1095 Market Street
San Francisco, California 94103
www.shapingsf.org/grant_bldg
grantbldg@yahoo.com
To our friends in the nonprofit community:
As you may know, the tenants of the Grant Building at Market and Seventh Streets were the targets of a concerted attempt by Seligman Western Enterprises (a Michigan-based developer with close ties to Sterling Bank & Trust and Seligman & Assocs.) to evict us from our offices.
We are writing to warn you that you need to be aware of the facts and the issues at stake so as not to become the dupes of a property owner who is not committed to your interests in the long run. In fall 2000, the Grant Building Tenants Association (GBTA) organized to resist the new owner's attempt to clear the building, historically a refuge for nonprofit organizations, small businesses, writers, and artists. This March, after a difficult, six-month-long struggle, the GBTA forced Seligman to sign three-year leases at affordable rents. The detailed record of that struggle can be consulted at the GBTA Web site: http://www.shapingsf.org/grant_building
Seligman is now aggressively offering space to nonprofits in the Grant Building. Part of the owner's effort to reach out to the nonprofit community constitutes a disinformation campaign about what really happened here.
First, it is important to note that Seligman Western Enterprises, which purchased the Grant Building at the end of summer 2000, intended to clear the building of all tenants in order to have a free hand in jacking up rents to dot-com levels. Politics and then the market turned the tide against the owner.
Second, Seligman's claim that they assisted nonprofits in relocating is dishonest. A select few nonprofits were offered a limited number of offices in other Seligman-owned buildings at inflated prices. In one of those buildings, 1540 Market St., Seligman had already raised rents so high that some of the nonprofit tenants were forced out of the building. Grant Building tenants were offered the opportunity to occupy these newly vacated offices. (1540 Market St. is now up for sale.)
Third, the GBTA is working with the South of Market Anti-Displacement (SOMAD) coalition on a antidisplacement solution for the Mid-Market area. The SOMAD proposal to the Redevelopment Agency includes provisions for affordable housing, nonprofit office space, and nonprofit arts space. The Grant Building would be dedicated to 100% nonprofit use, with rents at 50% of market rate. SOMAD and the GBTA oppose Seligman's efforts to gentrify the Mid-Market area.
We do not want to discourage you from renting space in the Grant Building. Quite the opposite. In fact, we would welcome your presence--and encourage you to join the GBTA and help create a neighborhood where nonprofits can flourish. The culture that the Grant Building tenants fought so hard to maintain is an inclusive one, with deep ties to the City.
Seligman desperately needs new tenants--most of the offices are empty, and the commercial rental market has collapsed. What's more, the owner is trying to polish his very tarnished image and to protect his property from takeover by the Redevelopment Agency. What Seligman is banking on is that the market will pick up--and when the leases of nonprofits expire, the owner could then offer leases to better-off tenants.
SOMAD and the GBTA insist on a permanent solution to the shortage of affordable office space for community-serving nonprofit organizations.
Please contact us if you have any questions.
For the Grant Building Tenants Association,
Bob Armstrong (journalist), James Brook (poet & editor), Chris Carlsson (Shaping San Francisco), José Galindo (visual artist), Lisa Russ (Streetside Stories), Susan Schwartzenberg (visual artist), Dave Snyder (San Francisco Bicycle Coalition), Karen Topakian (Agape Foundation), Peter Wiley (writer)