The Shark Who Ate the Grant Building

(A Story of San Francisco in 2001)

Not long ago there was a feeding frenzy in San Francisco. The smell of fresh blood attracted sharks from near and far. More and more sharks crowded into the shallow waters of San Francisco’s real estate boom. They evicted tenants, arts groups, nonprofit organizations, and small businesses, while building lofts, converting old warehouses into dot-com and biotech offices, brew pubs, and boutiques.

Casualties mounted as lives were torn apart. Businesses with long histories were abruptly uprooted. This frantic competition for space led to cut-throat behavior all around.

One of those sharks is a Midwestern creature called Sterling Seligmanus.* It came to San Francisco last year just as the voracious feeding frenzy reached its crescendo. The earlier predators already had devoured much of SOMA and the North Mission, so Seligmanus bought several buildings along Market Street, certain that the feeding frenzy would guarantee flesh for it, too.

In August 2000, it bought the historic Grant Building for over $9 million—well above the approx. $7.25 million the previous buyer had acquired it for just a few weeks earlier, and well beyond any reasonable sense of its market value. Shark Seligmanus soon announced its intentions to pay for its building and its then-elaborate renovation plans by raising rents 300-400%. This out-of-town beast, smelling quick and easy profits, knew nothing of the neighborhood in which its new property resided. It knew even less about the exotic nonprofit organizations, writers and artists, and the small businesses, potentially poisonous fish, all well schooled in the local scene, which occupied its building.

The ecological niche in the building featured a well-developed, diverse population of different office-using species. This community quickly recognized the dire threat represented by the new predator. The little fish banded together as the Grant Building Tenants Association in September 2000, forming a united front to face the powerful and indifferent owner.

The shark circled. Weeks dragged into months as building services deteriorated (elevators left unrepaired for six months, bathrooms still nonfunctioning, frequent electrical shortages, etc.) and Seligmanus’ representatives floated trial balloons—making offers one day, withdrawing them the next—offering special deals to politically connected nonprofits while determined to eat or drive away the rest one at a time.

By the end of 2000, the shark was worried. More than 25 tenants and nearly half the building was swimming firmly together, ignoring the shark’s cajoling and threats.

The shark lunged at the fish, issuing eviction notices, hoping the threat would bring the little fish tenants into its hungry jaws. Meanwhile, the small tenants, united, continued to pay rent as they had been since last summer when the shark first appeared.

Talks between predator and prey began to get more serious. The shark offered a 6-month lease with a huge rent increase—and a number of legal clauses that would enslave the little fish on terms no shark had even dreamed of imposing on its San Francisco prey.

The Grant Building Tenants Association rejected the terms and conditions and told the shark to show some respect. The shark thrashed about and snapped its jaw and demanded surrender. It alone would determine the price and terms of the little fish lives. “I OWN these waters and you fish can swim here ONLY with my consent!” the shark thundered emptily.

The little fish went about their lives, carried on their activities in spite of the threatening presence of the shark. The little fish knew that San Francisco’s feeding frenzy was over. The sharks had exhausted themselves, and were now turning on each other.

The little fish would not be eaten. They offered to raise their rent and share what little they had with the Seligmanus shark, but the shark continued to indignantly insist on having it all on its own terms.

Having survived the feeding frenzy, the little fish were determined to swim in their familiar circles, remaining independent and INDIGESTIBLE!

—little fish in the Grant Building

1095 Market Street (at 7th Street)

apologies to the shark species, who only eat what they need

*Sterling Seligmanus, better known as the family of Seligman & Assocs., Sterling Bank, and Seligman Western Enterprises, of Southfield, Michigan, which has a history of exploiting public housing for profit.