completed until the start of 2035, the homeowners associations say they will have to start assessing owners upward of $2,500 a month now to build up reserves to pay for the work, which in many cases will involve extensive demolition, along with the installation of the tanks, generators and new piping needed to pump water through the sprinkler system.
Condo owners say the unexpected assessment, which applies to about 9,800 units, could force them to sell their units, while real estate brokers say the ordinance is already depressing prices and sales activity in the buildings that are on the list…