Another barrier which could prevent Pinterest from ever moving into the San Francisco Design Center is close to being raised. And it’s a barrier which could affect plenty of other tech companies and area landlords as well.
In addition to the proposed Planning Code amendment which would substantially limit the number of floors a building currently zoned for Production, Distribution & Repair (PDR) could ever convert to office use, an amendment which would limit four-story buildings, such as the Design Center, to a single story of office use at most, a new proposal would also eliminate the as-of-right use of landmark buildings in San Francisco for office use, as is currently the case, and require Conditional Use Authorizations on a building-by-building basis.
Under the proposed amendment, the Planning Commission would be directed to weigh the economic need for such a conversion and whether it would “enhance the feasibility of preserving the building” versus simply increase the building’s rent roll.
San Francisco’s Historic Preservation Commission is slated to recommend the expanded office conversion controls for landmark buildings be adopted.
which will, over time, result in “historic” buildings being torn down.
it is an absurd state of affairs that a balance is not being sought so that there is sufficient space for design firms , and that the extra space can be used by tech companies
As Andy Ross of the Chronicle Business page wrote some months ago, the developer brought this debacle on itself by handling the matter so poorly.
I wouldn’t call the situation a “debacle,” so much as it is heavy-handed socio-economic engineering by the Board of Supervisors. Just give all the design businesses a direct taxpayer subsidy (which this legislation is indirectly doing anyway) and be done with it. Then, turn your focus back to taking care of the streets, fixing public transportation, crime, and all the other less sexy issues San Francisco government seems to be so easily distracted from dealing with.
why do you live here if you’re sooooo dissatisfied – besides which you can put your expert City Planning skills to work somewhere that has no “distractions” (like Bakersfield!)