The San Francisco Board of Supervisors Land Use and Economic Development Committee rejected a proposal on Monday that would have evicted dozens of businesses from a building at 2 Henry Adams Street so that tech giant Pinterest could relocate their headquarters there.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the owners of the building, RREEF, wanted to capitalize on the building’s landmark designation in order to change the building’s status from PDR (production, distribution, repair) to traditional office space, allowing Pinterest to move in.
The building’s management, Bay West Development, sought to alleviate the concerns of businesses currently located in the building by promising to find the affected tenants new office space, and by paying brokerage and relocation fees. Pinterest made their own offer, saying it would pay the first two months of rent for any tenant forced to leave the building.
However, Supervisor Malia Cohen was concerned with the impact the decision could have on the building’s current tenants, many of whom are reportedly home-furnishing showrooms that are just now emerging from the recession.
“I still think there is significant amount of confusion about what will happen with the tenants,” Cohen told the Chronicle. “This isn’t in the spirit of the code or the landmark legislation. We are not talking about one building, but 15.”
Bay West Development spokesman Charlie Goodyear expressed “disappointment” with the Board’s rejection, but said the management company and the building’s owners would not be deterred.
“We agree with them that what the Design District has always been about is finding a good mix of uses,” he told the Chronicle.
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