As Wayne wrote in February about his $1,310,000 bid for 909 Tennessee which San Francisco’s acting Director of Real Estate had represented as having fallen through:
There’s so much I’d like to say about the deal but I’m going to leave it for the moment that we’re still in escrow, we always have been, we have not withdrawn or failed to perform in any way, we intend to close and working with the City has been a learning experience.
We still love the fire station, I still intend to close the deal and buy it but everything has been at a standstill while we all (Wayneco and the City Real Estate Dept.) waited for the BoS to vote to approve resolution # 101479. Last Tuesday, Feb 15th, they did approve a highly edited & rewritten Feb 9th version, submitted by the acting City director of Real Estate.
Now we all wait for Ed Lee to sign the approved resolution into law.
Then and only then will we have an opportunity to complete this deal and close escrow.
I’ll post more when I can, I’m a quite open person about all my dealings but while the deal remains unfinished, there’s really only so much I can say except that we’ve been working with the City since we won the auction on 23rd November to get this done and it’s just taking a long time to wind through the required legislative and bureaucratic process.
We’re now happy to report that Wayne successfully closed escrow on the firehouse Tuesday afternoon. And according to the Business Times, it’s with hopes of rezoning the property for mixed use “with a restaurant on the ground floor and two residential units above.”
Cheers!
Congratulations Wayne! Incidentally I was just talking with a Dogpatch local yesterday who had seen the interior and was wowed by the artistry of this property.
Great news and good luck with the rezoning Wayne! Such a great building and love the vision. I think hipster office space on the second floor would play well here as well and bring more bodies into the neighborhood.
Oh but won’t this gentrify the neighborhood?? Just kidding. Such a great building, best of luck!!
I would put out hipster traps to keep them away from Mission Bay.
We are very happy that escrow has finally closed, now the real work begins: seismic and rezoning from the current “Public” designation. Likely we’ll seek UMU which is the new Eastern Neighborhoods zoning designation for Dogpatch and the 3rd St corridor.
Can I take a moment to tell the world again how much I love this building and have since the first time I laid eyes upon it 16 years, six months five days ago? That was the day I moved into a loft I rented from Sergio Nibbi at 900 Tennessee Street with a few dollars in my pocket and a determination to make it as an aspiring entrepreneur in SF, the city of my childhood.
It was love at first sight and still sinking in that I really have the thing after wanting and hoping for it all these years.
^ so how long do you think it will take to get this rezoned, and plans approved so you can begin construction?
which San Francisco’s acting Director of Real Estate had represented as having fallen through:
So is this bit of hinkiness just going to pass without comment?
Congrats, Wayne! As the proud new owner of a firehouse myself, I welcome you to the fraternity! I have also been inside this space, it’s beautiful. I wish you all the best in the re-zoning and re-model.
Did this actually close for 1.310MM?? It would be hard to go through with this transaction knowing you could have purchased it for almost $400,000 less. Wayne, did you ever think of just walking?
From what I’ve been told, it could take a year to get it rezoned. That’s OK, it’ll take a while to get the seismic done as well, we’ll do them in parallel.
In the meantime I’m going to enjoy the place as-is. First thing I want to do is get in there with my camera & tripod and take extensive photos of the place as-is, it looks like a movie in the current state.
Oh, hooray! Congratulations Wayne! I look forward to hearing and seeing more – maybe you’ll put up a Web site with photos of the rehab process? Not like you don’t have anything else to do, but it’d be fascinating to this fire history nerd at least.
Congratulations Wayne. I know you love the neighborhood and my guess is that you will do something beneficial for Dogpatch.
One thought though, my understanding is that retail and restaurants are not allowed on the state streets, only the numbered streets. That might be the wrench in that idea as I don’t think that is a re-zoning issue.
4 years later and nothing has happened at this location. Anyone knows whats going on here? This seems like a complete waste of a great property.
Hi, Kurt, and other interested parties. We finally finished rezoning the property last year (to UMU) so it’s now in harmony with the zoning of all the other properties in the area. We have been prepping since about 1st of January to begin a basic project to make the place usable as-is so that we can make the property productive sometime later this year.
Thanks for the update Wayne. Looking forward to see the finished product.