Surprise

With Tragedy Still Fresh, Developers Looking to Buy Fire-Destroyed Mission Market

With the burned wreckage of Wednesday night’s fire barely settled, those affected by the tragedy are faced with the daunting task of picking up the pieces. For the 54 residents displaced, for the business owners whose livelihood is now in question, for those dealing with the terrible physical and emotional injuries caused by fire, and for the family and friends of the deceased—recovery will undoubtedly be a long and slow process.

The often painfully slow ordeal that is coming back from a disaster of this sort is notable for many reasons, one of which being how starkly it stands in contrast to the reaction of a different group of individuals—developers. With some longtime residents of the now destroyed building questioning whether they’ll be able to remain in the city they still for now call home, real estate developers are already on the scene.

In a story focused on Wise Sons Deli, which was using a commercial kitchen located in the now fire-destroyed building, Inside Scoop makes note of what has come to be expected in our beautiful city by the Bay:

On early Thursday morning, I still met with [Wise Sons owners] Bloom and Beckerman. They were among the crowd hovering around the corner of 22nd and Mission, a swarm of displaced residents, nervous business owners, reporters, television cameras, and like moths to a flame, slimy developers looking to buy another property.

And with the brand new Vida condo development next door fetching sky-high rents, it is unfortunately no surprise that mixed in with all the pain and suffering caused by this fire some see gold.

Comments (24)

Lucchesi, in a long (by his insidescoop standards) piece all about Wise Sons, drops a throwaway line into his piece, one that is almost certainly unsupported by actual evidence or investigation, and you decide it’s the lede? 

This is the right story to cover- loss of small businesses (other than Wise & Sons) serving people who can’t afford the upscale food and grocery “industry” in the area.   These businesses are not going to be able to afford the rents asked when the building is repaired or replaced.

Gentrification by fire - I can’t wait for the protest.



Displaced former Bay resident here:Protest all you want. Pickets haven’t stopped them yet, and another march won’t stop them tomorrow.Fight fire – with fire.

wasnt there a landlord/tenant dispute a while back in this building, one where the new owners were opposed to some tenants living in the building or some such thing? remind me pls kthxbai

The tenant was living in a storefront? What was the result of this claim? 

Quoting a tyrant that slaughtered hundreds of thousands of his own people?

Lenin was in no way responsible for “slaughtering” hundreds of thousands of his own people. There is no source for this. He is generally held accountable for about 30,000 deaths, far less than the US caused in Iraq.

@ Spike

Yea, and Che’ was a nice guy too, right?

Yes Che was a GOOD GUY!       X23

It’s from Lebowski, the dude says it…  Also Lenin wasn’t so bad, Trotsky was better though 

Lenin executed enemies of a workers revolt.                    X23

Did the write of that article actually, uh, _talk_ to someone looking to buy the place? And if not, how did they confidently identify a “slimy developer looking to buy another property” from a distance, exactly?

And I would add… “throw in a few slimy bloggers and *watch out!*”

But seriously I have always assume Paolo Luchessset or whatever is like a blogging Betty Crocker – an amalgam of persona populated like faux dates on FriendFinder by ghost writers from the Philippines or India.  Is he for reals?

As to the developer reference,  I think San Francisco needs to wake up and be real about what it has done vis-a-vis developers, cab drivers, bums, hoes, techies, foodies, lawyers, gardeners – but at least not DOGS, at least not yet…  and that is this:  we have become such a hostile environment for the reasonable that only the most terminator-esque dare come here.  And in a vacuum of alternatives, the terminator analogues thrive.  Wise Sons is a perfect example.  Its simply the Terminator doing deli meats. 

Nobody is rebuilding that as long as the residents have the right to re-rent at the same rate. The landlord hit the lottery and now he will sell out. If the building is not demolished and condo’d, it will be Ellis’d because for landlords in SF the juice is not worth the squeeze.

Writers write. Developers develop. The fact, is every building in this town was built by developers. With out developers, we would all be homeless. the sheer ignorance of this, proves that anyone who calls developers “slimy” is a complete moron.  But some writers are  defiantly writers slimy morons…

Rich coming from the guy who wrote “Clerks II”.

This was arson period

wake up people

WAKE the FUCK up!

Evidence?

Because fires never occur naturally in old, poorly maintained buildings with lots of residents and restaurants in a small space?

This article is worthless. 

Regardless though, the truth exists that it will likely be Ellis’d such as ours was after our building burned on Stevenson a year ago Jan 26th 2014. If you can connect with the SFLT (SF Land Trust), they may be willing to negotiate a buy back of the building and sell back to the tenants at below market value. I wish everyone in our building would have know this sooner and SFLT would have been able to make a reasonable counter offer to the developer hawks, who ended up being  the same landlord with a changed business name! They will likely not be turning our warehouse  into condos so more loss of housing, if you can use our case as an example of the city not coming to the rescue you can also get the public defenders office, the city, and other vital players on your side to help pressure the situation in your favor. They were on our side and we did meet with them but we were not vocal and united enough, however you are more then double our size. There are also great resources and people/groups such as the SF tenants union willing to help, volunteering their time and energy for our plight. I now pay more then double for less space and I am lucky because I can actually squeeze by rather than be pushed out. It took the most of us 5-10 months to find a place to live, it will be a grueling journey.  It’s never too early to start throwing mud back, it will be your last chance so use your breath and might loudly and wisely, and keep your hopes up. I was too burdened with working to make $ to afford to stay rather then make a real concerted effort and I regret it now. I wish you all luck.

Vida set the fire.