Landlord Gets to Build Luxury Housing Where Fire Killed Tenant

Rendered plans for 2588 Mission by Ian Birchall + Associates

Recent coverage by 48 Hills and Mission Local of the “all-but-certain” development at 2588 Mission correctly lay out before us the criminal and darkly farcical state of housing in San Francisco and, by extension, our state. Because alleged criminally negligent landlord Hawk Lou allowed the iconic building that housed numerous Mission residents and small businesses to, not once, but twice burn and then degrade into forced demolition, he can now take advantage of recent state development deregulation and housing mandates to build a ten story market rate tower with nominal “affordable” housing and no connection to its surroundings.

Mind you, this is not your usual community vs. developers battle. It seems almost no one wants this. From neighborhood stakeholders to housing advocates, everyone has voiced their opposition to this profiteer not only getting away with community theft and wrongful death, but to walking away an even richer man because of it (Mr. Lou is a landlord many times over with slum-like buildings reportedly rife with hazardous violations.) Even YIMBY development advocates feel the same way. Long time YIMBY organizer Sam Moss was quoted by Mission Local saying that the the San Francisco planning commission should “do the right thing” and push Lou and sell the lot to the city, so it can be developed into affordable housing.

But like 48 Hills correctly illustrates, this is due in great part to changes at the state level that have made pretty much any development possible. In fact, it has made cities across the state now legally obligated to it, lest they lose autonomy or valuable state funding. Legislators working on real estate developers’ behalf took a page from grassroots organizers a long time ago, and well, organized. They knew they could not win without people power, and now thousands of people across the state are rallying to, “Build! Build! Build!” even though it is actually an affordable housing crisis we are in, and not a housing development crisis. Whether it is the tens of thousands of empty units landlords are sitting on in SF, or the seas of pied-à-terres and empty tracts encroaching evermore into wild lands throughout the state, we are most certainly not short on actual housing.

The fire at 2588 Mission was not only devastating in the loss of life and housing, but also in ecosystem. In the ground floor of the historically grand 1907 building at 22nd and Mission was an arcade full of vendors, groceries, craftspeople, and community resources. The middle floors were additional local businesses; indeed the nascent Mission Local had its offices there. As we see corporate supermarkets and pharmacies simultaneously cash in on the California real estate grab and switch to online, small vendors find it increasingly impossible to exist. A micro-ecosystem like the one we lost at 2588 Mission St. is exactly what we need to shore up the greater Mission Street ecosystem that’s teetering on the brink of extinction, ready to be replaced by rows of unsustainable and incongruous, East Coast-style, grey, multistory monoliths. Unfortunately, not only does deregulation and ministerial approval make nefarious actors like Mr. Lou richer, it also allows for good actors to not act so good as well. 

Fire at 3300 Block of Mission Street. Photo from San Francisco Firefighters 798 on Twitter

Another fire happened just one year after this one, this time at 3300 Mission. A historic country hotel called the Graywood that had seen better days, it nonetheless housed very low income residents at the foot of Bernal. The venerable 3300 Club and El Taco Loco were on the ground floor with legacy Cole Hardware and La Playa Azul next door. All would be lost in a tremendous blaze that only left the façade salvageable.

Like 2588 Mission, it sat as a pit for years as landlords and the city dragged their feet. Here too, a piece of the Mission’s ecosystem was lost. Though not as famous as Castro or Columbus, actual San Franciscans flock to local nightlife on the stretch of Mission between César Chávez and 30th every night to hit spots like Club Malibu, Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack , the Royal Cuckoo, the Knockout, Mothership, and major hitters like El Río and Roccapulco. That’s why, when the Bernal Heights Housing Corp. took over the property, the neighborhood was hopeful. They promised to make it affordable (different than low income), restore the façade to seamlessly blend into the hood, and activate the ground floor. It hasn’t quite gone that way.

The design for the new project at 3300 Mission Street. Image from Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center

They just finished tearing the building down which will be replaced by another charming grey monolith. Although references to the site’s past will supposedly be alluded to in the lobby design, and a nominal 776 sq feet for retail in deference to telecom and bike storage needs, the housing is all that truly remains. And that affordable housing is critical, now more than ever. But so is preserving neighborhoods, preserving those ecosystems. Folks told BHHC as much in barely noticed public disclosure zoom meetings, but they too are protected by this new deregulation where projects move forward without community say or oversight. It’s a misstep for BHHC that has left that corner of the Mission distrustful and apprehensive about their next project across the street.

As we watch the nation burn, we collectively keep wondering how we can make an impact. But, even close to home, we see our ability to voice our opinion and take ownership eroding. Even in the wake of the fires that ripped through Los Ángeles in January, our state’s leadership has informed us that oversight and environmental protections, the protection of that vulnerable ecosystem, stand in the way of the Southland’s recovery. An ecosystem that the city’s future depends on. Likewise our most powerful state and local leaders say the very same things stand in the way of meeting our city’s own crises. Our more progressive leaders are portrayed as luddite or obstructionist to an increasingly polarized and disinformed electorate for suggesting our future depends on our ecosystems, natural and cultural alike.

We must continue to activate and voice our concern on local issues at hearings and at protest, but as the Planning Commissioners said about 2588 Mission, their hands are tied by those above. Our city’s leaders have rightly, bravely, stood up to the consolidation of power at the federal level, and so they must at a local and state level and preserve power from the ground up. Our city once used emergency powers to clear whole communities, and yet fears using them again to instead protect those communities because of litigation by the very same rich and powerful that are tearing our country apart. If our city or our state does not flex its might to protect its most vulnerable in all ways, how do we have any chance to do so on a national level or inspire other cities to do the same? We are so often fond of saying, “So goes San Francisco, so goes the Nation.” So, San Francisco, how do we go?