1095 Market Street
San Francisco, California 94103
www.shapingsf.org/grant_bldg
grantbldg@yahoo.com
October 18, 2000
Irving Seligman
Seligman & Associates
1 Towne Square #1913
Southfield, MI 48076
Dear Mr. Irving Seligman:
We are writing to you on behalf of the Grant Building Tenants Association, the tenants organization of the building that Seligman Western Enterprises recently purchased at 1095 Market St., San Francisco.
In September your on-site representatives, Dan O'Leary "director") and Elaine Hui ("property manager") in private conversations verbally informed tenants that beginning November 1 they could expect drastic increases in rent on their office spaces. While no firm numbers were divulged, Mr. O’Leary and Ms. Hui made it plain that we could expect increases to the tune of 300-400 percent spread over the next several months.
The Grant Building is home to many small businesses and nonprofit organizations. As you may be aware, your tenants include over a dozen nonprofit social service and community activist organizations, almost two dozen small businesses, and a number of artists, architects, lawyers, graphic designers, writers, independent media producers, and fashion designers. Our livelihoods depend on reasonable rents and a stable work environment. A rapid rise in rents would amount to eviction for many tenants—and the probable dissolution of businesses and nonprofit organizations.
On September 27 the Grant Building Tenants Association met twice with Elaine Hui in her office. In our second meeting, Ms. Hui announced that our two requests to Seligman Western Enterprises had been granted by senior management: Grant Building tenants would be granted a moratorium on rent increases until January 15, 2001, and good-faith negotiations on rent increases, building renovations, relocation, etc., would begin immediately. We were told that your colleague Oscar Schwartz would fly out from Michigan to meet with us. We asked that this agreement be memorialized in writing, and Ms. Hui assured us that written confirmation would be delivered and posted in public places the next day. Ms. Hui made it clear that she was not acting on her own but was only relaying decisions of her superiors. Some two-dozen people witnessed Ms. Hui’s announcement of this agreement, and it was recorded on videotape.
Days passed without further word from Seligman Western Enterprises. All we were told was that"the lawyers were working on it." Recognizing that Seligman Western Enterprises was stalling, we met again with your representatives on October 3 and October 6. In these meetings Dan O'Leary denied all knowledge of the agreement and denied that any such agreement could have been made. He also declared that no one from Seligman Western Enterprises or its parent company would meet with us to discuss the modalities of rent increases or other matters affecting our businesses and organizations.
The Grant Building Tenants Association can only assume that Mr. O'Leary, like Ms. Hui, is following instructions from his superiors. Clearly, neither of your local representatives can make decisions: they can only transmit them.
Seligman Western Enterprises has gotten off to a bad start in the Grant Building. The company's refusal to engage in dialogue with the people affected by its ownership of the building is galling. Your company's refusal to live up to its agreements is exasperating. Your acquisition of the Grant Building comes at a time when San Francisco is already tense over unbridled real estate speculation and development. Thousands of people have already been displaced, and Seligman Western Enterprises is now part of that pictuer--a picture that is now on the front page of local newspapers and one that has become an important issue in next month's election.
Perhaps it's time for Seligman Western Enterprises to start over. The Grant Building Tenants Association has repeatedly insisted on its desire to engage in dialogue with a responsible representative of your company--someone who can negotiate in good faith on issues of rent, renovation, and relocation. Please step forward now with an unambiguous gesture of good will.
Sincerely, for the Grant Building Tenants Association,
cc: Mayor Willie Brown, San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Candidates for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Examiner, The San Francisco Bay Guardian