1095 Market Street
San Francisco, California 94103
www.shapingsf.org/grant_bl
dg
grantbldg@yahoo.com
The Grant Building Tenants Association is composed of some two dozen small businesses, nonprofit organizations, writers, and artists. They are people who contribute to the life of the city, who are part of its fabric, who are part of its culture. Since September 2000 we have been threatened with displacement, initiated by a company that has bought up four buildings in the Mid-Market area. Michigan-based Seligman Western Enterprises has broken off negotiations--they are now attempting to evict us. Suit has been brought against us for "unlawful detainer."
Ironically, four publications that deal with the history of the City and the long struggles to assert a popular notion of civic life have come out of the Grant Building: National Trust Guide: San Francisco, Hollow City, Reclaiming San Francisco, and Shaping San Francisco. Processed World and The Nose magazines also came out of the Grant Building, as did the Critical Mass bike ride.
The new owner of the Grant Building, Seligman Western Enterprises, has chosen not to foster the unique culture of the building and the Mid-Market area. Instead, they want us out of the building because we stand in the way of their vision of a thoroughly gentrified Mid-Market area..
For many months, we tried to talk with the recalcitrant owner to come up with a plan that respects our businesses, organizations, and activities. We have even offered to raise our own rents! Seligman Western Enterprises, aka 1095 Market St. LLC, Sterling Bank, K.I.S.S. Investment Co., Seligman & Assocs., demands more--and this in the face of a rapidly declining commercial real estate market.
In the meantime, Seligman lies to the public and other property owners, claiming that they've given us everything we asked for. Seligman proposes "the irrational tenant" theory: benevolent owner bends over backward to please tenant; tenant perversely refuses to accept the great deal.
The GBTA simply requires two things so that tenants can get on with their work:
But the GBTA demands more of the City. To ensure the vitality of the Grant Building and its neighbors in the Mid-Market area, SOMA, the Mission, and throughout the City, the GBTA calls for