Kilroy already has put a lot at stake. It said last week t would do all it could to keep the flower sellers on or next to the Brannan Street site even during construction. The vendors had said without that concession, they could be driven out of business. The vendors now say they also want a legally enforceable "no displacement" guarantee.
Once construction is done, vendors will move into a 115,000 square-foot underground facility on the site with modern touches that its outdated warehouses now lack. Kilroy unveiled preliminary plans last week for the new structure after buying the two Flower Mart sites for about $70 million. It plans to build towers for technology companies on the site – surrounded by the Central SoMa area that will be rezoned by 2016.
If Kilroy can't hammer out a deal with Peskin and the tenants association, it would likely have long odds going into a ballot fight. Peskin was part of the team that helped take down the 8 Washington condo project, and 78 percent of San Francisco residents polled earlier this year said they would like to preserve the Flower Mart.
Kilroy may be better off hoping it can reach the kind of compromise pitched by another neighborhood advocate last week. John Elberling, head of the affordable housing group TODCO, sent a framework for negotiations to city officials, flower mart vendors and Kilroy on Friday.
It asks that the sides agree to, among other concessions, a relocation plan that Kilroy pays for, a cap of vendors' rents and an ownership model for the Flower Mart. Elberling also urges the city to allow Kilroy to build taller towers (above the 160-foot buildings that would be allowed) if that would make the plan financially feasible. Kilroy, after all, would still have to convince investors that they will be rewarded for building towers and paying to preserve the Flower Mart.
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