If you thought the push to force homeowners to abandon their gas lines and appliances for electric was expensive, check out what SF is planning for older apartment buildings. The Comicle is reporting on 126 apartment building built before 1975 that will be required to add sprinklers to every room of every unit. The price tag is expected to be $300,000 per unit–an estimate that has tripled since the ordinance was first proposed in 2016. After being adopted in 2023, that number leaves out the cost of moving out while the walls and ceilings are torn up and pipes welded in place. The Comicle notes:

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. (Owner) Ayre said she doesn’t know where she will go if she has to move out of her condo during sprinkler installation. Because most of the towers targeted by the ordinance are historic, it’s likely that the sprinkler installation process will involve removing lead paint and asbestos.

But wait, there’s more

Many of the condo buildings impacted by the ordinance have recently spent upward of $10,000 a unit to comply with the city’s “sleeping ordinance,” which requires residential buildings with three or more units to have a minimum fire alarm sound level of 75 decibels in sleeping areas.

Owners need to get the permit for the sprinklers by January 2027 and complete the work by 2035. HOA Board members must be loading up on Tylenol as they run the numbers on what the assessments need to be starting now.