San Francisco’s neighborhood gas stations used to service cars, but now they are fueling the city’s housing boom.

One by one, from the Rincon Hill 76 by the entrance to the Bay Bridge to the busy Tower Car Wash and fuel station where South Van Ness merges with Mission Street, housing developers are pouncing on any chance to replace gas pumps with penthouses. Since the economic recovery started in 2010, housing developers have initiated projects that would replace 23 gas stations across the city, including five on four blocks of Upper Market Street, four on Valencia Street, two on Sixth Street and two on South Van Ness....

So far the trend is not causing much hand-wringing. Gas stations, with their fumes, traffic and curb cuts, are rarely beloved neighborhood institutions. Underground gas tanks are notorious for contaminating soil, although they are much cleaner than they used to be. In the new urbanist world of separated bike lanes and transit-oriented development, the lowly seller of gasoline is persona non grata.

“Replacing gas stations with housing and retail makes sense,” said Supervisor Scott Wiener, who represents Upper Market Street. “For many years we had too many gas stations, for sure. In the Castro we had four. They were taking up a lot of land.”