Comments on: American Apparel Space For Rent

By: jahirkamal2

jahirkamal2 — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:46:47 +0000

I want to American apparel open up for whole world. Thanks for this post.

By: chide

chide — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:46:40 +0000

Clap clap hipsters, way to stop a business from coming in and offering jobs to the community. Where do you guys work exactly??

By: daver

daver — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:00:17 +0000

I really hope an american apparel opens up in that space. ha.

By: unkle

unkle — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:03:34 +0000

So, where’s the super-organized letter-writing campaign and community action to fill this space, and all the other empty spaces? Or is that level of commitment only reserved for keeping businesses out?

By: Today’s Mission: 03.09.09 | Mission Loc@l

Today’s Mission: 03.09.09 | Mission Loc@l — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 05:46:26 +0000

[...] Mission Mission noted that the proposed American Apparel space is still up for rent. You may have noticed many other vacancies along our dear Valencia Street, check Mission Loc@l soon [...]

By: zinzin

zinzin — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:41:46 +0000

guero thx for the kind word.

By: Suriya Thai No More? Whither Valencia 1400 Block. « Burrito Justice

Suriya Thai No More? Whither Valencia 1400 Block. « Burrito Justice — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:39:57 +0000

[...] Dr. Memory reports that it is worse: [...]

By: guero

guero — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:54:47 +0000

zinzin, thanks again for bringing sense to the table regarding these issues. Just to change the subject sort of. I think many people would be surprised how many empty flats there are standing in the Mission. Many homeowners just do not want to deal with a renter,(with SF rental laws and advocacy groups) they may never be able to get rid of. I’m sure everyone here has had the roommate from hell. Imagine having a tenant from hell living downstairs or upstairs in your flat and being helpless to get them out and/or when they do leave, discover that they have trashed the place. My family experimented with renting our upstairs flat and my mother was in tears for nearly six months. Seven “family members”of the man who signed the lease moved in, each putting padlocks on all their doors. They also brought cockroaches that were living in their stereo equipment, that quickly spread to the rest of the house. Finally it was discovered the person who signed the lease was actually living in Los Angeles. It was a good thing as it gave my parents a way to get the so called “family members” out. My family knows so many people with similar stories. I think many of the renter groups are only causing less rentals to be available as some home owners rather opt to let flats stay empty.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 02:25:30 +0000

Too bad we can’t get something useful and locally-owned in that space, such as a clothing business based in our state for example. One that manufactures goods in the US, and contributes to our nation’s and state’s economy and all that.

By: SPMF

SPMF — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 02:00:09 +0000

How about a check cashing place? It could serve the community that all of the protestors were trying to protect from the gentrification of american apparel.

By: piratesnack

piratesnack — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:16:04 +0000

Can we expect the next Stephen Elliot blog to be http://www.repealtheADA.com?

By: SFDoggy

SFDoggy — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:04:53 +0000

I think one of the issues here is that many of these vacant storefronts (including 988) need extensive work in order to make the usable as a retail space. This can be very expensive, particularly if ADA compliance or seismic retrofitting are required. A landlord may not want to do that for a tennant that has a high chance of going out of business in a year and undercapitalized purveyors of obscure products (which is apparently the only thing allowed on Valencia St.) can’t afford to do it. So store fronts sit empty.

I also think that some landlords have plans to do something themselves some day so they aren’t eager to rent (that may be why La Rondalla location is still closed and hasn’t been rented to someone else.)

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:49:40 +0000

These landlords want to charge rent! Can you believe it? My parents always gave me everything I wanted — why won’t the f’ing landlords do the same!?!

By: piratesnack

piratesnack — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:14:21 +0000

zinzin. I see what you are saying now. I think you make a good point about how a person seeking to open a store might see this as “warehousing.” I recall at the AA hearing, at least one person spoke up about how AA should not be allowed in because landlords had been unwilling to rent space to her for her business. I think there is a good chance that what was really happening was what you describe — the person did not seem like a good risk for the landlord and not some conspiracy by landlords to only rent to chain stores, as was implied.

By: zinzin

zinzin — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:07:03 +0000

@pirate – we are aligned.

my point was, actual “warehousing” doesn’t / can’t really happen on any scale (for all the reasons you cite), but LL’s will wait for the right tenant…which are few & far between. so potential renters might see that as “warehousing”, mostly because they don’t get what they want.

and i agree…the appropriate response is “so what?” (actually, i would say “fuck you” if put in that situation, but that’s me.)

commercial leases do have a term (and no control, far as i know). “market rate” for a new lease generally increases over time. again…”so what?” that’s the cost of doing business.

as i said, we are aligned.