News: S.F. supes agree to protect city’s legacy businesses from potential displacement
Andrea Jesse
S.F. supes agree to protect city’s legacy businesses from potential displacement
A bid to bolster eviction protections for San Francisco’s oldest neighborhood businesses won key approval Tuesday as city leaders contemplate a sweeping rezoning plan that stands to boost building height limits along some 50 commercial corridors.
The Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted interim controls that, for 18 months, will require property owners in select areas who wish to fill or demolish retail spaces that were once occupied by so-called legacy businesses to first obtain a conditional use authorization from the city by way of a public hearing.
The temporary, emergency measure is meant to give the city time to study and adopt permanent legislation to protect businesses that have operated in certain areas for 30 years or more from displacement. The legislation will go to the desk of Mayor London Breed, who has 10 days to sign the legislation, which will become effective in 10 days unless there’s a veto.
It was first pitched this summer by Supervisor Aaron Peskin for the Upper Fillmore Corridor after a tech investor bought up more than half a dozen buildings in the neighborhood with plans to revitalize them. The effort resulted in the displacement of a restaurant with a nearly 50-year tenancy on Fillmore Street, and has left another fighting to remain rooted.
Last month, Peskin, who is a candidate for mayor in November’s election, moved to expand the protections to San Francisco’s other neighborhood commercial corridors, stating that the additional layer of review is critical as the city prepares to adopt a plan to upzone transit and neighborhood commercial corridors for more housing on its west side by 2026.
Peskin has said that without added protections, the upzoning plan places pressure on legacy and small businesses in buildings that could be targeted for redevelopment in coming years. The city’s legacy business registry includes some 400 businesses, though not all are located in neighborhood commercial corridors.
Planning Department officials told the Chronicle previously that they are considering requiring developers to provide relocation assistance for businesses that are directly impacted by new housing projects, including payments equivalent to a maximum of 18 months of rent, and are analyzing other options.
But a recent business shakeup on Fillmore that left the future of at least three businesses — two of which have been on the street for decades — uncertain has underscored the urgency of such interventions.
“After seeing the legacy businesses under threat on Upper Fillmore, where a billionaire bought many properties on two blocks … legacy businesses from across the city have reached out, asking for more teeth, more protections for the legacy business program,” Peskin said this week.
Investor Neil Mehta’s vision for Upper Fillmore was born out of a desire to reboot the iconic Clay Theater, which represents the largest vacancy on the blocks where he spent over $40 million so far to acquire properties. Mehta has committed over $100 million to the effort, an investment that he claims he will not see a return on: Mehta said in an editorial published by the San Francisco Standard that the funding has been donated to a nonprofit that his team created to carry out his vision, though the Chronicle has not been able to independently verify this.
Mehta’s business partner, nightlife entrepreneur Cody Allen, has previously told the Chronicle that their plan is not related to the Upper Fillmore’s pending upzoning. Allen told the Chronicle last month that his team is “speaking with in excess of 100 potential tenants for current and upcoming vacancies.”
But Mehta and Allen came under fire after business owners in buildings they bought alleged that they were not given the option to negotiate new leases.
Ten-ichi, a 46-year-old sushi restaurant that operated in a building purchased by Mehta this year, vacated its space last month. Owner Steve Amano said that his new landlords rejected a request for an extension to remain in the building to give Amano time to relocate. The one-story commercial building now sits vacant. Across the street from Ten-Ichi, 45-year-old La Mediterranee restaurant faces an expiring lease next year, and is still waiting for a response from Mehta’s team regarding whether or not the restaurant will be able to stay.
“This legislation we feel is essential to level the playing field for small businesses to remain in the city,” said Vanick Der Bedrossian, La Mediterranee’s owner. “Many landlords have good intentions to work with tenants. This is a situation we’re facing with the billionaire landlords who’ve purchased so many blocks of our beloved street and who are refusing to engage in any discussion whatsoever.”
Legacy businesses in other parts of town also say that they feel the squeeze. Joe’s Ice Cream has operated 5420 Geary Blvd. in the city’s Richmond District for 65 years, but the ice cream parlor has just five years remaining on its lease. But owner Sean Kim said that he is doubtful that his lease will be renewed after the building was sold two years ago to a developer who, according to Kim, has plans to redevelop the property into housing.
“There’s no reason for them to keep a small family-run business like ours,” Kim said.
The city’s Small Business Commission has voiced its support for the interim controls, stating that the measure would likely deter property owners from evicting legacy tenants, but also noted that the legislation could have “unintended consequences.”
Those potential consequences include deterring new businesses from opening up in spaces that once housed legacy businesses, resulting in commercial spaces potentially remaining vacant for longer periods of time.
The Commission said it encourages tweaking future legislation to allow legacy businesses to take over commercial spaces that were formerly occupied by a different legacy business without the conditional use requirement, and requiring property owners to offer legacy tenants the first right of refusal to return to their building if faced with displacement through redevelopment or other scenarios.
Reach Laura Waxmann: laura....@sfchronicle.com
Lesley Segedy
--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "SFPSociety" group.
To post to this group, send email to sfpso...@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
sfpsociety+...@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/sfpsociety?hl=en
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SFPSociety" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sfpsociety+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sfpsociety/CAH%3DPdNDJnKy59B9X6cCxNAkgu-TGBaHSZ3waXeRzL%2BLNZv9y8A%40mail.gmail.com.