$2.5B CPMC hospital project OK'd by planning commission

Despite a split among community groups, unions and residents on the $2.5 billion California Pacific Medical Center hospital project, the San Francisco Planning Commission gave the nod late Thursday to the controversial development that could place a massive new hospital at one of the city's busiest corners. The deal is not done, however. It now moves to the Board of Supervisors, where hearings could begin as soon as next month. City and hospital officials have estimated that the project—which includes a new 555-bed hospital at Van Ness Avenue and Geary Street on Cathedral Hill, and a rebuild of St. Luke's in the Mission, both conforming to new state seismic regulations—will create 1,500 new construction jobs.