With the Fillmore’s Only Grocery Store Scheduled to Close to Make Way for Luxury Housing, Supervisor Preston Calls for Acquisition of the Former Redevelopment Site

Letter of Inquiry Urges Mayor to Explore All Available Tools, Including Use of Eminent Domain, to Acquire the Site for Affordable Housing and a Grocery Store

Supervisor Preston called on Mayor Breed’s Administration to commence negotiations to acquire the Webster Safeway site. In a formal Letter of Inquiry, Preston urges the Mayor to explore all tools, including eminent domain if necessary, to acquire the lot for a full service grocery store and affordable housing. 

“The City should do everything possible to acquire this former redevelopment site to ensure that it continues to have a community serving grocery store and that the housing built here is affordable to the community,” said Supervisor Preston. “We have a unique opportunity to prevent further displacement from the Fillmore and to bring displaced families back to the Fillmore – let’s make it happen.”

In January 2024, Safeway announced that it was shutting down its Webster Street grocery store and selling the lot to Align Real Estate for the development of housing. Neither Safeway nor the developer have provided any public details to the community regarding development plans or the status of the proposed sale, nor have any development plans been filed with the City. The lot is a former redevelopment site, which was later sold to Safeway so that the community would have a full service grocery store. 

On April 9, 2024, Preston wrote the owner and buyer urging them, consistent with the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act which requires that eligible community housing nonprofits be provided a first right of refusal to purchase vacant lots that could be used for affordable housing. Safeway and Align Real Estate declined the request. Safeway and Align have also declined requests to meet with the community, though a community meeting may now be required under Preston’s recently passed Neighborhood Grocery Protection Act.

“That Safeway lot should be used for the benefit of the community,” said Erris Edgerly, founder of the Fillmore United Alliance. “I support acquiring the lot to make sure the Fillmore has a full service grocery store and that housing developed here is affordable to the community. The Fillmore was once the Harlem of the West, and it could be again if we have the vision and the commitment to make it so.”

“This site is so important to the Fillmore and Japantown communities,” noted Paul Osaki, Executive Director of the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California. “Black and Japanese-American residents and businesses were forcibly removed through disastrous urban renewal redevelopment from these sites. Instead of more displacement, acquisition for affordable housing and a grocery store offers a different path forward, one in which those who have been driven out of this community by real estate speculation, greed, and structural racism, could return to this community.” 

Preston’s letter notes that, as a former redevelopment site, the Safeway lot holds great potential for affordable housing development. State legislation has specifically offered new financing tools for the development of affordable housing on former redevelopment sites. In addition, the federal government’s Faircloth-to-RAD program, offers San Francisco the opportunity for permanent operating subsidies for thousands of units of deeply affordable housing, an issue Preston has championed at the Board. 

“This former redevelopment land is a great site for large-scale affordable housing,” said John Avalos, Executive Director of the Council of Community Housing Organizations. “Our organization stands ready to partner with the City to make this happen in any way we can. Done right, this site could be home to hundreds of new affordable homes, bringing displaced families back to the Fillmore.”

Supervisor Preston’s Letter of Inquiry calls for a response by December 3, 2024.