While not currently permitted for either office or residential use, the Mission District warehouse building at 3075 21st Street has been carved up into a warren of “offices,” at least one of which is still outfitted with a bed, along with a couple of unwarranted kitchens and baths.
And having racked up a couple of “anonymous” complaints over the past year with respect to unpermitted electrical, plumbing and remodeling work, not to mention a “lessee [having fallen] through a deteriorating skylight a few months ago,” the 3,225-square-foot warehouse is now on the market with a $2 million price tag.
The warehouse sits on a 2,375-square-foot parcel adjacent to Pedal Revolution which is zoned for development up to 40 feet in height and residential use, a “prime renovation or development opportunity” in agent speak.
But keep in mind that the existing warehouse, which appears to be the current headquarters of Symmetry Labs, the makers behind the Tree of Ténéré featured at this year’s Burning Man who are now operating on a month-to-month lease, was identified as a potential historic resource in the City’s South Mission Historic Resource Survey.
The current owner would appear to be a local lawyer who purchased the building for $1.4 million in 2014.
Kinda funny how the bathroom looks nice relative to the rest of the building.
Ghost Ship West.
Shut it down immediately.
Already sold to an end user.
Do you know what it sold for?
I heard 2.1
Wonder what they’re going to use it for? 2.1 is kinda nuts for a for profit development project…given the 3-4 year lengthy permitting process, anti dev sentiments and topping out of retail condo market. Maybe a vanity end user thing? You can’t live in it, it’s basically PDR right?
Right dude. End user, as I said. As to vanity, ymmv.
Since the property was never permitted for live/work use and the property improvements were never permitted, the current occupancy was unlawful and any leases constitute an illegal contract. The owner, as a lawyer, knows this (I am not a lawyer).
I mean, it’s one thing if you’re a recent immigrant and you lease out unpermitted rental units because you have some ill-formed idea that laws don’t apply to you because you’re a courageous immigrant pursuing your dreams in the land of opportunity, yearning to breathe free (and exploit those without the capital to purchase their homes) and hey, everybody does this back in the old country. If you’re a lawyer, you can’t credibly claim ignorance.
But of course he or she was secure in the knowledge that if any tenant actually sued, the owner could represent themselves in court and/or during any pre-trial actions such as discovery, etc. while the complaining tenants would be running up steep legal fees that would be difficult for them to recover even in the event of prevailing in court, no? Knowledge of which would tend to prevent such lawsuits from being filed.
Alll of the rent collected under the month-to-month lease(s) is unjust enrichment, as is the capital gain upon the sale. The lawyer knows this. But of course the owner will get away with it and will probably literally laugh all the way to the bank to cash their check from the buyer.
The tenants should complain to the State Bar, and if this kinda thing isn’t grounds to suspend a lawyer’s license, well it sure ought to be.
We could be wrong, but it would appear as though the building was leased as a commercial property, not as a residence.