Owner of spa sues over OK of basin plan
The owner of Archimedes Banya, a Russian bathhouse in BayviewHunters Point that boasts sprawling views of India Basin and a state-of-theart spa, is suing San Francisco over a massive development project the owner says will damage his business.
Guests who come to the bathhouse to unwind and relax will be disrupted by the sound of jackhammers, clanking cranes, noisy construction trucks and dust, said owner Mikhail Brodsky. And tall residential buildings planned for the area will not only block the roof deck’s panoramic views of the bay and San Francisco’s skyline, he said, but also violate the privacy of sunbathers, who are sometimes nude.
“We bought this land in 1999 when no one wanted it,” Brodsky said. “We wanted the space and some fresh air ... and now they are basically boxing us in.”
This lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court on Monday, comes a month after Mayor London Breed signed the India Basin development agreement for the project, a comprehensive reimagining of the city’s jagged eastern edge.
Developer Build Inc. plans to turn the sparsely populated land into a bustling community. The plans include 150,000 square feet of commercial space and 1,575 units of housing, 25 percent of it affordable.
The Banya, which has been open since 2011, is one of the few businesses on Innes Avenue. The lawsuit challenges the validity of the project’s environmental impact report, which the plaintiff says did not adequately consider an extra 300 residential units that the developers added without sufficient public notice. As a result, the lawsuit calls for the city to update the report under the California Environmental Quality Act.
District 10 Supervisor Malia Cohen, who sponsored the project, said she stands by the city attorney and Planning Department’s work on the development and expects that the “project will move forward as planned to provide housing and revitalization for our India Basin and Bayview communities.”
The Banya was one of two appellants of the project. Despite their concerns, Board of Supervisors approved the project in October.
The City Attorney’s Office said in a statement that it expects the project to move forward as planned.
“The proposed project was thoroughly analyzed in accordance with the requirements of CEQA and we intend to vigorously defend it in court,” the statement said.
Brodsky said in a letter to Mayor London Breed that the project “would substantially interfere with a significant portion of the Banya’s business, degrade the Banya, and eliminates the ability for the community to enjoy the facility.”
While Brodsky said Build Inc. offered him some compromises — such as helping him change his building’s zoning through the Planning Commission so he could make it taller or literally picking the Banya up and moving it closer to the waterfront — he declined the offers as he felt they were unrealistic. Build Inc. declined to comment.
Although it’s not stated in the lawsuit, Brodsky said he ideally wants the city to “put pressure on the developer to rearrange the heights (of the buildings) in a way that we have certain space.”
The Banya was created “to have rest and relaxation,” he said. “We need to see some water.”
While lawsuits challenging environmental impact reports are common for big development projects in the city, they are rarely successful, said land use attorney Tim Tosta, who is not involved in the Banya’s lawsuit.
“On a relative scale, San Francisco does some of the most sophisticated (California Environmental Quality Act) work you’ll find,” he said. “That means they do a really good job with their Environmental Impact Reports. So when you go after a San Francisco EIR, it’s an uphill fight.”
Even with the pending lawsuit, the developers can proceed with the project until a court rules otherwise, Tosta said. Build Inc. plans to complete the project by 2022.
Many India Basin residents, like Michael Hamman who lives next door to the Banya, are excited about the project. He sees it as the community’s best shot at finally getting some amenities and services in the isolated neighborhood — like public transportation and a grocery.
Hamman — who struck a deal with the developers to move his home closer to the waterfront — doesn’t sympathize with the Banya. He disagrees with the idea of denying the city the ability to move forward with the project in order to preserve “the views of one small business.”
“I hope that this lawsuit doesn’t delay the project,” he said. “Because I think (the argument) is without merit, and the neighborhood supports the project enthusiastically.”
Even though the development could eventually attract more customers to the area, Brodsky said he will lose more from the project than he will gain.
“I’m not saying we will go out of business,” Brodsky said. But “right now, the Banya is brilliant. After the (project), it will be different.”