All stories about "Lennar Corporation"

News broke last Friday that several community organizations have gone to the mattresses with über-developer Lennar Corp., walking away with a legally-binding agreement that puts Proposition G on the hook for a total of 35 percent affordable housing, a ten percent increase from its initial plan. Advocates of the Daly-backed proposition F aren't yet convinced— 50 percent or die!— but even staunch "progressives" have to admit that even though much remains to be seen, this kind of cooperation is all but unprecedented. Family-sized housing (not the studios and one-bedrooms that often make BMR housing out of reach for families); funding for job training and community programs— Lennar's second crack seems like a fairly solid one. (See below for details.) In today's Beyond Chron, however, Paul Hogarth recapped the comments of another journo at last night's press conference

[Are] Lennar’s concessions to the community a desperate, eleventh-hour move to save their measure? By facing an alternative measure that would be financially unfeasible for most private developers, Lennar had simply no choice but to “play ball” with the community if they wanted to stay in town.

Daly, get your guns. With T-minus two weeks until the June 3rd election, Lennar Corporation isn't backing down for one hot second on Proposition G: Lawyers for the mega-developer (and close friend of city hall) have filed a complaint with the city's Ethics Committee, alleging violations of campaign finance laws by Daly and his Prop-F supporting Bayview Committee for Affordable Housing. Lennar and Co. allege that the sly registration of Daly's outfit as a "general purpose committee" rather than a "candidate controlled committee" allows his influence to remain murky; Lennar is calling for the placement of stricter regulations on the committee's contribution reports, for instance. As it stands, Daly's mailers are “disseminated without legally required identifying information and prohibited contributions may be made by unsuspecting donors," according to Lennar. The Supe scoffed at the suggestion that his campaign might accept non-kosher donations, comparing the $10,000 his campaign has raised and spent compared against Proposition G's $2.23M budget, funded largely by Lennar itself. Less cash money yields a lower chance for corruption? Fun with logic!
· Developer sets sights on Daly [SF Examiner]

The June 3rd election is fast approaching, and the fate of the 49ers—and the Bayview neighborhood—hangs in the balance. It's a showdown between Propositions G and F; between Chris Daly and Gavin Newsom; between the good and the well-intended. But which is which? San Francisco has already been called the "underdog" in our efforts to keep the 49ers, and unless Proposition G passes, moving the Bayview plan forward (now with 35 percent affordable housing, many think we can forget about the stadium. Proponents of Prop F, however, don't find the situation so cut and dried: If Prop F passes, moving the Bayview plan forward with 50 percent affordable housing, its proponents say that the stadium is still a possibility with a different contractor while preserving the integrity of the nabe. Opponents call F "reckless" and "disingenuous." Which way will voters swing? Is this a city-wide guilt trip from Chris Daly? Are San Francisco residents pretending to worry about gentrification and telling their friends that they're voting for Prop F, when in reality, they really want a new stadium? Sneaky!
· S.F. bid for 49ers stirs race issue [Mercury News]
· CurbedWire Late Edition: Lennar Corp. Agreement Allows for More Affordable Housing [Curbed SF]
· Candlestick Goes to the Ballot [Curbed SF]

HUNTERS POINT—Paging Chris Daly: Developer Lennar Corp. is playing for keeps on the affordable housing front. From the press release issued by the SF Labor Council:

The San Francisco Labor Council, along with its community and interfaith partners, ACORN (Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now) and SFOP (San Francisco Organizing Project) have reached a groundbreaking agreement with Lennar Urban that provides the largest creation of affordable housing of any new development in the city’s history.

Under the agreement, a total of approximately 3,500 new homes that are affordable to very low-income and working families will be constructed in the Hunters Point Shipyard – Candlestick Point and throughout District 10. The vast majority will be constructed as part of the mixed-use development project; in addition, Lennar has committed $27.3 million to provide hundreds more affordable homes throughout District 10. Lennar has also agreed to provide $8.5 million for workforce training.

Hell bent? Yes, hell bent. Lennar, the Miami-based developer, is set on securing the go-ahead to overhaul the Hunter's Point Shipyard and Candlestick Park and lure the 49ers back into residency. We know this. What might be new news, however, is the amount of green — $625,000 in the past year ($113,000 during January itself) that the corporation has dropped on a team of Olympic hopefuls whose names leave no doubt as to the relationship between politics and big business: Eric Jaye, Newsom's chief political strategist; Roberta Achtenberg, former SF Supe and now CA Board of Trustees Chair, and spin doctor Sam Singer. That Sam Singer— the one hired by the San Francisco zoo to spread the good word on vodka bottles and sling shots. He characterizes the lineup as a "political dream team."

The San Francisco Zoo has hired Sam Singer, a "public relations and crisis communications" consultant (a.k.a. "spin doctor") to perpetrate rumors about vodka and sling shots manage the public portrayal of the recent tiger mauling— you know, the one that left one dead, two hospitalized, and the zoo looking bad beyond belief. What's that got to do with Curbed SF? Not much, we thought, until we noticed a few of the other names and projects on Singer's client list:

Gap Inc. founder Don Fisher, in his bid to develop a museum to house his modern art collection at the Presidio; Lennar Corp., in its push for a deal with San Francisco City Hall to redevelop Treasure Island, Hunters Point Shipyard and Candlestick Point; and the San Francisco 49ers, during their recently abandoned attempt to build a new stadium in the city.