Bay Area Reporter

January 2009

Gays invest in SF's mid-Market area

by Matthew S. Bajko

Having lived in Noe Valley for the last 15 years, James Haywood and his partner, Tom Mason, began to feel that their neighborhood was a bit too suburban. They wanted to be closer to San Francisco's downtown shopping and theater districts. So the couple of 18 years decided to sell their home and started scouting for a new residence to buy.

"The 24th Street shopping district was great but we were ready for a change. Everything we did was downtown and our friends all live over the hill," said Haywood, referring to Noe Valleys main street and location south of Liberty Hill.

They focused their search to two new residential projects that opened within the last 12 months along the mid-Market area on the city's main thoroughfare: The Hayes at 55 Page Street, along Rose Street just off Market Street, and the SOMA Grand, a luxury condo tower at 1160 Mission Street between 7th and 8th streets one block south of Market.

"I really like the idea of high-rise living. It was always something I wanted to do," said Haywood, a local real estate agent. "I had seen all the new construction and I liked the SOMA Grand from the minute I saw it. Tom took a little more convincing."

In August Haywood, 43, and Mason, 46, bought a 1,200 square foot two-bedroom unit at the SOMA Grand for $925,000. After renovating the condo, the couple and their two French bulldogs moved into their new home in November.

"I have to tell you, we love it," said Haywood. "We have walked more and taken public transit more than we've probably taken in 15 years in Noe Valley. It is a great place to live. We really wanted to be in the city and take more advantage of what we have."

They are not alone. A growing number of LGBT people are investing in the heart of San Francisco's main street, an area once written off as a no-man's land wedged between the hustle and bustle of Union Square and the leafy streets and boutique shops of Hayes Valley.

Over the last five years the central portion of Market Street has been transformed into a new neighborhood with growing cachet. Starting at Octavia Boulevard, where the LGBT Community Center sits, and heading north along Market Street to Sixth Street, new residential projects, gay-owned businesses and upgrades to existing buildings have begun to reshape the area into a destination of its own.

The Hayes and SOMA Grand projects stand as bookends to the sweeping changes occurring along mid-Market.

"We saw this site and saw what was going on in the area and said this area is changing," said Adam Chall, a partner with TMG Partners, which began work on the SOMA Grand project in 2004. "The neighborhood changed faster than we could have predicted."

Next door sits the new, highly acclaimed Federal Building designed by architectural firm Morphosis. To its left is rising Angelo Sangiacomo's new Trinity Towers project designed by Miami-based Arquitectonica.

Next week San Francisco chef Charles Phan will open a noodle bar and small-plate Chinese restaurant called Heaven's Dog at SOMA Grand. And across the street local club owner Jon Mayeda, owner of Circolo in Potrero Hill, is working on a new restaurant and possible rooftop lounge.

The projects are "completely changing this block," said Chall during a tour of the SOMA Grand building last month.

Helping coordinate the neighborhood's transformation is Fresno native Daniel Hurtado, the openly gay executive director of the Central Market Community Benefit District. Hurtado left Washington, D.C. for the Bay Area and was hired in August 2007 to help get the newly configured district off the ground. It covers Market and Mission streets between 5th and 9th streets.

"I guess a lot of people refer to the neighborhood as mid-Market but that tends to have people equate that with mid-Market office-type space. I think people are beginning to understand or refer to the neighborhood as Central Market," said Hurtado. "We are definitely working on promoting that area as Central Market."

Banners promoting the new name now adorn streetlights in the district. This year the CBD plans to provide 12 hours of street cleaning and maintenance seven days a week and two full-time people who will provide social service outreach for homeless individuals.

"They will be like a roaming concierge and help tourists with directions," said Hurtado. "We also try to promote and encourage arts and cultural institutions to move into the area and in the community."

Gay hotelier transforms downtown core

Looking to differentiate itself from the other high-rise buildings sprouting up all over South of Market, the owners of SOMA Grand, which is 70 percent sold, decided to offer concierge services to its residents and partnered with gay-owned Joie de Vivre Hospitality, California's largest boutique hotel group.

Openly gay hotelier Chip Conley said when he heard the proposal, it made perfect business sense to him. He signed on to help with the design of the units, marketing of the building, and devised what amenities residents could take advantage of through the concierge.

"The nice thing about SOMA Grand is the location. It you are someone who wants to take public transportation, it is about as good a location as you can have," said Conley. "From the gay perspective, SOMA is where it all started on a certain level. There is less of a gay influence in SOMA than used to be but there still are a number of bars, clubs and gay residents who live in the area."

Having signed on with the SOMA Grand, Conley quickly branched out and took over management of three nearby motels on 7th Street, the Americania, the Carriage Inn and the newly christened Good Hotel with its ground floor Good Pizza restaurant.

"It is like a Joie de Vivre theme park," said Conley.

Taking a chance on the mid-Market properties made financial sense, considering Conley expects the area will see more improvements with time. Already, new stores are moving into 6th Street and a major retail project is planned for Market Street between 6th and 5th streets.

"The existing buildings there will be upgraded and made nicer with time," he predicted. The old SF Mart building on Market between 9th and 10th is slated to be converted from a furniture showplace to a food hall. Nearby are two new affordable-housing projects now under construction. One, by Mercy Housing, is a 107-unit, 11-story building designated as senior housing, with 20 percent set aside for homeless seniors.

Tom La Belle, an out gay man, saw the area's potential when he opted to buy a unit in the SOMA Grand last February. The retired university executive - he was a vice president at San Francisco State and then oversaw the University of California at Berkeley's international programs - downgraded to a smaller condo in the building after selling his place on Divisadero and renting an apartment at Opera Plaza for a year.

"I was looking for an investment. That particular area of the city is very much a changing area," said the 60-year-old La Belle by phone from Waikiki, Hawaii, where he also owns a home.

After looking at other buildings, including the Hayes, La Belle bought a one-bedroom unit at the SOMA Grand for $485,000. He liked being a block from the Civic Center BART and Muni station, as well as walking distance to the performing arts offerings along Van Ness. "You can jump on Muni and be in the Castro in like five minutes," he said.

Haywood said he and his partner were also concerned at first about the safety of the area, considering they have two dogs to walk. But their fears have turned out to be unfounded.

"It is that New York lifestyle here in the city, which I think is great," said Haywood.