Mass Market News

1of4San Francisco’s Flower Mart has a new home — where housing was once planned.Photo: Michael Short / Special to The Chronicle 2019 A new San Francisco Flower Mart would beat out nearly 400 units of approved housing at an industrial site at the base of Potrero Hill, according to a new plan. The developer of the San Francisco Flower Mart property in South of Market has a new scheme to relocate the flower vendors to 16th Street in Potrero, the latest twist in the saga of the city’s wholesale flower market whose current home is being redeveloped for tech office space. On Monday, executives from Kilroy Realty Corp., the company developing the current home of the Flower Mart at Sixth and Brannan streets, announced that it had acquired a new home for the floral businesses. Kilroy paid $99 million for the property at 901 16th St. and 1200 17th St. The property, previously home to the moving company Corovan, won city approvals in 2016 for 395 units of housing, a project that was tied up in court by opponents for three years. While the property could provide a suitable new home for the flower vendors, housing proponents called it an example of the power neighborhood development opponents have to delay — and eventually kill altogether — much-needed housing. “We are just starting the community process” on the Potrero Hill flower mart location, Kilroy Senior Vice President Mike Grisso said. Kilroy will meet with residents over the next few months and the new market could be ready for occupancy by 2021. “Preserving the wholesale flower market and keeping it in San Francisco has always been the most important goal of the project,” he said. The city approved the 395-unit Corovan development in 2016, but the neighborhood organizations Grow Potrero Responsibly and Save The Hill sued to block it. While a judge dismissed the lawsuit last summer, construction costs had jumped more than 30% during the three years it was bogged down in court, making the project no longer economically feasible, according to city officials. Jeff Cretan, a spokesman for Mayor […]

Source: www.sfchronicle.com