NNN Brokers USA – San Francisco Commercial Real Estate Brokers: "The Scoop"

Last month, at the height of discussion about a “just cause” eviction measure, the Bay Area blog profiled a group of seniors facing eviction from a North Beach building — a building that’s revisited in a recent CBS 5 report. According to the landlord’s attorney, the evictions are out of economic necessity, since the take-home from the rents were barely enough to pay insurance on the building. Anyway, it’s all good: “That’s why we have families. If these people are as old as you say they are, then they have 2, 3 generations younger than them. I meet these people — you went to school with these people — they’re brain surgeons. Okay? These are Asian Americans. They’re smart, hard-working industrial people, addicted to the acquisition of real estate.” Apparently confronted by the reporter with the boldness of his ethnic stereotyping, the lawyer agrees, with the caveat that “I’m just a private person, not a politician.” So it’s OK.
· SF Low Income Seniors May Soon Be Evicted [CBS 5]
· In San Francisco’s North Beach, a Brewing Eviction Battle [Bay Area]
· ‘Just Cause’ Legislation Passes, But Gavin’s Got His Veto Ready [Curbed SF]

[Civic Center Plaza via Flickr/roarofthefour, Buddha statue courtesy photo via SF Examiner]

Just as those Civic Center tree hats (aka “The Upper Crust”) are nearing the end of their life, a bigger art project’s planned for the plaza in front of City Hall. Behold: a 15-ton, three-headed, six-armed Buddha statue, called, “Three-Headed, Six-Armed Buddha.” We’re fans of literalism too. The work was created by Chinese artist Zhang Huan, who appears to specialize in ginormous Buddha body parts. There’s no guarantees on our benevolent many-limbed nirvana figure reaching the not too hallow grounds of the Civic Center, though — the SF Arts Commission has to raise $100K to ship the thing from Shanghai, and the parking garage roof will also have to be strong enough to withhold all that wonder. Time will tell if the Buddha’s many arms shall caress our down and out friends in the plaza.
· Giant Buddha may be displayed in Civic Center [SF Examiner]
· Malevolent Tree Hats [Curbed SF]

Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

As if timed to comfort Stanley Saitowitz-loving foodies (you’re out there, aren’t you?), Arch Daily yesterday posted a series of images showing another Saitowitz restaurant in the pipeline — just as Conduit closes its doors. The images above, of a soul food restaurant called Mississippi Blues, have actually been on the architecture firm’s website for a while, best we can tell, but curiously gets billing on the arch porn website as if it already exists. It doesn’t — last the folks at Saitowitz heard from the project sponsor, it was before the economic meltdown, when they were working on getting Fillmore-area redevelopment funds. If — if! — the restaurant ever happens, we’re told it would head to an empty space right across from Yoshi’s, where once a donut shop and then Chinese restaurant lived. And now, we pass the baton to sister site Eater SF!
· Mississippi Blues / Stanley Saitowitz | Natoma Architects [Arch Daily]
· Stanley Saitowitz | Natoma Architects [Website]
· Saitowitz Shuttered: Conduit Closes Its Doors On Copper-Pipe Architecture [Curbed SF]

In a story about the SFMOMA’s ragtag history (they’re celebrating their 75th anniversary this weekend), the SF Examiner notes that the museum’s board meets this month to figure out “the final details of its expansion plans.” More on this, they will not say, but they do say this: “Fifteen years after moving into this space, to our amazement, we’ve already outgrown this building.” [SF Examiner, previously]

Presented as-is: a rendering, or rather a very detailed “massing model” of what looks to be residences on top of the Strand Theater at 1127 Market St. SocketSite posted this, and a couple more from different angles last week, apparently after they landed in the Socket inbox without explanation. According to a commenter on their site, the images belong to George Hauser, developer of Cubix and, alas, possible recent victim of harsh times — could be, then, that this Strand Theater proposal is long defunct. Which leaves this particular block of Market still pretty bombed out. But nearby, the Mid-Market Redevelopment Plan is kicking off (again!), just hot on the heels of some news about the Grant Building being restored and turned into a hotel.
· Have You Seen These Massings For 1127 Market? [SocketSite]
· Gavin Announces a Do-Over for Stalled Mid-Market Redevelopment [Curbed SF]
· Loving Readers Gently Critique the Fall of the Haus of Bau [Curbed SF]

["The Slow Train," via Curbed SF Flickr photog sfjobles]

· Park planning afoot at 17th and Folsom [Mission Mission]
· Death of Copia, the subsequent lawsuit and empty building [WSJ]
· Shoddy construction probably a factor in many Haiti deaths [NYT]
· Oldest black bookstore downed by subprime loan [NBC Bay Area]
· $515 mil just to keep streets the way they are [City Insider]

“There are 21 restaurants in Noe Valley right now. That doesn’t count the 11 other restaurants in ‘baja’ Noe Valley along Church street or the several coffee shops and cafes. Only the CBD, a self serving group (one of whom wants to open a restaurant) wants to make Noe Valley like the suburban gated community of their dreams.” [Noe Valley's 24th Wants to Undo Its Cap on Restaurants]

The Planning Department today posted the initial study for a four-story, 40-foot-tall mixed-use building in Excelsior, at the current site of a gas station. The project’s still chest-deep in the environmental impact report process, so information and drawings are lighter than they’d otherwise be — however, the city’s given notice of their intent to declare no significant “adverse effect” on the environment. (No worse than a gas station?) The 4199 Mission building, which would have parking spaces for 15 cars and six bikes in a ground‐floor garage, was designed by architect Gary Gee, the guy you might know as the design architect for recent debutante 77 Van Ness. As the project’s still rather young, there aren’t any images much more exciting than the elevation above, sadly.

[Original photo via SF Citizen]

As usual, SF Citizen has details on a neighborhood meeting — this latest, of course, about the proposed overhaul to the Stow Lake Boathouse. Rec and Park took the defensive a bit, listing a number of “myths” and “facts” about the embryonic project. Perhaps philosophically foremost (but third on the list) they say their primary goal in tweaking the boathouse isn’t to increase cash flow. It’s to “upgrade the condition of the Boathouse and to enhance the amenities provided to park users.” Next, looking to Crissy Field’s Warming Hut for inspiration, they’re proposing an indoor/outdoor cafe, not a “white-linen table cloth” restaurant, and any new operator would forever be required to serve pink popcorn “and other traditional favorites.” On top of all this, Rec and Park plans to keep the boathouse’s “historic character” the same. So, really, almost nothing’s changing. Whew.
· Pink Popcorn Forever at the Stow Lake Boat House – The Lowdown on the Throwdown [SF Citizen]

There was, at one time, a redevelopment plan for Mid-Market — one that died on the Board of Supes’ table before ever getting approved. The supe for the area, Chris Daly, was at the time unsatisfied with the plan’s affordability requirements. Today, however, Mayor Gavin announced a do-over of sorts for fixing up the area roughly between 10th and 5th streets on Market — also 2009′s “neighborhood” of the year, if you’ll recall. Gavin announced a new $11.5 million pool of low-interest loans to businesses to create a “cultural district” and tax incentives for historic restoration projects (hello Grant Building!). So what’s going to make this time different from the last? “I don’t know? Term limits?” Clever, says Daly, but the supe who killed the plan the first time around predicts that whoever succeeds his spot in the district will care just about as affordability as he does. Pending…
· Newsom Announces Mid-Market Revitalization Plan [The Snitch]