Formal Investigation Upends Local Favoritism Report
Prompted by a two-part hit piece published by Mission Local, a formal investigation by the City Attorney’s Office into alleged favoritism by the Interim Director of San Francisco’s Department of…
Pages From the Down-Low Merger Playbook and Result(s)
Purchased as a little two-unit building at the peak of Potrero Hill for $720,000 in February of 2012, 882-888 Carolina Street was subsequently expanded and remodeled with permits for a…
The City’s Assessment of DBI’s Integrity and Required Reforms
Having completed a “Public Integrity Review” of the Department of Building Inspection’s (DBI’s) permitting and inspection processes, driven by a need to root out departmental fraud and a history of…
Approved But Not Permitted and a Couple of Familiar Names
Plans to add a new Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) to the four-unit Noe Valley building at 1475 Church Street were drawn and approved back in mid-2018. And the completed work…
Undocumented Conversion Threatens Proposed Infill Project(s)
As we outlined early last year, plans to raze the shuttered Quan Bac building(s) at 4110-4116 Geary Boulevard, a perennially challenged restaurant and lounge space with a second floor residential…
Former Building Commission President Indicted
While the former president of San Francisco’s Building Inspection Commission, Rodrigo Santos, has been indicted for bank fraud, as charged last year, the City Attorney’s investigation into permitting, inspection and…
A Creative Cow Hollow Transformation and Pesky Complaint
Purchased as a 3,260-square-foot, two-unit building for $3.2 million in June of 2017, plans to remodel 2742-2744 Baker Street were approved in early 2018. As approved and subsequently permitted, the…
Senior Building Inspector Under Investigation in San Francisco
Having admitted to accepting a previously unreported loan of $180,000 from Freydoon Ghassemzadeh, whose family operates SIA Consulting and development, a San Francisco Building Inspector that signed-off on a number…
Scofflaw Permit Expediter Agrees to a $1.7 Million Settlement
Walter Wong, the permit expediter for the 555 Fulton Street project and head of the W. Wong Construction Company, has agreed to repay the City for $1.45 million in no-bid…
Hayes Valley Trader Joe’s Closer to Reality
Following a major false start by Portland-based New Seasons Market, which was aiming to open in 2018, Trader Joe’s has now formally submitted their application to build-out and operate the…