Update: The Examiner is reporting that the fire has been deemed suspicious. Authorities are saying that a trash compacter on the first floor of the building had exploded, enabling fire and smoke to spread up the garbage chute and travel throughout the hotel. more ›

A smattering of folks partially responsible for Mission gentrification made an attempt to chip away at its glossy veneer on Monday. Last night at around 5 p.m., according to Mission Local, a "group of housing activists occupied the vacant second floor of a building on the corner of 20th and Mission Streets Monday night and said they don’t plan to leave unless they are forced out." more ›

In an effort to the eradicate the stench of plebeian home ownership, Newsom's had some sort of inane condo lottery bypass fee in his budget, one that would've charged potential homeowners $4,000 to $20,000. SocketSite reports that it's officially dead now, claiming, "By way of a plugged-in tipster and Supervisor Carmen Chu, San Francisco's Budget and Finance Committee 'voted 3-1 on Monday to table/not to advance the [one-time condo conversion lottery bypass for a fee] proposal forward.'" Delightful news. Update: Or not! [Examiner, SocketSite, via Curbed] more ›

Today, President Obama announced the launch of Opening Doors, which will, ideally, help prevent homelessness by using a San Francisco-based model. Not so simply put, Opening Doors is "a more targeted approach by the federal government in leveraging local and regional strategies to end homelessness and building upon momentum that has been generated in cities such as San Francisco through its Project Homeless Connect program." more ›

Picture this: You've hit like thirty and you've reached that point in your boring, staid bourgeois existence when it's time to settle down, poop out the 2.5, and buy the home of your dreams in which to make it all happen. Unfortunately, you live in San Francisco, where, even though you're raking in more dough than like 95% of the planet's population, you're still too much of a poor to buy a house on even the lowliest of pee-smelling corners down in the Tenderloin. more ›

We got the pretty flyer in the mail yesterday for the second annual Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Dream House Raffle, and Curbed and Socket Site already have the scoop. This year's house is a $3M gorgeous Arts & Crafts style four-bedroom, three-and-a-half bath home in Noe Valley, with a self contained apartment. more ›

The SF Examiner is reporting that Mayor Newsom has thrown about the stunningly original idea of ditching the city's condo lottery and just letting anyone who wants to go condo, GO CONDO! Currently, the condo lottery allows for only 200 conversions per year, thus protecting the city's notorious multitudes of little old ladies from being evicted from their dirt cheap apartments and tossed into the cold, unforgiving streets. The silver lining to this real estate storm cloud? Millions of American dollars rolling into city coffers to fund very important programs such as the Bevan Dufty brand "Pink Clouds over the Castro" and the Mayor's warning labels on everything plan. Gee! more ›

This photo on Curbed seriously made our afternoon. Apparently, a long-time Curbed lurker discovered this rooftop streamliner while doing a building inspection for a housing project in the Tenderloin. Blogger 40Goingon28 confirms it's located at the 100 block of Turk Street. Another Curbed commenter speculates that "All you need is an airsteam and a crane" to pull off this feat. See this beauty from another angle. more ›

Glen Park, which we have always thought was adorable and near [Update] where SFist Deborah resides, has been experiencing quite a growth spurt recently. New restaurants and businesses have been steadily opening up, renters get more for their money there, and it has its own BART Station. But getting to and from the BART Station has always been a bit of a pain. more ›

While looking at this tasty bit of insanity over at Curbed, we came across this bit of good news for renters in need. It seems, according to commenters who are, of course, cantankerous over federal assistance going to SF residents. Reader MRTim writes, "Joe Stalin must be rolling over in his grave, with laughter." more ›

Did you really think the sinking economy would sharpen the tacks over at CitiAparements? No. No, it has not. Matt Baume over at Curbed tells the harrowing tale of supposed squalor at one SF-based CitiAparmtents building, a story you'll want to tell over a crackling fire and fresh s'mores. It seems that a CitiApartmens customer allegedly ran into all sorts of trouble in her building every since the place went on the market. A few bits of alleged sadness: "they removed most of the garbage areas," directing tenants "to drop their trash in a nonexistent basket"; water was shut off for "two weeks" in parts of the building; and insect patrolling has stopped, meaning that "cockroaches have started taking over the lower floors." But the most jarring part of all? An apartment hunter looking at the place was "quoted $1,495 for a 350-square-foot studio." Chilling. Read more about it over at Curbed. (They've got photos too.) more ›

Sad news. The Tenderloin Y will officially shut its doors today, just short of its 100-year anniversary. "The eight-story, 150,000-square-foot building at the corner of Leavenworth Street and Golden Gate Avenue," which "opened in 1910 to replace San Francisco’s original YMCA center, which was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake," according to the Examiner, was purchased by the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corp. a couple of years ago for $12.2 million. The goes on to say, "The Department of Public Health and the Mayor’s Office of Housing are providing funds to turn the building into affordable housing units for homeless and low-income residents." Another YMCA will, hopefully, "open nearby in about two years." more ›

It seems real estate construction types are finally -- finally! -- realizing in 2009 that no one can afford their mindnumbingly thoughtless, albeit impressive and mildly erotic, InfinityBeaconOneRinconBLŪ luxury towers. San Francisco Business Times has more, but here's a frank, death-of-fun quote from one of those coalition, do-gooder types. AHem: more ›

Ready to throw down money for a place in San Francisco to (finally!) call home? Well, for mere pennies (i.e., $189,000) you can own this downtown micro-condo. This hypercozy 441 square foot studio, located at 333 Grant Avenue, #405, is smack-dab on the border of Union Square and the Financial District. While this pad looks perfect for, say, a blogger with a feline fetish and little belongs, it is pretty small. Cubix small, maybe. But seeing as how the place went for $234,000 back in November of 2004, reports Curbed, it looks like the steal with this pricetag. Especially with such a choice location, and a pad featuring exposed brick and a washer and dryer. Check out even more shots of the small space, and judge for yourself. more ›

According to yesterday's article in the Examiner, rent prices are dropping. Plummeting by "$200 citywide," says one broker. Fantastic news, right? Not according to blog de revolución BeyondChron, who thinks prices are still too high. Which: true. (Curbed mercifully filters down the BC article here.) But we can't imagine prices coming down to a reasonable price any time soon, especially for those of us living on a single income who don't string together zeros and ones for a living. In related news, ultra-compact green complex Cubix is slashing prices on those boxes they call apartments (think efficiency studio, only cozier), and One Rincon Hill could use a little ($4,500+) love too. more ›

by Lisa Hix more ›

Supervisor Chis Daly has yet another meme in the works: new rent laws. Three of them, in fact. The first one would bar landlords from increasing rent to more than one-third of a tenant's income, the second would make it easier for tenants to add roommates to the lease, and the third would put a limit on "so-called banked rent increases." The Chronicle reports: more ›

Several rallies in Northern California happened today calling for lawmakers to help on a moratorium of foreclosures. ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) helped spark the protests, calling on all "mortgage lenders and servicers to implement a 90-day foreclosure moratorium and to use this time to modify loans to affordable terms for homeowners." more ›

Found over at It's Lovely! I'll Take It (via redfin), check out the sweet Noe Valley pad you can call your own for a cool $738,000. Mention you were raped and murdered inside the house in a previous life, and get a 10% discount off of your first mortgage payment. more ›

You may want to squash those dreams over having your own studio is the TL. Lord knows we have. See, according to Curbed -- who has killed out Monday buzz, one that even Michelle Obama's jarringly bright red dress can't bring back -- rental prices have leaped more than 20% over the last two years in the city's cheapest neighborhoods: Downtown/Civic Center, the Haight and the Western Addition. more ›

In the tussle over the mantle of San Francisco’s Most Tucked-Away Neighborhood, Visitacion Valley gets our vote...particularly if by “tucked-away,” one really means “neglected.” Geographic and economic isolation have contributed to infrastructural decline - and crime - here for quite some time, although earnest efforts are being made these days to turn the tide. The block of Leland between Peabody and Rutland is dually zoned for business and residence, so the street is one of Viz Valley’s main drags. There’s plenty of foot and auto traffic here, and the 56 Rutland bus even shuffles by on occasion. Businesses bookend the nondescript strip as post-WWII housing, other small commercial concerns, and a pair of bottlebrush trees fill in the space between. Pretty? Not quite. But, utilitarian? Sure. more ›

-- Smell that? It's the stench of awards season underway. And the San Francisco Film Critics Circle nominees are... [Hartlaub, Maximum Strength Mick] more ›

During the execution of the Academy of Art University's real-estate master plan for San Francisco, they came across a bit of controversy after purchasing the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. It seems that they hate black people. No, not really. We're just screwing with you, attorney Stephens. To be fair, the building's owner, Sutter Taylor, already planned on converting the building into high-end condominiums. But then the Academy came along to gobble up the property for... more ›

Remember that budget surplus? Remember when we were flush with cash and we decided to go on this spending binge and Chris Daly got into a fight with everyone because he wanted to spend the money his way and not everyone else's way? Well goodbye to all that because Gavin announced that we know have a whopping $229 million dollar deficit. more ›

BeyondChron's Paul Hogarth dares to go where many fear to tread: all up in Elisa Stephens' grill. Again. Hogarth writes about the Academy of Art College's plan to swallow up even more of San Francisco's prime real estate. more ›

Oh is it a voting day or something? It totally sneaked up on us! It still feels like Monday today. Actually it also feels like October. Anyway, you should probably vote yes on A and no on H, because that's what everyone else is doing. Prop A will protect The Mt Soledad National War Memorial and do something to the air force? and will transform some colleges. Also, Aristotle endorsed it it. more ›

When he's not busy keeping it real or putting in a couple of loads at the laundromat -- he looks like a Biz kind of guy, doesn't he? -- Gavin Newsom is out pandering to the boomers for their vote. (Something we assumed he had in the bag.) Behold, the psychedelic Gavin Newsom for Mayor poster. This one, which was for a re-election benefit held in the Haight-Ashbury this past week, was sent to... more ›

At one end of Ivy St., the vibrant sounds of Afro-beat float across Octavia from the African Outlet. A single pigeon observes the sidewalks and street from its lofty perch upon a sill of the Ivy Hotel, kitty-corner from the retailer. Nobody knows if the pigeon has taken note of the owl less than ten feet above its head. At the other end of Ivy St., low income housing strikes a weary pose across Laguna, a relic from the era when Hayes Valley was known as a freeway-slashed slum. Turning 90 degrees to the left, the newly gentrified and boutique-crazy Hayes St. is a 30-second walk to the south. Visible from our vantage point is a corner retailer, Alabaster, that deals in self-styled “treasures for the home.” Clearly, Hayes Valley remains in a state of transition. Even the pigeons can’t see everything going on here. more ›

Eastern SOMA's budding, unfortunately named condo "community" BLŪ, on Folsom and Second Streets, is about ready to bloom in all of its steel and glass glory. Problem is, we don't see any lottery for affordable housing on their site. Has the lottery already happened? Or are they planning on having some sort of learning annex or UC Berkeley extension, a la The Paramount, to skirt those types? We can't seem to get anyone over at BLŪ on the phone to fill us in. more ›