Cultural institution on verge of eviction
Galería de la Raza could be forced out of Mission District home by rent hike
Galería de la Raza, the 24th Street art gallery and studio space that has been an anchor of the Mission District’s Latino cultural district for nearly a half century, is facing eviction after its landlord proposed a lease that would double the rent and require the nonprofit to spend upward of $1 million to make the space handicapped accessible.
The 48-year-old gallery, which has been in its current space for 46 years, is looking for a two-year deal that would allow it to stay open in a portion of its space at 2857 24th St. until two future spaces — one at 16th and Shotwell and one at 24th and Folsom — are completed. Both will be in new residential buildings scheduled to open in late 2020.
The gallery has been paying $3,127 a month for about 5,000 square feet in two storefronts at 24th and Bryant. Last summer, a representative of the property owner, the Lily Ng Trust, informed the gallery that its rent would be raised to $6,200.
As part of the lease negotiations, the nonprofit agreed to pay its current rent on a portion of the space, about 25 percent, relinquishing the rest to the landlord. That deal fell apart on Friday, however, because the landlord insisted the gallery bear all the costs of making the space handicap accessible as well as assume all liability for any lawsuits
that might be filed over the space.
Supervisor Hillary Ronen, whose office has been involved in reaching a compromise with the landlord, said the property owner’s proposal “would place Galería at risk of financial ruin.” At a rally and news conference in front of the gallery Monday morning, Ronen said that her office regularly helps broker deals between landlords and tenants to avoid the displacement of local businesses.
“Usually we can find a way to meet in the middle and find a solution. We have been unable to do that with the landlord of this building behind us here,” Ronen said. “Galería has been willing to compromise and give and give and give. We have not seen the landlord budge on any issue.”
She accused the property owner of trying to “squeeze every dollar out of this building” while “displacing a beloved community institution.”
“We will be fighting until Galería gets a fair and reasonable lease,” she said. “We will not leave this building until that happens.”
Gallery Executive Director Ani Rivera said at the news conference that the landlord’s proposal is “against our best interests.”
“The gallery has gone as far as it can with the rent negotiations,” she said. “The staff and board have acted in good faith, but the lease terms are not fair or sustainable and will irreparably damage all of us. We demand a fair and reasonable lease.”
The landlord has been represented by Quan Phan of GBA Realty. Phan said it’s standard for the tenant to pay for the handicapped accessibility improvements “95 percent of the time.” He said that he doubts the handicapped work would cost $1 million.
“The family have been renting the two spaces to the gallery for the past 40 years without any rent increase,” Phan said. “In San Francisco, the cost of maintaining a building, especially an old building, is very high.”
The stretch of 24th Street where the gallery is located is the heart of the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District, an area that has 21 businesses designated as historic under the city’s Legacy Business Registry.
Erick Arguello, who heads the cultural district, said 24th Street has a 3 percent vacancy rate, one of the lowest in the city and far less than the vacancy rate on the Mission’s trendy Valencia Street. The special-use district also caps the percentage of food- and beverage-serving businesses at 35 percent.
But several businesses are in the process of being evicted, and rents in the area have skyrocketed. Earlier this month, La Victoria, a 67-year-old, traditional Mexican bakery, was evicted from its home at 2937 24th St. Arguello said property owners are aggressively seeking to clear out establishments paying low rents. A tiny, 500square-foot space at 24th and Capp streets is on the market for $3,200 a month.
Olga Talamante, a longtime political activist who in 1974 served 16 months in an Argentina prison for her political activity, said it was artists from Galería de la Raza who helped draw attention to her imprisonment.
“When I was in prison in Argentina in the 1970s, it was the posters coming out of this place, out of the Mission and East Oakland, saying ‘free Olga Talamante’ that ... saved my life.”
Mayor London Breed said the city intends to fight for the gallery.
“The city and our community partners have been working closely and diligently for years to secure a long-term location for Galería de la Raza,” she said. “We will not give up. I have directed the Office of Economic and Workforce Development and the Arts Commission to explore and exhaust every option as we work to get the Galería a fair and reasonable lease so they can continue their important work in the Mission.” J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen