The San Francisco Flower Mart will head underground—literally—if a new proposal from developer Kilroy Realty comes to fruition. The battle over the 58-year-old Flower Mart has been going on since last summer, when Kilroy bought the mart's land with plans to build a new tech campus on the site. Kilroy promised to preserve the Flower Mart, but until now details of its plans have been hazy until now. At a press conference this morning Kilroy committed $80 million to build a new underground Flower Mart that would ensure that flower sellers wouldn't have to move or cease business while the tech campus is built.
Kilroy has offered current flower vendors five-year leases and their current low rental rates in the new space, and has promised to pay for any moving costs. However, opponents to the development—most notably former Mayor Art Agnos—don't like the proposal and have promised to continue their plan to block the development through a ballot measure.
The new Flower Mart is set to be a bit smaller than the current one, with 115,000 square feet to the present 135,000 square feet. It will have 150 parking spaces and an additional 10,000 square feet of retail space for the Flower Mart vendors at ground level. It's set to be completed in 2018 if all goes according to the new plan.
· Is San Francisco's Flower Mart About to Become Office Space? [Curbed SF]
· Kilroy: Let's Preserve the Flower Mart By Building a New One [Curbed SF]
· Kilroy Realty Commits $80M to New SF Flower Mart for Vendors, but Opposition Persists [SF Business Times]
· Flower Mart Backers Seek to Block Kilroy Through Ballot Measure [Curbed SF]
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