Retailers, local and big box and just about everybody and nobody could make it work. Even using the global reach of our company, we couldnt make it happen. Nowhere in this country is there a shopping sent we are as many floors as westfield San Francisco center. Not in chicago, not in new york. The retail is why they succeed which is why the body amended the planning code to eliminate the need for a cup for the seventh and eighth floors and above. So we believe this investment is good for San Francisco center and mixed use buildings are inherently complementary with the office use supporting the retail and retail an amenity for the office. And we are going to do a full renovation and that includes improved lighting at the street level and the largest nordstrom in the portfolio and will remain one of the largest in the country. Letters of support including one from nordstrom and they couldnt make it br are supportive of this project. We believe they must continue to be the Retail Destina
The second is the use are w the surrounding context and the concern over the proximity to the use of the San Francisco city academy and the adjacent religious institution at 4 450 ofarrell. And located more than 600 and project site verified and the school is an intermittent activity and does not provide k12 and is likely used while children are accompanied by guardians to the site. Additionally, the current plans for reconduction would place the sunday school on the third floor of the site raised away from the subject application. The third principle concern raised is of the tenderloin is lacking access to daily needs retail uses such as Corner Markets and that the proposed use would displace an existing market at the site while other large format markets such as trader joes and whole foods are establishing in the larger area, the loss of the Corner Market is impactful on the local population. However t project sponsor is a member of the family which has owned and operated the market
And i want to tell you that what were seeing right now is not a cycle change. Its a structural change, and i am sure you are aware and seen the retailers and the retailers are shrinking the footprint and it is not the Large Department stores but even tenants that used to be 5,000 feet are shrinking to 1,000 feet and trying to deal with how to market the goods online and cross market both aspects. It has had a very structural change and quite frankly t vacancy rate at union square is the lowest that i have seen in 25 excuse me t highest in 25 years of business in union square. This there is, as we all know, a lot of vacancies that are happening. Barneys is going to close, forever 21 is closing, Williams Sonoma and the multifloor retailers are going out of business and those are the only ones that can occupy the upper floors. They are just not there. We have been marketing 146 geary for four years and talking to tenants initially to take the entire building because that works the best fo
From 220 post. The likelihood that a Retail Business would want a stand alone third Floor Office Space that is accessible from an alley that provides minimal foot traffic, marginal street visibility and has some Security Issues is in our opinion simply less than minuscule. On the overhead, i want to post one more image which is looking at the alley from grant street and if you see the orange box, that is where the third floor business is. Pretty tough to see. Pretty unvisible. So with all that said, nothing prevents the third floor and the upper floors being turned back into retail if at some future point that becomes viable. Project does not include any physical changes that would preclude that, so i am going to let the project sponsor speak about the actual efforts to lease this building, but before i go, in your packet, you have support letters that collectively include 41 signatures in support of the project including a leter from members of the Street Building at 210 post which in
Population compared to other area of the city and also an area where the issue of drug use poses a major problem. Our efforts tell others of other parts of the city such as chinatown and the sunset where permits have been denied or entirely outlawed. The children that i work with regularly find themselves in the presence of open air drug use and going to school or walking in the neighborhoods and many dont feel safe and even in large groups with adult supervision. When new businesses are introduced, they should not be ones that will make a Community Issue already known even worse. Next speaker. I lived and worked in the tenderloin for 12 years and work with a nonprofit in the 300 block of ellis. I dont want to take the time to repeat what everyone said. I want to express my opposition and i dont think we need a cannabis december pencery in the tenderloin dispensary and there is enough on the edges that people with use and urban farm and different ones on the edges of the tenderloin. I